Hope

In the morning on a sunny day in Jacksonville, Florida a girl named Eloise is sitting at the table thinking about what her first day at her new school in fifth grade is going to be like.

“Mom?” Eloise asked.

“Yes Eloise?” Eloise’s mom answered while flipping the French toast.

“What is this school going to be like without Sophie?” Eloise asked her mom while looking at her new backpack and at the empty living room. Sophie was Eloise’s best friend since the first day of preschool. They had to say goodbye last year because Eloise’s mom had found a better job in Florida.

Eloise’s mom looked at her like she had said something weird. “It’s not going to be that bad you know.” Eloise’s mom continued, “You might make some new friends! You just need to have hope and believe in yourself and then maybe, just maybe you’ll make some friends!” Eloise’s mom said while giving Eloise her favorite plate with the French toast on it and smiling.

“But I liked Sophie as my friend and what if there aren’t any nice people at this school?” Eloise said nervously, “And I definitely do NOT want to be the only person sitting on the school bench at recess!” Eloise said with a sigh.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it too much ok? Just try to talk with some people and see if they could be good friends,” Eloise’s mom said with a smile. They were quiet for a second, and then Eloise’s mom shouted, “Ok Eloise it’s time to get ready to go to your first day at your new school!” while grabbing Eloise’s backpack.

“Ok…” Eloise said with a moan. “But I have to get my introduction paper so that my new teacher won’t get mad at me,” Eloise said with little excitement.

“Oh c’mon, it’s not like she’ll be really mean.” Eloise’s mom continued, “Stop thinking it will be the end of the world.” 

They headed out the door with Eloise’s new baby sister. Her new baby sister was about three months old and she was getting bigger and bigger every day. Her name is Grace. Eloise thought that Grace was getting all the attention and Eloise was getting really bored because her mom and dad weren’t paying attention to her as much anymore.

“Is it gonna be a long drive to get to school?” Eloise asked politely.

“Not as long as it used to be but it’s still gonna be a bit of a drive from here,” her mom answered.

“Ok, what were you talking about with my teacher the other day?” Eloise asked while buckling her seatbelt.

“Oh, we were just talking about how you were going to get a buddy to show you around the school and help you get used to all of the things at the school, my guess is that they will probably sit with you at lunch and talk with you at recess,” her mom answered, smiling at Eloise through the mirror in the car.

Eloise thought about that for a second. “I don’t think I want to have someone be right next to me for the whole day.” Eloise thought. “What if it’s a boy! That would be really embarrassing around other people and what if my mom saw me with him! Now THAT would be embarrassing!” Eloise thought really hard about that. Now she was getting even more nervous!

When they got to the school Eloise saw the school through the car window, that the school was SO BIG! She wondered if the lunchroom was almost half the size of the building and if everyone in the school had to go to lunch at the same exact time.

“We’re here!” Eloise’s mom shouted. Eloise sighed as if she were about to do the worst thing she had ever done. “Oh honey, I can walk you in if you want?” Eloise’s mom said softly.

“No, no, no! That would be really embarrassing for me to be walking in with …” Eloise stopped for a second then continued, “Fine. You can walk me in, but this is the ONLY time you get to walk me in! The only reason I’m letting you do this is because then you can tell my teacher that I don’t want my buddy to be a boy I don’t need them to do EVERYTHING with me all day,” Eloise shouted while opening the car door.

“Ok but just know that I’m not forcing you to let me take you in,” Eloise’s mom explained. 

“I know, I know. I just really want you to tell the teacher all of that,” Eloise said with an antsy voice while getting out of the car.

Eloise was really anxious about whether or not her buddy was going to be a boy. She also wondered if the teacher had already chosen a person and gave them lots of information about Eloise such as her birthday, middle name, last name, where she used to live, and so much more! Besides thinking of that, she was also thinking about the friend she left behind in Minnesota, Sophie. Just thinking about her name made her feel weird. She couldn’t stop wondering if Sophie had made a new best friend. “Don’t try to worry so much, Eloise,” she told herself over and over again.

“Welp, you ready to go in?” her mom asked nicely.

“We’ll go with, kind of ready,” Eloise answered softly.

