#nbtw

Change. It was something Mae Borowski knew an awful lot about at such a young age. It may make her mom, dad, and granddad laugh when she says it. But Mae, even at the age of six, knew a whole lot about change. After all, it was almost every week her mom or dad would change the cereal.

Sometimes Mae would like what was in the cabinet, other times she wouldn’t. Then there were the times her granddad would change the story he’d tell her before bed, but most times Mae liked the stories he told her. She honestly couldn’t think of a time she didn’t like his stories.

But there was one thing she didn’t like, and it was the fact she had to go to school. She thought that only rich kids like Bea, or that one kid in Girl Scouts with the piercings and fancy toys, go to school. Not someone like Mae. So, the young Cat looked away from the car window which was being dotted by the rainy mist that had rolled in from the Great Lakes and at her mom to ask her a question “Mom. Why do I have to go to school? Only rich kids go there. And I’m supposed to be the tough kid! Who can wrestle any wild animal to the ground! Not a school kid.”

Candy never took her eyes off the road for anything. Not even when Mae asked her always very important questions. Which was odd to her, after all, her mom did say that she had eyes on the back of her head and that was how she was able to see Mae do something she’s not supposed to behind her back.

So why can’t she look away from the road? Maybe it would just be uncomfortable or something like that. Even still, Candy did answer her daughter’s question “Because Mae dear, everyone needs a proper education. It’s how you make a nice living for yourself when you get older. Besides, you might just get to make some new friends there! You might just get to see some of your old ones too! Didn’t Bea tell you she was going to be starting school a little earlier than you?”

Mae nodded a little “Yeah.. She did.”

She then huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest “But I don’t want new friends. I like the friends I have. Bea’s nice and funny.”

Candy nodded “Yes I know, you’ve told me that many times before sweetie. But Mae, doesn’t it seem like Beatrice is your only friend right now? Don’t you think you could use maybe one or two more friends?”

Mae rolled her eyes “Mom, she likes to be called Bea, not Beatrice... And.. I guess it would be nice to have more people to play with... B- But I’ve already got another friend that isn’t Bea!”

Her mom raised an eyebrow “Really? Who?”

Mae grinned “Granddad!”

Candy just chuckled a little and shook her head “I should’ve already guessed that.”

She then regained her more mom like serious attitude before continuing “But what I meant was more friends around your age dear.”

Mae just sighed a little “...Alright... I guess I can try.”

Candy smiled “That’s all I’m asking for sweetie.”

With that, Mae returned to the silence of the car ride towards Possum Spring’s very own school which housed grade one up till high school. It was quite a ways away from where the Borowski family lived, it almost felt like they had drove right out of Michigan a few times! But sadly, the end of their little car ride appeared not long after Mae decided she’d try and make new friends at school.

Pulling up to the school’s front steps, Mae unbuckled her seat belt and reached down for her back pack full of very essential items. Note books, pencils, her favorite toy, a book her granddad had given her a few weeks ago, and some random junk she had forgotten to clean out of it. With it now on her back like a backpack should be, Mae opened up the car door and hopped out of it and onto the pavement.

Before she could walk up to the school’s doors though, Candy rolled down the driver side door’s window and poked her head out of it “Have a good first day of school Mae, I love you.”

Mae nodded “Love you too mom.”

With that done, Candy returned her head to where it should be, rolled up the window, and drove off. Not only that, but Mae also got to walk up the short set of steps up towards the school’s front double doors and headed on inside. If Mae was alone and not in public, she’d say that she was a little scared about her first day of school. After all, she didn’t know where her classroom was at all! Luckily though, a nice man wearing what looked to be a janitor’s outfit with a bit of a short scruffy beard led her to the classroom safely.

Another thing Mae was silently scared off was the other kids. Mae has never been to good when it comes to talking to new people. After all, it was Bea who approached Mae first and not the other way around. So seeing all of these kids in one room was kind of... Scary for her. Luckily, all she had to do was focus on the teacher and everything would be a-okay. The teacher herself was a grey furred Rabbit who wore your average teacher clothes and had your average teacher smile.

Not to say Mae knew what an average teacher looked like, she just knows what one might look like from the shows and movies she watches. Once the teacher and other kids were all settled in for their first day of school, the lady picked up a piece of chalk and wrote her name out on the chalk board behind her. Which read out “Ms. Nat” and after she wrote that out she turned to face the rest of the people in the room and said “Greetings students! Today, as some of you know already, is the first day of school here for many people. I myself am new here too, so my hope is that you will treat both me and the new students as though we’ve been her since the beginning.”

