Trouble at a New School

By Gavin Ho

I loved Washington. The rainy weather, interesting places, and most of all, my friends. I thought that everything about my life was great. School was great, going home and being with my family, I was content where I was. If anyone asked me about moving, I would have probably laughed it off. 

I remember the day my Mom told us the news. She got a new job at Tesla. I didn’t really think much about it, until she said that we would have to move to California. Apparently, Tesla had their headquarters there. I didn’t want to leave for another state. I tried to convince my Mom to change her mind. On the last day of school, I finally broke the news to my friends. 

“Are you going anywhere over the summer?” One of my friends asked. We were sitting at the playground. I sighed, idly watching the other kids play soccer. 

“No, I’m actually moving to California,” I replied. 

“What?” My friend said, stunned. 

“I know, I’ve been trying to convince my mom not to go, but I don’t think it’s working,” I said with a look of defeat. 

I had been trying to convince my mom every chance I got. From small things like convincing her to work at a Tesla campus near town, to refusing to pack my bags. Nevertheless, we were still going to California. Nothing had changed. 

Finally the big day came. We loaded everything into a Honda that was as old as I was and headed for the airport. By the time we stepped on the plane, I accepted my fate, starting a new life in California. During the flight, I thought about my friends, what they were doing right now, and if they would miss me. Around the time my friends were probably sleeping, the cabin lights dimmed as the plane prepared to land in San Francisco. 

The next week passed in a blur. I was unaccustomed to our new house and the sweltering heat of Palo Alto, California. Our house was a one-story, run-down brick house in the middle of a windy street. Oh yes, and our house was filled with boxes, lots of boxes. It wasn’t until the start of the next school year that we had unpacked everything. 

Going to a new school was terrifying. I realized that I would have to accept the harsh reality of going to school without my friends and not having a good time. Those first couple of days at school, I sat at a lunch table by myself. Watching the other kids chatting around me, I realized that if I wanted to be like them, I would need friends. 

In the coming days, I made friends with my classmate Tomaz. Most people in the school thought Tomaz was a nerd. He excelled in math and science and had skipped a grade. When I first became acquainted with Tomaz, I remembered that he printed out hard math problems to solve during lunch. We became friends because I found out that he played Minecraft. On top of that, I also liked math and science. Lunch at school turned into conversations with Tomaz about Minecraft or an interesting math concept. Things were going great.

One of my classmates, James, saw Tomaz differently. James was, to put it frankly, very popular. He, like many people, thought Tomaz was a nerd. Only, James didn’t just think that, he called Tomaz that. When James started teasing Tomaz, everyone else did as well. I thought that the teachers would put a stop to it, but they didn’t seem to notice. Then, some people realized that Tomaz and I were friends and pulled me into the chaos.

I quickly realized that I couldn’t be friends with Tomaz. With the majority of the grade agreeing with James, the chances were very unlikely that I would fit in. I really couldn’t decide on what to do. On the one hand, Tomaz was my friend, and I didn’t want to leave him. On the other hand, there were a lot of people in the school that didn’t like me because of this. In the end, I decided to leave Tomaz. He was a great friend, there was no doubt about that. I just couldn’t take the constant teasing that I face from others. 

I came to the realization that this was not the right choice. I was back to where I was before, lost and unhappy at school. Instead of being able to socialize with Tomaz during lunch, sat elsewhere, watching others bully him. I left Tomaz, thinking that I would enjoy my experience at school. This was the exact opposite of that. 

Each day, watching Tomaz get bullied, I started to wonder whether I was happier with him, or in my current situation. Even if I wanted to be friends with Tomaz again, people would tease me again, and possibly even look at me worse than before. 

I realized that if being friends with Tomaz made me happy, then that’s what I should do. Even if others thought differently, it didn’t matter, because at the end of the day, I was the one making my decisions, and they couldn’t do anything about it. 

As I started to stand up to the bullying, people in the school snapped into the realization that what they were doing was wrong. Slowly, the bullying and teasing stopped. For a while, James’ popularity was null and void. I took this opportunity to reach out to others, making more friends. I walked out of fourth grade happy with what I had achieved, even after I moved to a new school. Those people I made friends with, including Tomaz, are still in contact with me today. I learned that no matter what other people think about me, I should always stand for what I believe in, and never give up.