Greetings. I’m Mary Woodwork. I just moved away from my home state, Georgia. So far, I only made two friends, Riley, and Sophie. Sophie is one year older than me and Riley is one month younger than me. We’re both going to fourth grade, but Sophie’s going to fifth. I’m going to fourth grade at my new school. I’m really excited, but kind of nervous. What if I get a mean teacher?
Not to worry. That’s the part I wrote when I was in fourth grade. Now let me tell you about the year I went to school at Farnham Elementary. It was a great experience.
I was really excited and really worried as you know, and when I told dad, he said he knew what would cheer me up. School shopping! We went to Target in our brand new car. Our old one broke in a car crash. Luckily, nobody got killed, but dad was in the hospital for two months afterwords. Anyways, we got our shopping cart, and started to shop. I got a backpack with a picture of a puppy with a tiara, and a matching lunchbox. We got a 3d pencil box which looked like there were butterflies flying under you when you looked at it. We got pencils and crayons, markers and colored pencils, even erasers. After dad payed for everything, we went home. I asked dad if I could have a play date with Sophie the next day, and he said yes.
The next day, I went to Sophie’s house in the morning. I asked her a question, “What are the possible teachers that I can get in fourth grade,” and here was her answer.
“There are several teachers you can get, like Ms. Adams, Ms. Morgan, Ms. Lennox, and Ms. Williams. Let me tell you about them, starting with Ms. Adams. She is by far the nicest teacher on the planet. She never gives you any homework, and if you get a math problem right, she gives you a jolly rancher. Also, on the chair for your desk, she gives you the softest pillow you can imagine and a fuzzy blanket. Whenever someone gets hurt, she gives them either a spider man bandage or a princess one depending on your gender, obviously. She gives only the best to her students. The only times she gives homework is when she thinks she should which is like once a year. She never expects anything during teacher appreciation week. She also gives her students presents for Christmas and Valentine’s day. Everyone loves her, including me. She has straight blonde hair, a green sweater, and usually wears shorts, and don’t forget her big, pink glasses,” started Sophie with a smile. Clearly she was enjoying this.
“Ms. Morgan is lazy and the opposite of hard-working. During recess, she always goes to the teachers’ lounge to sit on her relaxing chair, and eat donuts. She always ends up sleeping, leaving the kids after lunch, so they usually party in the classroom, yelling and playing truth-or-dare. She is a plump lady, and has pimples and warts all over her. I wouldn’t call her pretty. She has straight brown hair, and sunglasses. I don’t think she’s fit for being a teacher, or even fit at all. Get it?” “Yeah, I get it. Now continue. You were about to mention Ms. Williams.” “Alright, alright!” she said.
“Ms. Williams is as skinny as a stick with legs. She has straight brown hair down to her rear, and pink glasses. She loves fruits and vegetables, and always checks her students’ lunchboxes before lunch every day. If she finds chocolate or candy, then she takes it away. She always tells Ms. Adams to stop feeding the children cavity machines, or candy. It’s not good for them. Her room is very decorated. On the walls, there are posters with a chart of what’s healthy, and what’s not, and pictures of carrots, potatoes, broccoli, and radishes.””Why did you stop?” “Because I need to breathe,” she replied.
“Anyways, the last teacher is Ms. Lennox. She always has the AC on in her room. When I had her, I got all A’s but one. When I got an F, I also got expelled. Now I have to go to a totally new school. Back to her, she benches you even if you open your mouth to breathe. If you really are talking, or singing, or humming, you would get suspended. She also yells a lot, and I mean a lot. She has black hair up to her shoulders, and her eyes are slightly red, and she never wears a skirt.” “Oh, she sounds bad,” I said. “I hope I don’t get her.”
I worried so much because I didn’t want a mean teacher. I was even more scared then I used to be about getting a mean teacher
When the letter that shows what teacher you get finally came, I asked my mom to open it for me, but she was busy making a smoothie, so I asked my dad, but he was fixing my favorite doll from when it broke in an earthquake. I guess I had to open the letter myself. Deep breath, and…
I got Ms. Lennox! Oh no! I was so afraid. I asked my mom if I could go to Riley’s house, and she said yes, so I went to her house and asked her what teacher she got. Apparently, she got Ms. Adams, the nice one. Life is so unfair!
