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Shiloh fit right in as one of the boys. The second he saw them playing catch, he reached deep in his backpack and pulled out a glove. We all liked him the first we saw him, especially Jake. Jake loves competition, and always finds some. When Shiloh pulled out a glove, he remarked, “You play ball, huh? How about a game of catch; you vs. me.”
Shiloh agreed, obviously not knowing what he was getting into. The game would be hard enough, since he was playing against Jake, but even harder since we had to keep walking in order to get to school on time. On the first throw, Jake pitched the ball as hard as he could, yet Shiloh caught it easily, and mirrored Jake’s throw back. This went on for a few throws. Finally, Jake caught the ball, walked up to Shiloh and shook his hand.
Jake accepted him, he being the automatic leader. Now he was in the gang.
Now, a perfect fairy tale would have ended there, and Shiloh and Shayna would have become the best of friends with us. But no. I wish it ended there, then I wouldn’t have gone through all of this.
The game of ball was over, so Nat, Jess, Riley and I started talking again. Suddenly, Jess nudged me and pointed behind us. The boys (including Shiloh) were talking about something, probably sports, while Shayna hung grouchily by her brother’s side. Jess raised her eyebrows at us, as if to say, So, are you gonna go over and talk to her?
Natalie, Riley and I looked at each other. Natalie shrugged, to say, Whatever you guys want to do.
Riley looked at me and shook her head. I did the same. Shayna probably liked the same things we did. Couldn’t she just come over and talk with us?
It never appeared to me that Shayna might be shy.
After seeing our shaking heads, Natalie started to do the same, but Jess nudged her, and Natalie shrugged, as if to say, What can I do?
Jess and Natalie walked over to Shayna and started talking to her. At first Shayna just listened to my friends try to make conversation, but soon she was joining in, talking about something or another.
I watched them chat. When I was little I always had wished I was more like Jess. But then in first grade Riley and Natalie had been in our class, and I had started hanging out with Riley more, so I forgot all about being so friendly like Jess. But as a saw her pointing things out to the new girl, I realized why I had always admired her. She was so friendly and agreeable that she could make anyone her friend, even the biggest bullies. That’s the only reason I escaped Anderson Emberly, the biggest bully in third grade.
But I didn’t know how I could just walk over and start talking to her. I knew I would just embarrass myself.
Embarrassing myself would have been a lot better consequence.