The exact date I can’t remember but that day, I will never forget. Growing up in s small rural; town in Massachusetts I was used to a certain way of life, backyard playing year-round and barbeques in the summer, it was a slower way of doing things. So when my mom told me we were moving in next door to my grandmother in Belmont I was less than ecstatic, to say the least, it was the middle of the school year in 7th grade and I already had friends and things I did I was so afraid to start something new already in the middle of so many changes. I thought as the move approached that my family and I would become comfortable with the move, but it seemed as I was the only one who couldn’t wrap my head around leaving my childhood. Looking back now it may have been that I was in middle school so I already had a childhood and friends to go along with it, and my siblings were both still young so they would still be able to build those childhood relationships but we
were never able to make common ground on the move. After a few weeks of dreading the move the day finally arrived, to be honest, I had completely forgotten that it was on this day until I was awoken by a giant moving truck swallowing my driveway whole. As I lugged my childhood and memories onto the truck I kept playing out the next day in my head, how would it go? Would I make friends? It all played out as we pulled out of the driveway and with every minute of the last day in my old home slipped away, as we got closer and closer to the highway exit my new reality began to sink in. If you’ve never lived in the suburbs or in the city the neighborhoods are a perfect representation of the lifestyle that goes on. From being on top of your neighbor to having less than a bathroom’s worth of space to play in the backyard it was hectic. Waking up in my new home was interesting and odd at the same time as it was already late fall but it was my “first day of school”, this actually helped me as the morning activities of a first day made me excited to start the new chapter in my new home.
[aesop_chapter title=”Too Many People” bgtype=”img” full=”on” img=”http://jolineblais.net/nmd343/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/middle_school.jpg” video_autoplay=”play_scroll” bgcolor=”#888888″ maxheight=”300px” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]The first culture shock hit me when we pulled up to the school and there looked to be about five times the amount of children waiting as I was used to. Coming from a small rural town I was used to small classrooms and not a large number of classrooms in the first place, so this was both interesting and anxiety-inducing as the only people I knew in the situation were my siblings and grandmother in the car who were politely shooing me out of the door like they were dropping me off for war. As I lined up to head in I was completely lost as I didn’t know my teacher or any of my classmates, as we approached the door my anxiety climbed and climbed as I still had no information on my teacher or classmates. Then almost like it was out of a movie as we walked into the school and I was starting to feel faint and hot at the same time I was greeted off to the side by a welcoming older woman who appeared to have been at the school before it was built,” Austin Morin? Please come with me so I can get you situated and into your classroom” she said while motioning me into a different hallway away from the chaos. As she showed me around to all of the general things like the gym, auditorium, and cafeteria, we came to a very large spiral staircase. “The 7th grade is on the upper floor, we will go meet your teacher and get you started with your day!” she exclaimed as to try to bring my anxiety to ease as if she could tell my feelings. As we reached the top of the stairs and approached one of the many doors on the floor she left me with,” well this is it, your teacher is inside and knows you are coming, if you need anything at all you know where to find me!” but before I could turn around and ask where exactly that was since she hadn’t told me, she was gone, this was it the moment I had been dreading for the past few weeks. As I knocked on the door to my surprise the class had been waiting with a sort of “welcome breakfast” there were donuts and bagels, orange and apple juice, along with other breakfast items. Immediately all of my anxiety went away I couldn’t believe these people who had just met me were being so kind, I met so many people in that first little instance, most of them remained my friends all the way until college. But like my dreams told me and by the way, the day had already gone I knew my luck wouldn’t last forever as before I could finish a single bagel a loud noise rang over the classroom, I had never heard a school bell so loud. We were instructed to go to the Spanish class which was really interesting to me at the time because the school I came from didn’t have foreign language classes until highschool. As my new classmates packed their things up to head downstairs I looked around the room becoming anxious again because I had no idea where to go and nobody to go with.
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That’s when a voice spoke up from behind me,” do you want me to show you where we have to go?” When I turned to find my savior I was greeted by a child who looked very similar to myself, “Sorry I’m Austin I heard you were new today and this school would suck to get lost in” he said putting his arms through the sleeves on his sweatshirt that read,” Belmont Lacrosse”. “No way,” I thought as I put together what just happen, a boy who plays lacrosse and has the same name as me, my 7th-grade self thought I had just cracked the code to fitting in. I delightfully accepted and we chatted all the way to the classroom and then some about everything but mostly lacrosse. Austin would become one of my closest friends as he was one of the only children to treat me like I had grown up with him since the start. As we sat down in Spanish class I had no idea what to expect.
As the bell rung for that first Spanish class and the most exciting thing was becoming Héctor against my free will, we were told to head back up to the third floor to put things into our lockers to go to lunch. Hearing the rumbling in my stomach like an angry child looking for their toy and a very faint, “Adios Amigos!” in the distance from the Spanish teacher, I joined my new found classmate as we ran up the stairs, all the way up to the third floor. Before any of us could even turn the dial to a click we heard the booming voice over the loudspeaker,” Austin Morin please come to the upper-middle school office, Austin Morin please come to the upper-middle school office, Thank You.” My stomach got tight and started twisting in a knot, it probably looked like I had to go to the bathroom as the new group of classmates I thought I could call friends called out jokingly, “oooh the new kid is in trouble!”. My heart sank I went from “Austin Morin” to “ the new kid” within a blink of an eye and that was when I knew that this was not my rural town of Lancaster Anymore. After a few seconds of collecting myself and trying to figure out what to do I was escorted by my homeroom teacher to the office, I couldn’t believe I was about to get in trouble on my first day, what would my mom think?” I thought to myself as we approached the dreaded door that read on the sign, “Upper Middle School Office” before my teacher opened the door I gave one last breath and prayed that they would go easy on me considering I haven’t even been here for more than a day and had only been there for a few classes. Upon entering the office I was greeted by a surprisingly soothing voice saying, “Are you the grandson of Virginia Ryan?” It was the principal sitting in an informal manner on the secretary’s desk parked in front of the office door.
“Yes I am, has something happened?” I exclaimed in distress as this situation was making me more anxious by the minute, first being called down to the office now my nana is involved I couldn’t possibly figure out was happening.
“Nothing at all dear, we used to work together before I worked here and your mother came here when she was your age, how is she?” The principal asked chuckling as if she could sense my false fears.
“Shes wonderful thank you, I was worried that I had done something wrong or something had happened to her” I replied still coming down from the previous events anxiety.
“Of course not, but we will be keeping an eye on you, now get back to class before we call you down here for real,” she told me with a wink to ensure that I wasn’t in trouble of any kind. At this point, I was very confused, as my classmates thought I was just some “new kid” troublemaker from being sent down to the office but at the same time, I was welcomed by the teachers for my connection to my family who had gone here in the past. This was difficult for me at first as I was honestly able to fit in with the teachers better than some of the children, but being aware of the situation and how harsh the kids had already been, I knew something had to change or it was going to be a rough few years in the future.
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