Today is the big day! Hina yawned and stretched, excited but scared of her biggest challenge yet: the first day of grade school. She hops off her bed and skips to her vanity, excited to start making friends. “You got this!” She looks at all of the stickers on the border of her mirror. They fill her with the determination to face her second biggest challenge: actually leaving the house. As she slips on her st shoe, adjusts her hair bow, and pats down her dress, she hears her mom call for her.

  “Sunflower? It’s time for us to go!”

  “Okaaaay”

  Hina can feel the nerves sneaking up on her, preparing their attack. They failed to consider her absolute defense: running to her mom. She grabs her pink fairy bag, checks to make sure her charms are still there, and runs toward the front door. As her mother ties her shoes, Hina hums one of her favorite songs to herself– satisfied with today’s victory. Her mother pnts a kiss on her forehead, squeezing her hand to let her know that it’s time. They hold hands as they walk out the door, both nervous about how today will pan out. It’s only the first day, how bad could it be anyways?

  As they approach the school building, Hina stares up at the seemingly massive building, wondering if it was a good idea to go inside. Her hands get a little cmmy when she realizes that she won’t be able to take her mom inside with her. Hina tries to tell her mom that she wants to go back home, but she is already on one knee– giving Hina a tight hug. Her mom pulls away a bit and holds her face while smiling.

  “Sweetie?”

  “Yes momma?” Hina said while looking down.

  “Is it scary here?”

  “Uh-huh” Maybe she’ll let her go home!

  “Do you know why it’s scary?”

  “Nuh-uh.”

  “Do you want me to tell you why it is?”

  “Mm-hmm”

  “Well mommy thinks it is scary for you because it isn’t like it is at home. Do you remember the word for something like that? Something different than you are used to?”

  “Uhh… n-new?” She knew, but still had her doubts. Her mother is really smart so she didn’t want to get it wrong.

  “That’s right! Now, new things can be scary because mommy isn’t there right?”

  “Yeah, they spooky!” Hina grabbed onto her mothers arm. Her mother petted her hair softly, which was Hina’s favorite thing ever.

  “Well sunflower, mommy can’t always be with you, but I will always come back home to see you! School isn’t terribly long, plus you’re super tough so you will be able to make it!”

  Hina looked up at her. “Pinkie promise you’ll always come back?”

  Her mother smiled and kissed Hina’s forehead. “Yes, I super pinkie promise.” She locks pinkies with Hina. “And do you promise to listen to your teacher, be nice and kind to everyone, and py nicely with everyone?”

  “Uh-huh! I promise momma!” Hina was a little bouncy cause she loved being encouraged by her mother.

  “Good! Then the deal is sealed!” She picked up and gave Hina a big hug. “I love you sunflower.”

  Hina held on tight. “I love you too momma!”

  Her mother got some tears in her eyes and smiled. “Hurry on to css then! Your teacher is waiting by the door!”

  “Bye bye!” Hina waved as she watched her mom walk back, blowing her one st kiss before turning the corner at the end of the street.

  Hina observed the beautiful architecture of the school building, the structure and design blending old with new seamlessly. She was busy looking at the walls’ brick patterns when the teacher’s assistant called everyone over, startling her a little. She saw all of the children run over, excited as can be– sure that they would make lots of new friends. Some had already begun the process! She watched as the other kids mingled, wondering if she could too. As she did this, a few of the other kids saw that she was alone and practically fell over themselves, rushing toward her to add another buddy to their arsenal of fun.

  “Hey you!” said one of the boys. “My name is Onyx! Like the cool rock! What kind of rocks do you like?”

  “Hello!” said one of the girls. “Don’t worry about that total stinker. My name’s Mia and it’s nice to meet you!”

  “Hey, what do you mean stinker? I’ll get you good for that one!” The two wrestle as the teacher lets go of Hina’s hand to separate them while scolding them.

  “H-hi…” whispered the other boy. “My n-names… Hiro.” He flinched as Hina smiled at him.

  “Hiya!” said the other girl “My name is Penelope! I really like your hair! Did your momma do yours too?” She was basically shining with excitement as she waited for an answer.

