My heart was pounding, my hands were clammy, and beads of sweat were forming on my forehead.  I clasped and unclasped my hands, one of my nervous habits.  I stared up at the huge building, my mind full of voices telling me to turn around and run home.  But then, with tears in my eyes, I steeled up my courage and walked up the sidewalk, into... Easton Area Middle School.  I checked and rechecked my papers that told me my homeroom number, and hoped that I would not get lost in this mammoth of a school.  My head was screaming that I was making a mistake, that I was asleep and that this was all a nightmare, and if I just pinched myself, I would wake up in my old bedroom in my old house, next door to my best friend in the world.  But this was no dream.  This was, unfortunately, reality, and I was not in my old room in my old house.  I was in my new town in my new school, with my best friend sixty miles away.
    As I walked into the homeroom, carrying my brand-new book bag, unfamiliar faces stared at me.  Everyone looked mean and formidable, and I was frightened terribly.  I quickly found a seat and sat down, fearing that all eyes would be on me, the scared chubby girl who eyes must have grown about three times their normal size.  Everyone seemed to known each other.  I hated it.  My teacher even seemed like a hulking monster!  I tried to swallow, but my throat was dry.  This was probably the worst day of my life.
    But all was not lost, my heart told me.  I felt that it could not be that bad.  There was a pretty, shy-looking girl across the room, who looked rather scared herself.  She was talking to this other kid, but not really in a friendly way.  I kept telling myself to introduce myself throughout the first few weeks.  She seemed so delicate, yet at the same time, very kind.  Finally, one day, I decided to talk to her at lunch.  As I walked into the giant lunchroom, my lunch box in my sweaty palms, I asked the girl, who by this time, I knew as Maggie, if I could sit with her.  Inside, I prayed, hoped, and everything else, that she would let me sit with her.  I had been sitting by myself for the last few weeks and I hated it with a passion.  She smiled a little and said sure, so I sat down across from her and we began to talk.  At first, it was a little awkward, because all these other girls were at the table, but Maggie, being the sweet and polite girl she was, introduced me to them.  My heart was leaping uncontrollably with happiness!  I was not only going to make one new friend, but several!  Everyone was so nice and welcoming, I felt accepted immediately.  It was more than I had hoped for.  I finally found some happiness in Easton after a summer of frightening loneliness, and a horrible first day of middle school.