The car pulled up to Florence's new school. Her father stepped out and opened her door. Florence hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders, her fingers gripping the straps tightly. She looked up at him, unable to hide the nervousness written across her face. Her father smiled warmly and pulled her into a comforting hug.
"All the best on your first day," he said, his voice gentle. "Don't be scared. Everything will be good."
Florence managed a small smile. "Bye, Dad," she replied. Taking a deep breath, she turned and walked through the main gates.
Her classroom was conveniently located on the ground floor. She walked inside and chose the very first desk, which was completely empty. It was still early, so only a handful of students had arrived. Most of them were clustered together at the back of the room, chatting as they waited for the bell to ring.
Wanting to make a good impression, Florence left her seat and walked over to the group at the last desk. She offered a friendly wave. "Hi, I'm Florence. I'm new here," she said. The group barely glanced at her. One of them muttered a flat "Hello," and they immediately went back to their own conversation, completely ignoring her. Florence's shoulders slumped. Feeling entirely left out, she returned to her seat with a heavy sigh and a frown, staring sadly at the doorway.
A moment later, another girl walked into the classroom. She spotted Florence and immediately smiled, making a beeline for her desk. She held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Scarlett! I usually sit here. Let's be seatmates," she said brightly. "I'm new too. I just took admission here ten days ago. I was waiting for someone to sit with me, and finally, you're here!"
Florence's frown vanished. They sat down together and quickly fell into an easy conversation about their old schools and their new city. To their surprise, they realized they lived in the exact same apartment building. "No way!" Scarlett grinned. "I'm just one floor above you. I am definitely coming over to your flat this evening." Florence felt a warm wave of relief. It felt incredibly good to find someone so sweet who actually wanted to be her friend.
Soon, the teacher walked in. She was their homeroom teacher, as well as their math teacher. After settling the class, she asked Florence to stand up and introduce herself to everyone. Florence gave a brief introduction and quickly returned to her seat.
The teacher then wrote a few math problems on the blackboard to test the class. She called a few students up to the board at random, but none of them could solve all the equations correctly. "Is there anyone who can solve all of these?" the teacher asked the room.
Florence hesitantly raised her hand. "I want to give it a try, ma'am," she said. She walked up to the board, took a piece of chalk, and worked through every problem perfectly. The teacher smiled proudly and asked the whole class to clap for her, praising her for solving such tough questions. Florence walked back to her desk, her confidence soaring. Scarlett was beaming, clapping harder than anyone else. Leaning in, Scarlett whispered playfully, "Please give me math tutoring, ma'am! I'm very weak at it. In return, I will complete all your homework." Florence laughed, and right then, their friendship truly began. Their vibes matched perfectly, and they were instantly kind to one another.
After three classes, the recess bell rang. Scarlett and Florence stayed at their desks, opening their lunchboxes to share their food and have fun. Suddenly, an arrogant girl marched past their desk. Without warning, the girl splashed dark pen ink right across Florence's crisp white uniform shirt. "Don't try to be over smart here," the girl sneered, clearly jealous of the praise Florence had received from the teacher that morning.
All the students around them burst into laughter. Florence's face burned with intense embarrassment. Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.
Scarlett immediately stood up, furious. "Why would you do that to her?" she demanded, fiercely defending Florence. "If someone is better than us at something, we should learn from them or appreciate it! Being jealous and hurting others is not a solution."
The bully rolled her eyes and walked away. Scarlett immediately pulled the crying Florence into a tight hug and gently wiped her tears. "We need to complain to the class teacher about this," Scarlett said firmly.
Florence shook her head, shrinking back into her seat. "No," she sniffled. "I don't want to fight with anyone or complain about anyone. Let's just forget what she did." She looked at her friend pleadingly. "And please, when you come over tonight, don't tell my parents anything about this."
Scarlett frowned, trying her best to explain that the bully's actions were wrong and needed to be reported. But after Florence begged her multiple times, Scarlett finally sighed and agreed to keep the secret.
When school finally ended, Florence walked out to find her father waiting to pick her up. As soon as she got into the car, he noticed the massive ink stain on her shirt and the lingering sadness on her face. "Is everything alright? What happened to your shirt? How did ink fall on it?" he asked with concern.
Florence forced a small smile and lied to him. "I was opening my pen with a lot of force, and the nib broke. It just fell on my shirt."
Her father looked relieved. "No worries," he said, taking her home.
As soon as they walked through the front door, Florence's mother looked at her daughter and instantly knew something was wrong just by seeing her face. When she asked, Florence repeated the exact same lie about the broken pen. Desperate to change the subject, she forced a brighter smile. "I made a friend today! Her name is Scarlett, and she is very kind to me."
Her parents' faces lit up with joy. "That's very nice," her mother said.
"In fact," Florence continued, "she lives in this same building on the sixth floor, just one floor above ours. She is also coming to meet me this evening."
After eating a meal with her family, Florence went to her room to rest and get started on her assignments. She was in the middle of completing her homework when the doorbell suddenly rang. Florence dropped her pencil and ran toward the hall to open the door, absolutely confident that there was no one other than Scarlett on the other side...
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Thanks for reading, stay tuned for the next chapter!!