When the first day of school arrived after a long break, I was prepared. I brushed my teeth with my favorite tooth brush, washed my face, put on my lucky puppy shirt and cute shorts and put on my lucky bracelet, I brushed my hair, and got my backpack ready with what I bought which included a book about history, explorers, missions, that kind of stuff. Then, my mom drove me to school. The entire way I was saying in my head,”You can do this Mary.”
When we arrived, people around me were nervous, too, but some were looking at me and smiling. That gave me butterflies in my stomach. When I got to class, everybody around me was reading. “Is this class 201?” I asked. “Yes, and you must be Mary. Take a seat, and read.” said Ms. Lennox. I sat down in the seat that said Mary Woodwork on it. My seat was next to a kid picking his nose with one hand and sucking his thumb on the other. On the other side of me sat a girl with her head up high, her braid so long, it was down to her thighs, raising her hand up high. “Yes Ms. Amber,” said the teacher raising from her seat. “I was wondering if I could switch seats,” she said.“And be next to someone who isn’t a butt head,” she muttered under her breath. “Sure, why don’t you have a seat next to Mckenzie over there?” “Sure,” she answered. She proudly marched over to that seat in her pretty high heels.
At recess, I went up to Amber and introduced myself, but rather than shaking my hand and becoming my friend, she called me a butt head, made fun of me, and stole my necklace. Also, she said that if I told on her, I would pay, which makes no sense, because she just stole my lucky necklace which apparently isn’t so lucky anymore.
In class, we had to multiply decimals and put fractions in their simplest form. After we finished that, we had to write poems. Each person was assigned a different kind of poem, and mine was Haiku. This is what I came up with.
Ocean
I love the ocean.
It has seals and shells galore!
When you look at the ocean,
You don’t want any more.
That was all I could think of, though. I am not a very creative person, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how that meanie, Amber treated me. It was not only rude, but downright evil.
After school that day, my mom took me to soccer tryouts. In the car, she was humming the tune to her favorite song. Then she started singing it.
“Welcome to New York.
It’s been waiting for you.
Welcome to New York,”
And it went on like that for the rest of the car ride, but I wasn’t listening to her song, or her loud breathing. I was too busy thinking. I was thinking about two things at once. First, I was still thinking about snotty Amber, and second, I was worried and thinking about how scary soccer tryouts might be. I might be the worst one there and everybody would laugh at me. I didn’t want that to happen, but soccer was my life, and I loved it.
When my mom parked the car next to a minivan, I got out with my soccer ball and water bottle. I ran to the field. First, we had to do liners. I hate liners, but I had to get on the team, so I zipped across to the first line, and kept on doing my liners, until the last person came. I was in second place for that. In third place behind me was Rosie Clinton. I walked up to her, and introduced myself, hoping she wasn’t a mean diva like Amber. To my surprise, she was happy to meet me. She said she was 9 years old, and went to the same school as I did! We became friends and stuck together for the next few parts of the tryouts, which included an obstacle course, and a race. There was also a contest where you need to pass the ball to your partner, and if you miss, you and your partner are out.
At the end, the judges announced the lucky, young, soccer players who made the team. They said, “The lucky children are Stacy, Emma, Kit, Rosie, Samantha, Katie, Lilly, Mary, Sophie, and Jessica.” Rosie and Mary jumped up and down together screaming for joy.
In the car, I told my mom about my new friend. She said that was great, although I don’t think she was listening. She was singing her song again.
“Welcome to New York.
It’s been waiting for you.
Welcome to New York,”
She continued singing all the way home, while I was thinking about my new best friend, Rosie. She was so nice. I couldn’t wait for the first soccer practice of the season. I knew it was going to be fun.
The next day at school, I found Rosie, and we also saw another girl our age sitting alone on the bench. I knew she was mean like Amber, but Rosie had no idea, so before I could stop her, she ran up to the girl and introduced herself, but the girl answered saying,”Oh, don’t expect me to be your friend because you stink, literally. I am gonna go play with Amber.” “Well, that was rude,” Rosie commented while the girl walked away.
In class, we were caught talking to each other, you see we’re in the same class, and Mrs. Lennox had us stay after school, and gave us extra work. We also had to have harder homework instead of what we were supposed to have.
At home, I thought about why this year was off to such a bad start, I mean the only things that was good that happened to me, was the soccer team, and making a new friend. I hoped this year got better.