“Well, we could just go in a little later if you want, school starts in about ten or so minutes,” Eloise’s mom said while looking Eloise in the eye and then back at the school.

“Oh, that’s a little while from now,” Eloise said like she was totally fine. “Since there is so much time until it starts do you think we could go and get something at the gas station right over there?” 

“Well, there is some time, so I think we could squeeze in a little gas station break!” Eloise got a blue raspberry slushy and, of course her mom got decaf coffee, and her baby sister just got a little container of baby food, yuck! 

After they were done at the gas station they went inside the school. Eloise’s mom and teacher, Mrs. Golden started talking about what Eloise had told her mom in the car. As they were talking she heard Mrs. Golden say, “Oh, well that’s perfect because I already chose a girl to be her buddy, everyone in the class helped decide who it would be and everyone thought that it should be a girl!” That’s just what Eloise wanted to hear.

Eloise still wondered who her buddy was going to be. I bet that whoever it is, they’re probably going to be really nice. When her mom and Mrs. Golden were talking, the school bell rang, “Time for school,” Eloise thought.

“Well Ms. Eloise why don’t we get to class, follow me I’ll even show you your buddy!” Mrs. Golden happily exclaimed.

“Bye, mom!” Eloise said with a sigh.

“Bye, Eloise!” her mom said back.

“Why don’t I show you your locker while we are still out of the classroom,” Mrs. Golden added.

“Ok that’s fine with me. I just have one question,” Eloise began. “Is my buddy going to be doing everything with me?” Eloise asked politely.

“Oh well that’s going to be up to you, you can just tell your buddy when you need some time with someone else or just by yourself,” Mrs. Golden explained.

Then Eloise remembered about the introduction paper, so after Mrs. Golden showed her the locker that she was going to have all year long. She unzipped her backpack and got her folder with so much glitter on it and opened the folder to find that her paper was not in there! Eloise stopped for a second and then started rummaging through her backpack but at the same time she was hoping that she didn’t forget it in the car or at home. She eventually found it in her other folder with a palm tree on it. Palm trees were her favorite type of tree, or you could say they were her favorite plant.

Just as she opened her folder, she saw that someone was trying to open their locker, but it looked like the locker was stuck. Eloise was really good at opening lockers at her old school so she thought about whether she should try to help the girl trying to open her locker or not. She also noticed that her name was Lilly because there was a magnet on her locker with her name on it.

Eloise took a deep breath and then she started talking, “Try kicking it, it always works for me,” Eloise told Lilly.

“Oh, thanks,” Lilly said while kicking it.

Eloise saw that it worked and said, “Works every time!” 

“Wow I should probably keep that tip, by the way, are you the new girl?” Lilly asked.

“Yeah, the name’s Eloise,” Eloise said, putting her hand out expecting her to shake it.

“I’m Lilly. Your new buddy,” Lilly said, shaking Eloise’s hand.

“We should probably get to class, the bell rang a couple minutes ago,” Eloise added while looking around trying to find the classroom.

“Yeah,” Lilly agreed. “Oh, and the classroom is this way, follow me,” Lilly explained.

“Ok, let’s go,” Eloise said excitedly.

Eloise was not expecting for this kind of girl to be her buddy; she also was wondering if Lilly already knew everything about her. She thought about what her mom said about having hope, “I think I am having some hope on this whole new school thing,” Eloise thought. But she still thought about Sophie.

“Well, do you have anything that you’re interested in besides palm trees?” Lilly asked.

“Number one, yes and number two, how did you even know that I like palm trees?” Eloise wondered. 

“Well, I did see your folder with a palm tree on it and your mom told Mrs. Golden, who told me,” Lilly answered while leading the way to the classroom.

“Oh, I guess that makes sense,” Eloise added.

“I think this whole chat is good and all, but I really think we should get going to class!” Lilly quickly explained.

“Yeah, otherwise we will be in really bad trouble,” Eloise agreed.

The day went by fast and then in what felt like only 30 minutes, it was recess! Eloise only had to struggle sitting alone on the bench for 20 minutes because Lilly had to stay late in the classroom because she needed to catch up on something. Eloise did not know what Lilly was catching up on, but it didn’t really matter to her.