  “Well I-” Hina began before getting cut off by the teacher and her assistant rounding up all the kids so they can get started with css. “I’ll tell you ter.”

  “Come on children, gather round! It’s time for head count and role call. When I call your name, please say here. Okay?”

  “Okayyy” said the kids in unison, eager to get on with it so they don’t have to be quiet anymore.

  “Now, I know you all are very excited to get to know each other so why don’t we do some introductions?” The css seemed to be very happy with this, Hina included. “We’re gonna start with me, and then my friend here that’s also your teacher will go after. Make sure you watch and listen so you can introduce yourself too, okay?”

  “Okaaaaay”

  “Alright! My name is Ms. Peaches, your homeroom teacher, my favorite color is violet, and I love pastries!” She grabs the hem of her skirt and dips into a ridiculous curtsy, putting on a clown-like version of a posh voice: “A pleasure to meet you!” The kids fall over themselves giggling, some turning various shades of light red from ughing so hard.

  As they settle down after some shushing, the teacher assistant steps forward, smiling but very clearly nervous. It adjusts her gsses with a shaky hand, takes a deep breath, and rhythmically pats its legs a few times. “Hello everyone! My name is Ms. Mudi, and I’m here to help Ms. Peaches with teaching! My favorite color is brown, and I love petting dogs!” She bows and css does a cute little kid round of appuse.

  “Alrighty! So now that y'all know our names, it’s your turn to tell us your names! Are you ready?”

  “Yeah!”

  “Very good! So when I call you up, you’ll say your name, your favorite color, and something you love very very much! Okay, first up is Olivia! Come on up dear.” said the teacher in a very calming and sweet tone. Hina felt as if she would come to like her very much.

  “Hi! My name is Olivia, my favorite color is yellow, and I love super big leaves!” Some of the css giggled as she skipped back to her spot on the grass.

  “Thank you Olivia! Very lovely name. Alrighty, now let's see who’s next…”

  Everyone had introduced themselves to everyone until it was Hina’s turn. She was st and was nervous to introduce herself, but her newly made friends made sure to encourage her.

  “You can do it!” “It’s super fast so you’ll be okay!” Penelope and Mia said. “You got this!” Onyx says. Hiro provides one of his tiny grins of encouragement, which washes her nervousness away. They all pat her on the back to give her some extra courage.

  “Come on sweetie, why don’t you tell us your name?” said the teacher, holding her hand out patiently. Hina slowly walked up and took her hand, giving her the final bit of courage she needed.

  “H-hi. My name is Hina. My favorite color is…” she thought for a second. “...purple. I love my momma a whole lot!” Onyx gave her a big smile and a double thumbs up while Hiro also gave a thumbs up, shy as it was.

  “Thank you very much, Hina! Now, that was everyone, so who’s ready for some fun?” The entire css cheered as she said that. “Okay css, follow me to the pyground!” Ms. Peaches and Mudi jogged to the cssroom so everyone could put their things in cubbies. “Make sure not to push! One cubby each!” they say in unison.

  Everyone shoved their things into their respective cubbies and basically fell over each other, running to get out the door. Hina carefully pced her things in her cubby so that her bag wouldn't hurt her inside shoes.

  ”Come on! We’re gonna miss the game!” Penelope was basically jumping out of her skin waiting for Hina with the others.

  “O-oh, I’m sorry… I just didn’t want my bag to hurt my shoes.” She felt shy, but wasn’t really sure why.

  “I don’t think they’ll get hurt! Cmon, let’s go!” Onyx held out his hand to her and Hiro managed an encouraging grin for her. Hina lit up just a little bit as she rushed outside with her friends.

