#peronal narrative

Hours outside in the blistering sun can take a toll on someone, especially someone who burns before bronzes like I do. My long dark hair didn’t do anything to help with the heat, itching to be cut off in the upcoming year. But at Disneyland, the heat is something which is easily ignored. I’ve been to Disneyland a fair amount of times; my father gets in for free, as he works for ESPN, which is owned by Disney. But, well, what isn’t owned by Disney anymore? There was only one thing in the park I had yet to do before this trip.

Take pictures with the characters.

This was quickly amended. I used my little brother (He’s not my father’s son, but my dad likes him enough to let me bring him along, seeing as we were staying in the park for a few nights) as an excuse to get pictures with Stitch, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, Red and Lightning McQueen, and Captain America- the man my heart will forever belong to. Of course, there was one more character I had wanted my picture with for the longest time.

Tinkerbell.

So, with casual begging to my little brother, we found ourselves in line at Pixie hollow, sweat dripping, legs aching and feet blistering from three days of overuse.

Small little girls decorated in princess garb wearing exhaustedly grumpy expressions surrounded us on all sides, along with a fair amount of adults who shared my love of Disney. It made my brother moody, the fact his masculinity was suddenly being compromised, but I didn’t care. I knew he wouldn’t back out.

Finally, after long minutes, nearing an hour, had ticked away, dripping off the day like sweat droplets from near everyone’s bodies, we reached the front of the line. Still, no Tinkerbell yet. First was Silvermist, who I had no interest in, making the greeting with her rather awkward.

And then it happened. We were ushered away from Silvermist, and over to Tinkerbell. An absolute doll played her, lips painted pink, perfect skin, eyes which seemed to be every color. She was completely enchanting, and had no struggle keeping in character.

All too soon the pictures were taken and we were ushered away, me too star-struck to remember most the meeting.

            It was First Day of seventh grade, it was the student's orientation and I was trembling. I almost would want to cry because I knew no one there except for my sister, her friends, and my former elementary schoolmates which I was not close to by that time. I felt lost and scared because I was not ready to meet new people, and to socialize with them, felt like a horrifying idea. When the orientation was done we headed to our classrooms and I remember the hallways being crowded and full of freshmen. When I finally reached the front of my classroom, I stood there outside not wanting to go in. Not until a tall, fair skinned guy with a big smile busted open the door and pulled me inside of the classroom like he knows me. His name was Cj, and I reacted awkwardly to him, so I immediately searched for a vacant seat in the classroom to escape that awkward moment.

            It was dead quiet inside. The quietness was almost tangible, no rustle of clothing, breathing slow and barely audible, even the once creaking of the building settling was stilled as though to order.  The silence was broken when a long haired, American girl named Angelyn came up to us one by one to introduce herself and to ask our names while she was listing it. She spent her time doing that until our teacher came in.

           When the teacher finally came in, I felt a little bit more uneasy because I was always scared of teachers. He started introducing himself and he instructed us to do so too. I observed my classmates' actions and attitudes and started my mission to choose who will I be acquainting and befriending. I learned their cultural background and their family background and on that first day, I knew a handful of nice classmates.

           Fast forward to the second week of seventh grade and I already made new acquaintances which were really nice to me. On that second week we became close to each other and we were getting a lot louder, in a good way. We were getting to know each other more and our class was transforming into one.

           Third week and the few acquaintances I had, became my new friends. They were the nicest of friends that I can ever have. We shared stories, and told each other our background more elaborately.

           Then, a month was in, I became close to everyone and we made good memories. I ended up befriending all of them and knew that they were all nice and has a proper attitude. At the end, I learned that it may not be easy to choose friends at the start and it is hard to socialize with new strangers, but time will come, and a good friend will come at the right time and place.