After ten minutes Lilly came out for recess. She saw that Eloise was just sitting on the bench, so she went over to Eloise to talk and maybe play on the playground with her for a little while.  

“Why are you just sitting there, on the bench?” Lilly asked.

“Oh, I was just waiting for you to come back out,” Eloise answered in a ‘not so sure’ way.

“But you didn’t even know when I was going to come out for recess? What if I didn’t even get to come outside at all?” Lilly wondered.

“Well, to be honest I am really bad at making friends and I don’t really want to play so much right now,” Eloise answered with a sigh.

“Don’t worry about it, besides almost all of us struggled to make friends at first, So you’re not the only person who struggles at making friends,” Lilly said in a kind way.

The rest of the day went well and just like that, Eloise was laying in her bed, just about to go to sleep. The next day was similar, but the only difference was that Eloise got to invite Lilly and her family over for dinner. For dinner they had turkey that Eloise’s dad cooked in their new oven. Eloise got to know lots more about Lilly. That night they tried to convince their parents to let them have a sleepover. Their parents said yes, but they were going to have the sleepover on the weekend instead of that night, which Eloise understood because they just met yesterday. 

The next day Eloise was really excited for school. Her mom even wondered if there was going to be a party or something at school because Eloise was never this excited for school.

“Mom?” Eloise asked.

“Yes, Eloise?” her mom answered.

“When does school start again?” Eloise wondered.

“Oh yeah, school. Umm. . . I think it starts at 8:10,” her mom answered.

“Oh, so we still have enough time to finish breakfast,” Eloise added.

“Yes, we might even have enough time to stop at the gas station right next to school,” Eloise’s mom said happily.

“Yay, I think I want to get a blue raspberry slushie again!” Eloise said excitedly.

The next day, Eloise was walking very confidently into school when she saw someone standing, looking straight at her. At first Eloise was really confused.

“Uhh. . .hello?” Eloise said, really confused.

“Hi, Eloise,” the girl said. “I’d like to see you at recess, meet me by the tree behind the playground,” she said with a hair flip.

“Umm. . .how do you know my name?” Eloise thought about what she just said and realized that the teacher probably told everyone in the class, which means that she was probably in her class.

“Well, the teacher told the whole class, obviously!” the girl teased.

“Well, ok I guess I’ll see you at recess?” Eloise said, trying to go through the door.

“Umm, not so fast. Just to be clear, you absolutely can NOT bring Lilly!” The girl said while holding the door so Eloise couldn’t get in.

“Uhh, sure I guess?” Eloise said, still trying to get through the door. The girl finally let her go through. After that happened, Eloise immediately told Lilly. Lilly told Eloise that the girl she talked to was one of the biggest school bullies and that Eloise should stay away from her. After hearing that, Eloise was really nervous and wondered what all the girl was going to do at recess.

“I just have one question, is she in our class?” Eloise asked, seeming like ‘yes’ was going to be the obvious answer.

“Well of course she is in our class, how do you suppose that she knows your name?” Lilly explained.

“That’s true, I guess I’m still pretty tired,” Eloise added.

The day was not really going by fast but it was already recess time when Eloise was done with her math sheet.

“Should I go and meet her behind the tree, Lilly?” Eloise asked, knowing that Lilly was going to say ‘no’.

“Who? Isabella?” Lilly asked.

“Oh, that’s her name?” Eloise continued, “Well, should I?” Eloise asked really confused why Lilly didn’t answer right away.

“Well obviously not, why would you even ask, you know that I’m going to say ‘no’. Unless you’re going to take me with you, then I’m not going to let you go,” Lilly answered with that look your mom gives when she gets mad at you mixed with a confused face. 

“Well, Isabella told me that you can’t come with me when we meet up,” Eloise added.

“Fine. If you really want to go and let her bully you then just be my guest and go,” Lilly warned.

“Ok, I’ll go behind the tree and then I will meet back up with you in the middle of the black top,” Eloise said with a smile.

“Ok, but if anything happens, just tell me and I’ll try to help you tell someone,” Lilly agreed.

“‘K see you in the middle of the parking lot,” Eloise said getting ready to go outside. Isabella greeted Eloise when she got behind the tree. Eloise looked at Isabella, nervously.

