The Adopted Daughter

Chicago Middle School welcomed all returning and new sixth grade students for another school year 2013-2014. Being the youngest in my class and the only mixed colored race student in the class, and at the age of 10 wasn’t exactly the best way to start my school year and to top it all, Jaime and Chris were not in my classroom for sixth grade. Although, Cynthia and Carl were in the same class, it still was not going to be the same without Jaime and Chris.

Our classroom teacher Mr. Simpson, a very tall well built with dark black hair and a mustache gave me the impression that he was not the friendly type, was more of a student and teacher relationship, and after listening to his opening speech on the first day of school including the rules, was quite sure that this was going to be one of the most interesting beginnings of my middle school journey. Sadly the only time I was able to see and meet Jaime and Chris was during recess, lunch time, Spanish class and after school when were going home and on the weekends when we would meet up and do our homework together. Although we were all in separate classes, the lesson content we learned was all the same across sixth grade, thus working together on our homework and projects was straightforward and easy with some occasions when I didn’t understand some math and science concepts. It was good having them around on the weekends to help me with my homework.

Our parents were not very happy at all when they found out we were in separate classes in sixth grade especially Mrs. Anders who had even spoken to the principal about moving Jaime, Chris and I into the same classroom but despite all her efforts including both Chris’s parents and my parents, nothing changed and we all remained in the assigned classrooms. It was quite tough for me because I was the only mixed colored race student in the classroom and it was sometimes difficult working with some of the students as they were not kind and friendly. I told myself that “Diana, if they don’t want to work with you that is fine, as long as you don’t get into any trouble, participate well in and out of class, complete and submit your homework on time, all shall be good.” I had come to learn that a lot of the students had their own social circle of friends and it was difficult fitting in any of the circles, was almost like a competition, it was either you had to beg to get accepted, or you had to have some sort of status not just you but including your family. I told myself “I would rather just hang out with Jaime and Chris when we had time than stress myself trying to prove to people that I have the status and the intelligence that can enable me to fit into their social circle.

There were times when Mr. Simpson would have us do group projects for science, social studies and language arts which was my worst fear, as it was already clear who wanted to work with whom and why….which for me didn’t bother me but what was quite concerning and alarming was how Cynthia and Carl choose to behave, I was left speechless. I would have thought that when we were in elementary the fact of how we all got along quite well, did group works and even hang out together during some recesses, we were already good buddies, but that all changed right in front of my very own eyes when they decided not speak to me, not involve me in any of their social circle stuff or want to work with me in any of their group projects. I was quite shocked, even told Jaime and Chris about it. They wanted to speak to Carl and Cynthia about it but I told them “don’t waste your time, it is not worth it, they have already decided which side of the team they belong too and it was very clear.” Jaime and Chris were very shocked and they decided they were never going to speak to them ever again which meant all the way even in high school. After this incident, we never spoke to any of them again, even in my class and that was the end of the topic.

I had spoken to my parents about my ongoing adventure and mishaps in sixth grade which did raise some concerns to my parents. Nevertheless, I said to them “mum, dad don’t worry about all this or about me, everything is going to be fine.” “You have always told me that if people don’t want to be my friends, I should never beg, I did nothing wrong and should have nothing to worry about, as long as I don’t cause any problems or gossip about anyone should have nothing to worry or fear.” The fact of knowing that I had Jaime and Chris in the same school was already good enough for me and I had nothing to worry about.

Mr. Simpson had already noticed how a lot of the students in our class didn’t want to work with me on the group projects, but they had no choice, and I was assigned to a group that had four people, me being the fifth addition to the group. Of course I could already sense that I was not welcomed and they were not planning on being friendly. Having sensed that I got the courage to lay this on the table “listen, I don’t care if you like me or not, or if you want to talk to me or not, I am just here to do the assigned project, do whatever needs to be done for the group and prepare to present it and get my grade.” Everyone in the group was in utter shock, but after making that statement loud and clear, we worked on the project; I was assigned some tasks which were pretty straightforward, there were times we each had to give comments on the questions and prompts that would be used for the presentation. I gave my opinion with the intent of knowing it was not going to be well received, but surprisingly it was well taken and used for the presentation. When it came to doing the presentations, we each had our part to present, as I had already practiced and was ready to do the presentation, I did it without the help of my group members and was even able to answer questions from Mr. Simpson and my classmates. In the end most of the entire group projects that I did in sixth grade got either an A- or an A which was good enough for me, as long as I passed and with positive comments that was all that mattered.

The after school activities were going quite well even better than my regular classes, I still continued with art club, archery both in and out of school, debate club and two new additional clubs; journalism and badminton club. Archery and badminton clubs were twice a week, debate club, and journalism were once a week. I would always look forward to joining my after school activities as that was the only time I felt free, felt myself and what was great about taking part in these activities was that everyone enjoyed the activities, they were very friendly, kind and helpful. For the entire summer vacation since fifth grade had spent going on summer camps with Jaime and Chris focusing on my archery and badminton skills since these would be the two biggest activities that I would continue even in high school.

Although my first year in middle school ended on a positive note; getting good scores, good grades, staying out of trouble and still being able to hang out with Chris and Jaime, participating in great classroom activities and after school activities was truly awesome. Despite all that there were still some issues that were quite worrisome and I had already feared for the worst and what was yet to come moving on to seventh grade next fall.