  “Okay, css! We’re going to do a head count so we make sure that no one is left behind” The css groans in disappointment. “Now, now, how would you feel if everyone pyed without you? We all need to be here so it's the most fun!” Everyone quiets down a bit and a few kids giggle at a joke someone made. They slowly make their count so they don’t make any mistakes. “Okay, who here knows how to py group tag?” The css roars in excitement. “That's wonderful to hear! We will decide who is It by doing… rock paper scissors! Everyone, let’s get in one biiiig circle, pair up, and put one hand out!” Everyone shuffles over, eager to py. Hina has no idea what rock paper scissors is, so she decided to just do what everyone else does. “Okay, css. Only rock (the teacher makes the rock hand signal), paper (the teacher makes the paper hand signal), or scissors (the teacher makes the scissors hand signal). No stapler or va this time, okay?” The css groans in agreement. Hina doesn’t really get it, but at least she knows the hand signals now. “Okay, everyone get ready!”

  “Rock, paper, scissors!” Everyone says in unison.

  Hina got startled and just threw out rock, managing to make it through the first round. She noticed that rock takes out scissors, since the kid that threw scissors were knocked out. Another round goes by and she finally gets the hang of it, which makes her very happy. As the rounds continue, her friends drop from the competition one by one. By the time the teacher announces a group round– which means the kids still pying all go at the same time, Hina is the only one of her friends left. She looks over at her friends, nervous she may mess things up.

  “Cmon, Hina! You got this in the bag!” Onyx has his hands cupped around his mouth, cheering her on with everything he has.

  “Go Hina! Win it for us!” said Mia and Penelope, perfectly in sync.

  “Y-you got this!” said Hiro, pushing past his shyness. Hina was filled with determination to win this.

  “Rock, paper, scissors!” Hina and the remaining five students threw out their signs. They seemed to have a pn since they all threw out paper. Hina, however, picked scissors for the first time, which foiled their master scheme.

  “Yay she did it!” Hina’s friends screamed as they ran over to do a group high five session. The five kids that were in the final round ended up being it, but they didn’t seem too upset.

  “Alright kiddos! Everyone gets a five second head start before the chasing begins! The more of you these five tag, the more people that are It. Now, is everyone ready?” Ms. Peaches seemed equally as excited as the kids, even though she wasn’t in the game.

  “Yeah!” Everyone screamed in unison, eager to get out all of their pent up energy.

  “One… Two…” The teacher counted as everyone giggled and ran in every direction, excited to start. “Three… Four…” the kids that are It were ready as can be to join in on the fun. “Five!” the teacher excimed as the students began to give chase. Some kids let themselves get tagged so they could chase their friends, some kids ran to the pyground so it would be harder to get them, and some kids were busy running and skipping in the field to escape their pursuers. Hina and her friends grouped up by the monkey bars and quickly pnned their escape routes. Onyx was one of the kids that got tagged on purpose, and he was closing in fast.

  “Hey! You’re fast so how did you get tagged?” Mia yelled as she began to run, noticing she was his first target.

  “It’s no fun if the fastest kid in the world isn’t It!” Onyx said smugly. “Now come join my army! Mwuahahahaha!”

  His evil ugh was enough to make them realize that they either split up then to escape, or they would all be caught in an instant. Hina ran as fast as she could to the slides, Penelope hid underneath the pyground, Mia ran towards the field, ughing as Onyx slowly closed in, and Hiro climbed to the highest point of the pyground, stifling down his ughter so he wouldn’t get caught. Hina felt all the fear she had of school fade away as she ran, ughter taking over. Hiro tried to tell her to be quiet, but he started ughing as well, unable to silence his joy any longer. Three bigger kids in their css caught wind of this situation and began to surround them, eager to make them It as well.

  “Hina, we gotta run for it!” Hiro got up from his spot and prepared to jump over to the side Hina is on.”

  “But they’re everywhere! Where do we go?” Hina grabbed his hand so they wouldn’t get separated.

  “The monkey bars! We can climb on top and escape that way!” Hiro basically dragged her to them, narrowly escaping their pursuers grasp.