“So, why did you want me to meet up back here, with you?” Eloise wondered, starting a whole conversation.

“You don’t think that we are going to do anything good do ya?” Isabella giggled, glancing at her two ‘friends’ behind her. Then continued, “Because if so, you are way off track on this!”

“Wait what?!” Eloise shouted, starting to back up from Isabella.

“Well, we were wondering if you would like us to push you down the hill that none of us are supposed to go down?” Isabella asked with an evil laugh.

“Well obviously not!” Eloise answered, starting to run. Isabella was starting to follow Eloise but she couldn’t keep up. Eloise really needed to stop and catch her breath, but she knew that one stop for a breath was one big push down the hill.

Eloise got to a teacher and then tried to tell the teacher what all was going on to her but then, Isabella came right up beside her and said, “Don’t listen to her! She was trying to go down the hill and I was trying to tell her that she can’t go down the hill and I had to chase her all the way over here so that I could tell you!” She said this in a very convincing way, that she literally convinced the teacher.

“Eloise! I know that you are new to this school, but we do NOT accept that!” The teacher continued, “I mean, just listen to Isabella! She has been here long enough to know that we are not supposed to go down that hill!” The teacher yelled right into Eloise’s face.

Lilly had just noticed that Eloise was getting yelled at and she also saw Isabella smirking right at Eloise’s face. Lilly knew that something like this was going to happen to Eloise, she knew that Isabella was no good at all!

“Hey? What’s going on over here?” Lilly asked, running over to see what happened.

“Oh Lilly! You were supposed to play with Eloise and make sure she does not do anything wrong! We already talked about this!” The teacher yelled at Lilly.

“I promise, I did not do anything that Isabella just said!” Eloise cried out.

“ELOISE THAT’S ENOUGH!” The teacher yelled back at her. “That is something we don’t tolerate at this school!” The teacher said, looking at Isabella, with a smirk, and Eloise, with a tear dripping down her cheek.

“But. . . I promise, I did not do anything!” Eloise said with another tear, dripping down her face.

“ELOISE! Go sit down on the bench, I have heard enough from you!” The teacher directed, pointing at the bench. Eloise started running towards the bench, sobbing while Lilly was still looking at them in shock.

“Ugh. What a cry baby,” Isabella added in a sassy way.

“Hey! Don’t call her that!” Lilly shouted at Isabella.

“Whatever. Like YOU’RE going to do anything about it,” Isabella said, flipping her hair and walking away.

Lilly thought for a moment, “I think I can do something about it!” Lilly thought in a positive way. Wait, how am I going to do that and what am I going to do? Lilly thought. I’ll….hmm….maybe….I’ll take a video of her bullying Eloise and I will also record her lying to the teacher! Lilly thought, like she was a superhero or something.

After recess Lilly told Eloise her plan, so the next day at recess Eloise went over to Isabella to purposely get bullied so that Lilly could take the video of her doing it. Of course, Eloise felt hurt when Isabella bullied her but she still knew that Lilly was going to help her get through this and hopefully Isabella would learn her lesson and never do anything like this again. 

“Did you get the video, Lilly?” Eloise asked.

“Of course, I will show Mrs. Golden after school. By the way, make sure to tell your mom what was happening to you and Isabella so that she also knows what is happening at school,” Lilly added.

“Ok, I’ll make sure to do that,” Eloise said with a smile on her face.

When Eloise got home she told her mom what was happening and she also told her that she and Lilly made a plan to tell the teacher and then show the video that they had made with Isabella bullying Eloise.

“Are you 100 percent sure that you don’t need me to tell the teacher with you?” Eloise’s mom asked her.

“I am sure. Me and Lilly already have that down, Lilly was going to tell the teacher at the end of the day,” Eloise said, while setting the table.

Eloise and Lilly had figured it all out. Isabella had to sit with the teacher during recess for about three days and then eventually she apologized. When the school year was over, Eloise’s mom said that they were going to take a trip up north somewhere. Eloise got all perked up when she heard that and she also had asked her mom if she could bring someone with her, and her mom said, yes. Eloise knew who to bring with her and she also was very excited to see both of her friends meet each other. Once they got there, Eloise introduced the girls to each other, and just like that, they were all best friends.