Ten year old Kelley O'Hara was walking around her new school. She was scared, she had never been to any other school than her old one. But she had gotten a scholarship for this school, one of the most prestigious in the state.
She tugged on her uniform skirt. She didn't understand why she had to wear that thing. It was uncomfortable and she was so used to shorts.
"Oh hey newbie," she heard a voice from behind her.
It was a girl with light brown hair and hazel eyes. She gave me a small smile. "Hi, I'm Kelley," I said, sticking out my hand.
"Hope," she responded. "I'm a year older than you though."
Kelley smiled. "So you're in fifth grade?"
"Yup, next year I'll get to move up to the middle school! I'm kinda nervous though to be honest."
Kelley shrugged. "I probably won't survive in this school long enough to get into the middle school."
She gave me a small smile. "Don't worry," she said. "I didn't think I would survive either, but it gets better, I promise."
Kelley smiled back and the bell rang. "We better go," Hope said. "C'mon, the fourth grade room is right next to the fifth grade."
Kelley nodded and followed the older girl down to her classroom. Hope waved goodbye to her as she entered, then went into her own room. The fourth grade teacher began the assignment. "This is called the 'Get To Know Me' project. Every year we do this, making sure that the new kids to the boarding school get to meet people. We will be pairing you with people who are not in your dorm. You may have people in different grades, since every grade in elementary school is doing this."
Kelley sighed and threw her head back. She wasn't usually a very social person, and now she had to do it for a grade? She groaned in her head as the teacher told them to talk among themselves about the project. For the person they got paired with, they had to make a poster about that person. Kelley just decided to get out her notebook and began drawing, until suddenly her notebook was on the floor, the drawings everywhere.
"Oops," she heard a snotty voice say.
She didn't say anything back, just picked up her stuff. She went back to drawing, until once again it was on the floor. She sighed and picked it up again. She looked over to see another girl looking at her with narrow eyes. "What are you? Stupid?"
She looked at the girl standing next to her desk. "I'm Rachael," she said, no more like hissed. "And I don't need to know you're name, it won't ever matter to me."
The bell then rang for them to go to lunch. Kelley walked down with her class but sat alone. She thought she would continue to do that, but give minutes later, three girls sat in front of her. "Hi!" one of them said, she had dark brown hair. "I'm Christen, what's your name?"
"I'm Kelley," she said quietly.
"Nice to meet you! This is my best friend Julie, she's a year younger than us but I don't care."
Kelley chuckled. "Nice to meet you too Julie."
Julie then spoke up. "And that's Moe. She's my best friend in my grade. She's really quiet though."
Kelley gave her a smile. She looked over at the lunch line to see the girl who had talked to her earlier. It took her a minute to remember her name.
Hope.
She liked the sound of her name. It meant Kelley could have hope for this new school. For a better life than what she left behind.
Hope locked eyes with the younger girl and smiled. She walked over to the table she was sitting at. "This seat taken?" she asked, motioning towards the seat next to Kelley.