The next day at school, we saw that girl again, only this time, she was wearing a pink and purple lace dress. She seemed to be walking toward us, and when she stopped right in front of Rosie, I was sure that she came to tease her. I was about to say something, but she had already opened her mouth. “You’re Rosie, right? Look, I’m really sorry about yesterday. You see, I live in a really small and dangerous town, because even though my parents are rich, they want to spend their money wisely, and I’ve already lost two brothers, a sister, and my grandma because a murderer got them. Anyway, someone broke into the house, and locked me in a closet. He had a wife, and a daughter who were both evil as well, talk about cruel, and the little girl pretended to be me. I had to wait until my mom got home from work before I could get out of the closet, but luckily, after school, the police got them. I was so relieved, and I asked my parents if we could move to a different house, and they agreed that my town was not very family-friendly. That means I’m moving in two weeks! Anyway, I really hope you’ll be my friend. What do you say?” she said without any breaths between the words. Wow, that girl could talk! Rosie and I both said at the same time, “I’m in!” “By the way, my name is Reese.” “You already know our names I suspect, right?” “Not yours. What’s your name?” “I’m-” “She’s Mary,” Rosie answered before I could say anything. I had a new friend that day, and I was glad.
At home, I told my mom and my three siblings about my day, and how my new friend had been locked in a closet. I told them everything that happened, including when I spilled ice tea on my shirt. Everyone thought I threw up, but Rosie and Reese comforted me.
For dinner, we had a lot of food all from our back yard, or our grandfather’s farm, including lemonade, bread with our homemade strawberry jam, pumpkin bread, banana bread, and corn bread, along with beet juice, milk from grandpa’s cow, the freshest eggs, our perfect salad, and pork which we got at the farm, and gave it to a butcher to sell, as long as he gave us part of the pig, which he did, so he made a lot of money with grandpa’s pig. We were going to have ice cream for dessert, but I was stuffed like a turkey on Thanksgiving.
The next day at school, we had Art Vista which is basically an art class. We were supposed to draw and color a fluffy hamster, because we were learning about texture, but mine looked like an alien from planet Gooptron. Ugh! I spent way too much time reading my brother’s comic books. Rosie’s looked like a normal, adorable hamster, whereas Reese’s looked like a princess bunny, which she said it was. Apparently, she thought we were supposed to draw rabbits. Ms. Lennox thought she was just goofing around, so she put Reese in detention! Poor Reese.
After school, Rosie and I had our first soccer practice. It was so exciting. My team was really good. Everyone was surprised when I was able to do a header “Perfectly.” I didn’t do it perfectly, and I don’t know how they could possibly think that. If I could do a perfect header, then instead of a soccer team for U-10, I would probably be a professional. Just because I practiced with my brothers and sister, who were all very competitive, doesn’t mean I am a perfect player.
During the practice, we did a world cup. No, it was not the actual world cup. We just split into groups, and pick a country name. Then, we go against each other. We also did foot tricks like shuffling, taking, toe tapping, and more. It was super fun. The next day was Saturday, and I had my first ballet lesson (which Stacy recommended) with both Stacy, and Rosie. It was slow, but really fun. Plus, we got to wear really cute and frilly tutus. This year was going perfectly. Nothing could possibly go better, and before I knew it, I was having a Summer tea party with all of my 72 friends, including Amber. Infat, Amber is helping me write the story right now. I bet you want to know how we became friends. Well that one Amber can tell you. BTW, this will be in different handwriting:
Okay, hi. I am Amber. I know you’re probably thinking, “Boo! We hate Amber,” but I was only acting that way, because when I was little, my friend, my only friend left me for her new friend, named Mary Stetson, and so I got upset and started acting out, especially to my new friend, Mary Woodwork, because she had the same way, and I felt that she was mean, too, but let me tell you how Mary became my BFF. I was calling my old friend on the phone, Sarah Wong, the one who left me, and I wanted to know how she was doing, and she was on a vacation trip to Hawaii with Mary, and Mary woodwork watched me as I hung up the phone and started to cry. Mary tried to cheer me up, even though I had treated her horribly before, and I knew that I had just got a new best friend, plus more, because Mary introduced me to both Rosie, and Reese, and now we couldn’t be happier.
There you have it folks, Amber Brown telling you about the fourth grade news, a few years late, Amber! (laughing like crazy)
BYE