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Candy adjusted her headband,
took a deep breath and tried to
calm down. There were butterflies
bouncing around in her tummy.
Looming before her was a
humongous school building, with
a ton of excited kids. The kids
were hugging, laughing, and
greeting each other after a very
short summer vacation. Candy
clutched her school bag tightly to
her body for comfort and forced
her legs to walk inside the
building. What a morning it had
been. Not only was it the day she
had to start 5th grade at a totally
new school in a completely new
town, but on top of that she had
left the house without her lucky
ring. She hadn't taken it off since
she got it. The ring was clear
plastic filled with purple glitter.
Her best friend Nikki had given it
to her when they said goodbye.
Her finger just didn't feel the
same without it.
Candy found her classroom
quickly and sat down in the back
of the room. She watched all of
the kids enter and sit down. They
were chatting away with
excitement. She pulled out a
rainbow colored pencil and
swirled it around on her desk,
staring at it, trying to ease her
nervousness. The teacher came in
and welcomed everyone back for
the year. Candy was still playing
with the pencil as she heard the
teacher introduce herself as Mrs.
Marsh. She bolted upright in her
chair as she realized she was in
the wrong classroom. Her brightly
colored pencil sailed through the
air across the room towards a boy
sitting in the front row, smacking
him right in the back of his head.
It felt as if time had stopped, and
it was so quiet you could hear a
pin drop. Candy turned a bright
shade of bubble gum pink with
embarrassment. She got up,
mumbled that she was 'so so
sorry' and ran out of the
classroom. She wished she could
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wake up from this nightmare.
Candy reluctantly made her way
to the main office. Once there,
she was taken to the right
classroom and introduced to the
teacher. Relieved to be in the
right place, she smiled shyly. She
said hi, and took a seat in the
back next to an empty desk.
Candy sighed and thought of her
old home, and all the friends
she'd left behind. Most of all she
thought of Nikki. She missed her
so much as she sat looking down
at her ring-less hand. Class went
by fast and she was careful this
time to keep all of her pencils on
her desk.
The bell rang for lunch and the
halls filled as everyone made a
dash for the cafeteria. Candy
hadn't had time to make a lunch
at home, so she got in the hot-
lunch line. She smelled the pizza
and tried to get in a better
mood...maybe this place wasn't so
bad after all. She got her pizza
and grabbed an apple. Trying to
hold her milk and balance the tray
at the same time, the funny-
shaped apple rolled slightly with
each step she took. It was no use.
Her third step, the pizza slid and
the apple took a dive off the tray.
Suddenly in a blur of motion, the
girl who'd been next to her in line
caught the apple and
straightened her tray. "Whoa,
careful," she said with a huge
smile. Candy thanked her and
smiled back. The girl picked up
her own tray and moved closer,
"My name's Lily, you're new aren't
ya?" Candy shook her head yes,
"I'm Candy." Lily linked her arm
through Candy's and steered her
toward a table, "C'mon Candy,
you can sit with me and my
friends." During lunch Candy met
all of Lily's friends. They were all
incredibly nice and she was
amazed when she found out that
all of them had been close friends
their whole lives. Candy and Lily
talked for the whole lunch period. |
They talked so much that they
didn't even eat, and everyone at
the table treated her like she was
part of the group. As lunch was
ending, Lily scooted her chair
closer to Candy's and told her she
had something to give her.
Opening her school bag, she
pulled out a cute plastic ring.
Candy watched her with joy as Lily
took her hand and put the ring in
it. "It's yours. We all wear them,
" she said with a giggle. "Now
you're part of our group, they're
our lucky friendship rings!"
Candy's smile was huge as she
looked down at the shimmering
pink ring. All the girls welcomed
her and they all exclaimed that
she had to put it on right away.
Candy thanked them all a million
times and, in between giggles, she
slipped the ring on her finger.
Later that night at home, Candy
found the ring from Nikki in her
bed, discovering that it must have
fallen off while she had been
sleeping. How weird that on a
day she lost one ring, she'd
gotten another. What a strange day,
she thought. Looking down at her
hand, she slipped it on. Looking
at the two rings she thought of
Nikki, her best friend in the whole
world, and she knew she'd never
stop missing her. Then she
thought about Lily and all the
girls she'd met that day. They all
had been so nice to her. Candy
knew they'd all become great
friends. She decided she would
never take either ring off. One
was a symbol of her great new
friendships and the other was a
reminder of an old best friend
that she would absolutely never
ever forget.
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