Stuck – Jennifer Swender
The first day you show up at a new school, some teachers give the person bringing you in a real earful. They say something like “Don’t you see how many I’ve got in here?” Then they make a face and look you up and down. One teacher pointed at me and made an outline of me in the air. Like I was so big, where was she going to put me? I have a right-before-the-school-year-starts birthday, so whatever age everybody’s turning that year, I’ve already turned it before the year’s even gotten started. Plus, one time when we moved, they made me do second grade a second time. But this teacher didn’t point at me when I showed up at the door. She didn’t roll her eyes and breathe out sharp like I was the last thing she needed that day. She smiled, and I don’t even think it was a fake grown-up smile.