The First Day
                                                           By : Sarah Johns

	It was a bright sunny day, the sky was a soft shade of blue and there was a slight breeze in the air. I stepped out of my moms red shiny CRX as she said 'Good Luck' to me. I forced up a weak smile as I shoved the door, and it made a woosh noise as it closed. I took a deep breathe and started walking towards the man entrance. I thought to myself, 'Why does the school have all the buildings seperated?'
	I slowly walked forward as I started looking at all the other kids, most were in groups and all talking laughing and smiling. I felt very small, like I was an alien who had just landed on planet Earth. I thought to myself, 'I should be at home, with my friends talking and laughing'. But I wasn't,  I was in Rocklin, California. Id moved here at the begging of August. And I'd hated it ever since. But I was willing to give Rocklin a shot, even though ever kid I'd met in town so far had said 'Rocklin is the worst school'. As I walked forward with the white scrunched up piece of paper that told me my classes, I tried to look like I fit in. As I looked around for my class, I noticed I was on the wrong side of the building. 'At least I know where the main building is,' I said to myself.  The main building looked bright and cheery, like the sun.
	I trudged over to the main building trying not to look at anyone,  the pavement looked really white. When I got to the main building I walked up to a Miss Kerby, sitting behind a desk and asked her if she could tell me where this building was. Instead I felt like I had just been arrested for murder. I was bombarded with about 5 questions all at once. I answered them all, and with a negative tone she told me 'I cant help you, you need your mom to go sign these'. I felt shocked and a huge amount of anger mounting up inside me. I walked straight out of the building. I didn't need to get crap from some lady when I was trying to get used to a state that I had never been too. I walked home and slammed the front door shut, and screamed at the top of my lungs 'I hate it here, I am moving back to Illinois with my dad!' And ran upstairs to my room, slammed the door shut. Bang bang bang, went the door as my foot thudded against it. Each hit relieved a lot of anger.
	But I had to go to school. And with all the courage I had in me I went back to that school that had slammed the door in my face, and gave it a second shot. I went to each class feeling like a freak, as everyone stared at me because I didn't dress like them. I thought to myself 'I don't think you like me, well I hate you as well'. I felt like I was on display at the local circus show. I thought someone would come and say 'hello' to me. To this day, I am still waiting. No one has taken the time here to get to know me or like me. I know they  all judged me, as I  also judged them. I trudged to each class and found two of the teachers actually impressed me, which surprised me, I didn't think anyone in Rocklin, or the whole state of  California would impress me. At the end of the day, I was still hating the new school, missing all my old friends. 
	To this day, it still takes a lot of courage for me to show up at Rocklin High School. Some days I just cant even go.  I have now learned to go to school. And I hope to graduate with good grades this year, as I did at my other school (straight A's and B's may I add). I have learned that I have courage and strength and I will succeed this year ever if I am in someplace I don't like. I have learned I can succeed even if everything isn't the way I like it. And with this courage, I will graduate.