My dad got a new job. We had to pack up and move away from everything we were familiar with. There were so many changes. We came from the north, and now we were almost as far south as possible. We landed in South Florida, and we were total strangers. We moved over during the summer vacation, so I didn’t have to deal with school right away. Summer passed by while we unpacked, arranged furniture, found stores we liked, and adapted to the Sunshine State.

School was coming, and I was afraid of it. I was not an adventurous person. Being shy and quiet, I read a lot and did not make friends easily. My head was filled with fears and worries. Would I make friends? Would If it in? Would I survive in this strange new world? Anyway, there I was, attending a new school full of people I didn’t know.

I had a difficult time adapting to the new school. However, I still loved learning and reading. I even loved homework, and I was good at doing my homework. Loving books and reading helped me to get good grades. Teachers loved that about me. Other kids, though, did not. Although I always answered questions in class, I seldom talked with my classmates. I was unpopular. I felt like a total failure and nobody would like me.

The none day, at all boy walked over to me after an English class. He introduced himself and told me he was in the school basketball team. I knew him—he was the star player! “Hey,” he said. “You do really well in English class. And you know, my teammates and I spend much time competing and practicing. The subjects, especially English, really bother us. Do you think you could help us?” “Yes. Oh, definitely yes. I could, and I would,” I replied with surprise. We made the deal with an exchange of smiles.

Something gradually changed after that.

Meanwhile, the basketball players taught me how to play basketball.

As this term began, I found a new student in my class named Ian Bonus, 16 years old. He was silent, always doing business alone. From his file, I learned that Ian was born in Korea, and spent all his childhood there until his family moved to England. It wasn’t as smooth and easy as he imagined. He had to learn and speak a new language so as to communicate with others. When at school, he tended to avoid crowds. He usually tried every possible means to keep his mouth shut up, even in class. Besides, after class, he didn’t join any clubs or activities even though everyone around him invited him to have a try.

At the beginning, I thought Ian was just a little shy at his age especially in a new place. However, later he still didn’t say a single word when classmates got along well. Having ever dealt with such similar situation myself, I felt I had the suitable experience and the right responsibility to encourage him to melt into our class.Finally, a chance came. One day, in my class, it was Ian’s turn to make a short speech as other students did regularly. But he just stood up, saying nothing. Then I could feel his face red with embarrassment. Next class, we had a P.E. lesson on the court. Again, he didn’t join, just sitting on the bench watching others play. Learning that he was fond of sports and was actually a very athletic and energetic person, I felt a strong desire to persuade him to play together. With this thought in mind, I walked over and sat aside Ian.

“Hello, Ian, why not join us in playing badminton?” I smiled, “I know you can play well.”

The next morning, Ian volunteered to step onto the platform to make up for the speech he missed the day before.

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It was the. first day back at school after the winter holidays. I was sitting quietly in the classroom and feeling very nervous.

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It was the first day back at school after the winter holidays. I was sitting quietly in the classroom and feeling very nervous.