Original Writing - first day at school
Original Writing – first day at schoolMemory One“Hello, Emily. Do you want to come upstairs? Follow me.”I obediently followed the strange man up the stairs, turning nervouslyto wave to my mum. She smiled encouragingly and waved back.“You’ll be fine,” she mouthed.“Please let me be liked.” I wished with all my heart. “Please don’tlet any one bully me.”We walked swiftly along a corridor, classrooms on either side, turneda corner and entered a large classroom. I stared around, bewildered.None of the classrooms were as big as this in my junior school inMilton Keynes!“You can sit over there,” the man said. I sat down and looked at theteacher. He started to talk about how long he had been at the school.He was balding, and what little hair he had left was grey; he also hada grey beard. I hoped his personality wasn’t grey too.I looked down at the graffiti-covered desks. They were the sort thatthe Victorians had, so the lift-up lids creaked but at least you hadyour own space to put things. “So, Emily, tell me something about yourself.” Mr Troman’s deep,rumbling voice disturbing my brief daydream.“Uh…um…” I mumbled, unsure as to what he had said. I warned myself topay attention to my surroundings from now on.“What about your favourite animal?”I ran my hands over the graffiti, tracing the lines with my fingers.“Horses.” I mumbled again, not looking at him, then kicked myself. “Situp straight.” I wanted to make the right impression. I could havestarted up a conversation about how I ride every weekend without fail,and how I wanted to work with horses when I am
older. But instead Ijust mumbled.“Right,” he answered.I turned at the sound of the white door opening. “White means purity,”I thought. Did this mean I was going to be ok?A huge group of people swarmed into the room. Swarmed like bees. Beesswarming around their hive. Me.“Be quite now!” Mr Troman ordered. I trembled.The bees swarmed over by the blackboard and stared at me. Their nextvictim.“So,” Mr Troman started. The bees shifted position to look at him.“Anyone interested in horses?”A few children raised their hands. Three of the children stood out tome like three red poppies in a sea of buttercups. One ...
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older. But instead Ijust mumbled.“Right,” he answered.I turned at the sound of the white door opening. “White means purity,”I thought. Did this mean I was going to be ok?A huge group of people swarmed into the room. Swarmed like bees. Beesswarming around their hive. Me.“Be quite now!” Mr Troman ordered. I trembled.The bees swarmed over by the blackboard and stared at me. Their nextvictim.“So,” Mr Troman started. The bees shifted position to look at him.“Anyone interested in horses?”A few children raised their hands. Three of the children stood out tome like three red poppies in a sea of buttercups. One girl had put herhand up. She had blonde hair tied up in a tight ponytail. She had aslight frown – she wasn’t smiling. She looked like the sort of girlyou wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of – a bully. Please don’tpick her, I wished, crossing my fingers. The next was a pretty girlcalled Leanne. She was laughing at some joke someone next to her hadtold her and she looked really friendly. Her brown hair was tied backin a ponytail and she looked less menacing then the first girl. But,to my disappointment, I noticed she didn’t have her hand up. The lastperson that stood out to me was the most georgeous guy I had everseen. I could hear my mother’s voice in my head; “Trust her to belooking at boys straight away!” I smiled to myself. The guy had shortblonde hair that was spiked up and his eyes were a wonderful darkshade of blue. I wished he had his hand up but he didn’t. I would haveto work my magic on him later.“Caley, go and sit next to Emily. She is new here and I want to makeher feel welcome.”Hearing the teacher’s voice again I turned to see who he had picked.To my dismay he had picked the bully! He then placed everyone else inthe class while my nerves got even worse. I cheered up a bit thoughwhen I realised he had placed Leanne on my table.“Hey, I’m Caley, it’s spelt strangely: C–A-L-E-Y. Sorry, I’m natteringabout nothing! So you like horses? I kind of do.” Caley spoke to me,her voice bubbly and reassuring, her eyes sparkling. So maybe I hadbeen wrong about her. I was taken aback by her, as she was not what Ihad been expecting, and it took me a while to realise I was supposedto answer her.