Tattling Trisha

The New Girl “Students, you may take your seats and start your morning work,” Mrs. Jones said with a smile. Mrs. Jones was always smiling. Even when she appeared annoyed, she still had that little crinkle in her eyes that hinted she was grinning inside. That was just the kind of person she was. “Emily, did you study for the spelling test?” whispered Sarah. Sarah Smallwood was my best friend. We’ve played together since we were in diapers. At least, that was what my mother said. “But it’s only Thursday,” I replied. Just then the classroom door opened with a squeak. I expected to see Michael enter the room, since he was always arriving tardy to class. It didn’t matter whether it was storming or beautiful outside; we could all count on Michael to roll in at least five to ten minutes late. I was surprised to see an unfamiliar girl standing before us. “It must be another new kid!” Sarah groaned. This would be the third new student this semester. And the new semester had only started three weeks ago! The girl stood by the door as though she wanted to vanish. There was nothing worse than starting a new school in the middle of the year. Mrs. Jones took the yellow slip of paper from her, read it, and then spoke quietly to the shrinking violet. After a moment she got the attention of her students. “Boys and girls, we have another new addition to our class,” Mrs. Jones stated. “This is Trisha Sanborn. She’s come to us from Jennings Hill Elementary School, across town. Let’s all give her a proper welcome!” We all applauded for Trisha, as Mrs. Jones always felt compelled to make a fuss over her new charges. As Trisha took the empty seat next to me, I mused about the housing development that broke ground last year. When fresh houses were constructed, new students enrolled in our school by the dozen. It seemed every few days we saw an unfamiliar face at Sunny Day Elementary School. I expect our school to burst one day soon. “What do you think of her?” Sarah muttered to me. I didn’t know what to say. She appeared just like any one of us, except she had a very hesitant look on her face. “This one seems timid,” I murmured. My mind went back to what Sarah had said about the spelling test. I couldn’t believe I had forgotten about it! We usually took our spelling tests on Friday morning, like most other elementary students in America. But tomorrow we had a field trip to the Museum of Natural History, so Mrs. Jones wanted us to take the test on Thursday. I guess she figured we’d be too excited about the trip to focus on the twenty words we were required memorize each week. Of course, she warned us about the early assessment last week. She posted notices on the dry-erase board daily. She verbally reminded us of it every afternoon. She even had us write it in our homework binder in bold letters. Guess who forgot that today was test day? I was cooked! “Please get out a piece of paper and number it from one to twenty,” Mrs. Jones chirped. Just then the door opened. That’s right. It was Michael.