  As they climbed up, one kid managed to tag Hiro as Hina was helping him up. Hiro looked a bit sad, but that quickly was solved when everyone screamed “One left! She’s on the monkey bars!” Hina quickly got to the center of the monkey bars, trapped by the other 29 students. She ughed as she dodged hands flying towards her, despite the limited amount of space she had. Penelope and Olivia climbed onto both sides and began to crawl towards her, blocking her from running away. “We got you now!” they said in unison, barely managing to tag Hina’s legs. Hina ughed until she cried with her cssmates as they carefully climbed down. She noticed that both Ms. Peaches and Ms. Mudi are in the group too, which meant that one of the kids decided even they weren’t safe from this game.

  “Phew, that was fun! Okay students, now that we got our wiggles out, it’s time to go over what we will be learning together!” Some students groaned while others showed genuine interest. Hina was hopeful for lessons about Pluto, her favorite pnet. “Now get into groups of six and hold each other's hands so no one is left behind!” Everyone quickly organized themselves, leaving only Olivia left. Onyx waved at her to join them, and she skipped towards them, excited to finally make some friends. “Good! It seems like everyone has their buddies. Follow me back to the cssroom, everyone!”

  “Okaaaay!” the kids wheezed out.

  They all walked back and chatted, out of breath from all the running they did. “Since everyone did so well, you get juice and two snacks!” Everyone cheered as they cmored inside, eager to gobble everything up.

  After everyone calmed down a bit and finished their snacks, the teacher pointed to a board with lesson pns on it. “Alrighty! So we will be starting off with reading and writing practice!” Many of the students expressed their disappointment in this pn. “Now, now everyone. Reading and writing can be very fun, since you can explore so many cool things using them! They are very important skills you will need when you’re big.” Hina hoped she could opt out by showing that she could already do both. Onyx seemed to be in distress at the thought of reading anything other than comics. Mia and Penelope didn’t have very good handwriting, so they were hoping that no one would have to look at their practice pages. Olivia and Hiro seemed too busy looking at some ants Olivia picked up during group tag to care much.

  The rest of the day seemed to fly by as the teacher went over the css schedule. Hina was staring out the window, watching the trees sway and the birds swoop in and out of their slender branches. She imagined an extravagant ball, birds swaying and bobbing to the sweet tune of the wind. She was a small barn owl, dancing with a very kind sparrow that seemed to have been dancing his whole life. Right as the climax of the breezy tune came to an end, the teacher gently pced a hand on her arm, waking her from her wonderful daydream. The sparrow waved and bowed to her as she blinked, erasing the scene completely.

  “Hina?” The teacher said in a soft voice. “Your mother is here to pick you up. Were you daydreaming?”

  Hina hesitates, but her kind gaze makes Hina feel safe enough to confirm. As they walk to the pickup area, Hina waves goodbye to her new friends and runs into her mom’s arms. They hug for a few moments, then she loosens her hold on Hina so she can say thank you to the teacher.

  “Thank you for taking such good care of my daughter… Cynthia, was it?”

  “Yes, and thank you for bringing her! She got along with everyone nicely and is a very sweet girl. I’m sure she will do just fine here!”

  Hina held onto her mom’s leg as they chatted for a few minutes. She tugged on her shirt, eager to go home and py with her toys. Her mom looks down at her and smiles. “Well it seems like she wants to get going, so I’ll catch up with you on Monday, Cynthia!”

  “Yes, I look forward to chatting with you again Dorothy. It’s been far too long! Maybe we could do coffee soon?” Hina’s mother nodded in agreement as they said their final goodbyes. She picked up Hina and took her to the car so they could go back home.

  Hina told her mother about everything that happened, excited to say she now has some friends. Dorothy smiled, proud of her little shy genius child being able to connect with kids her age. She was worried at first, but that worry quickly subsided as Hina went on and on about her new buddies. As she put her to bed, Hina grabbed her hand, waiting for her to read her favorite bedtime story. Dorothy kissed Hina on the head and grabbed the book, reciting the words as if it was her own. As Hina drifted off to sleep, the sparrow from earlier greeted her with a bow. She curtsied, and they danced until the night turned into morning. Her friends were there as various birds, and they flew into the sky alongside the sparrow, the updrafts becoming acquainted with their feathers. As they glided, they dropped down into a magical forest, eager to explore the previously unexplored terrain.