“Uh…Yeah I ride,” I answered nervously.“So,” Leanne piped up, “I’m Leanne, but call me Lenny ’coz I hate thename Leanne. Seen any guys you like yet?”“Don’t be silly Lenny, Emily has only just got here and you’re alreadybugging her about boys!” Caley stopped me from answering, but spokewith good humour to Lenny.“No, it’s OK,” I said, more confident now, “he’s kind of OK.” Ipointed at the blonde.“Matt, he’s cool. We’ll have to get you two together. He has noticedyou and when Matthew Smith notices you it means he wants to get toknow you more!” Lenny said excitedly.Caley sighed and shook her head, laughing. I smiled, wondering why Ihad ever worried and feeling slightly guilty that I had misjudged her.Memory Two“Hi Em. Are they new? And the hat? Very exciting. You’ll need the hattoday, you will never guess who you are riding!”I laughed, holding my head slightly higher in my pride.“Yes, they are new,” I bent down and gave my new black leatherhalf-chaps a loving stroke. “So is the hat. Who am I riding then?”“Conker.” Lou laughed.My stomach lurched. “W -What’s wrong that?” I stumbled over my words,secretly dreading riding probably the naughtiest pony in the wholeyard of twenty horses. However, I wouldn’t show my anxiety.“His tack is over there with his grooming kit!” Lou pointed, ignoringmy question. Tacking up was easy enough. I had groomed and tackedConker up plenty of times.“Hello, gorgeous boy,” I tried to hide my worries as I pushed a straywisp of bronze hair from my face. The bay pony pushed his pretty Romannose into my hand, searching for a carrot. I laughed nervously,pushing him away and getting to work on his coat with the brushes.A couple of minutes later I led the now shining, fully tacked up ponyout of his stable. Lou smiled at me.“Good luck.”“Yep.” Suddenly I was determined to make Conker behave himself,allowing me a good ride. I took a deep breath and vaulted onto hisback. With a burst of energy, he immediately trotted up the yard, hisshiny hooves clip-clopping loudly. I tried as hard as I could to sitto his bouncy trot.“If you are worried, the horse you are riding will feel it and makefun of you…” My riding instructor’s voice from years ago rang in myears as if she were standing right next to me. I took another deepbreath.“Right, we are going to canter now,” the escort said, “Em hold ontight to Conker, don’t let him buck.”I knew what the little pony was capable of. I nodded to the escort,Nick, and gathered up the reins. Immediately I felt the telltale signsof Conker bunching himself up to buck. “No way” I thought and grittedmy teeth, pushing him on with my legs, refusing to let him mess mearound like he did everyone else who worked at the stables. I wasdetermined that we would both enjoy this ride. Soon enough we bothrelaxed and he cantered, seemingly carelessly across the fields.“Now this next canter is very fast, and my advice is; only come if youare very confident with your horse.” Nick raised his voice from thefront. I smiled and took Conker off to join the others, getting readyfor the fast canter. He pranced excitedly.“Ssh. Calm down!” I whispered to him. But I was excited too; I hadnever done this canter before. As we all took off like greyhoundracers I realised that all the larger horses were galloping off infront, and Conker was striving to join them.“Go for it.” I leaned forward, urging him on and giving him his head.It felt like we were eagles soaring through the sky. I had never goneso fast in my life.As soon as we returned to the stables, I vaulted off Conker’s back andthrew my arms around his neck, giving him a kiss at the same time. Henuzzled my pockets for food and whickered at me. I laughed; fishingout a carrot and letting his velvety lips take it from my hand.“Come on then, lets put you to bed for a well-earned rest.” I had beenwrong about him after all.Both of these memories show a person experiencing anxiety and worryingabout something – the first day at school and the first time ridingConker – that in the end turns out to be perfectly fine, and theperson actually enjoys the new experiences. These anxieties andworries often occur in everyday life, and I have learnt not to letfear of the unknown – which often is all that it is – stop me fromdoing something.These memories also show that appearances can be deceptive and it isbest to be open minded and objective, rather than worrying about eachnew experience before it arrives.