She then clasped her hands together before continuing “Now then! I will be choosing one of our new students out at random to introduce themselves before we get started with today’s lesson! Doesn’t that sound fun?”

Some nodded, most ignored her though. Even still, Ms. Nat scanned around the room before making the worst possible decision she could have made in her entire time here at this school. At least, in Mae’s opinion, “Ms. Borowski! Please, come on up here and introduce yourself.”

The small Cat widened her eyes in shock before nodding and standing up. Silently, she walked towards the front of the room before reaching Ms. Nat’s side and turning to face the other kids. All of their eyes were on here, and she didn’t feel very comfortable about it. Ms. Nat then looked down at Mae and gave her a smile “Go ahead and tell everyone your name and work from there.”

Mae nodded and took in a deep breath “H- Hello... My name is Margaret Borowski and-”

But before she could continue, someone cut her off. Mae couldn’t see who, but she knew that they said “Wait a second. Margaret? Isn’t that a old lady’s name?”

Some of the other kids started to join in on this “Yeah!”

“My grandma’s named Margaret!”

“If she’s got a old lady’s name then what does are her parent’s names?”

Ultimately, Ms. Nat silenced the children and Mae returned to her with tears in her eyes. For the rest of the day nothing much happened. At least, until recess. When the time had come for that period in the school day to start Mae went straight for the swing set and plopped herself right there on one of the seats all alone. She was still hurt by what the other kids had said, so hurt in fact, she didn’t even notice the other kid sit on the seat next to her until he said “Hey.”

Mae looked over to the kid on her left, he was an orange furred Cat with green eyes that looked to be maybe a year or so older than Mae. She just looked away after inspecting him a little and returned to moping “What do you want? Why would you want to be around a six year old with a grandma’s name?..”

The boy just shrugged “Because no one wants to be around me.”

Mae looked back at him and raised any eyebrow in slight confusion “What do you mean?”

He sighed “They say my name’s to girly for a boy... I guess they’re right... What boy is named Casey Hartley.”

Mae smiled a little “I kinda like that name. Better than Margaret Borowski.”

Casey shook his head “no. I like Margaret too. My grandma is named Margaret like you, she’s smart so I bet you are too.”

At first, Mae was hurt that Casey said he had a grandma named Margaret, but then he said that Mae would probably be smart herself. That made her feel good. Her smile turned more happy than before “Thanks Casey!”

Then an idea of what she could say to him came into mind. But the real question was, should she? Should she just randomly ask this question she so suddenly thought up? Turns out, she did want to “H- Hey... So my mom wants me to have more friends around my age, a- and I said I would try and do that.. And well... Do you... Want to be friends?”

Casey nodded “Sure, that sounds like fun.”

Mae smiled from ear to ear “Really?! Thank you so much Casey!”

She then let out an excited gasp “I have a great idea! Let’s go play on that big play set!”

As she spoke Mae pointed towards the large playground near the back of the schoolyard. Casey nodded, smiling himself “Yeah, let’s do it!”

With that, they both got off of the swing set and ran towards the playground. Once there, they’d have a lot of fun playing all sorts of games. It seemed as though making a new friend was just the boost of happiness that Mae needed to get through the rest of the day friendly and cooperative. So when the time for her to head home rolled around, Mae was just a little reluctant to go home.

Candy, who was standing outside of her running car, motioned for Mae to come over. But her daughter hesitated and turned to look at Casey, who was still up on the top of the school’s small set of steps “Where are your mom and dad?”

He shrugged “Working. But you should go home. I’ll be fine.”

Mae nodded a little before heading off towards her mom, who of course, asked if Casey was her new friend. Which Mae happily said “Yes!” in response to. That also made Candy happy, and as they were pulling away from the school, she said to Mae “As a special treat for being the big girl I know you could be and getting through your first day of school safe and sound as well as making a new friend, I got you a little something. Check in between your seat’s cushion.”

Mae was already digging through the crack between her seat’s cushion and the seat next to her before her mom could finish, and what she pulled out was a whole candy bar of her favorite brand. She gasped in surprise “Is this all for me?!”

Candy nodded and Mae smiled wide “Thank you so much!”

Her mom smiled, and they continued on their drive home. Maybe school, and change, wasn’t that bad after all. It could’ve been worse. She could’ve been changed into a witch by Ms. Nat. She was to nice to not have something to hide. Mae knew it. Just like how she knew her house was haunted. After all, her granddad said so. Even still, Mae could see now that she could keep up her tough attitude and be a school girl at the same time. She liked that, she liked Casey, and she kinda liked school too.