Sofia had decided that cereal was her favorite breakfast, save for pancakes. She loved cereal so much. Just not with milk. The milk made it soggy. But just plain cereal was delicious. 

"Momma," she asked, "Can I have some juice?"

"Of course." Her mom opened the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of orange juice. She poured some in a glass for Sofia. Another thing Sofia loved was orange juice. 

Once Sofia finished her breakfast, she went into the bathroom to brush her hair and teeth. Once her breath smelled like mint and the taste of breakfast was gone from her mouth, Sofia hopped out of the bathroom and skipped back into the kitchen. 

The first week of school had come and gone, leaving Sofia friendless, but she still had fun. Today was Monday, and Sofia's mother looked nervous. Sofia guessed that it was because of that job she had told Sofia about. The one at the bookstore. Sofia couldn't wait to learn how to read so she could buy a book at the store so her mom could get more money. She would just have to borrow a couple dollars from her mom to buy a book because she didn't have any money. 

"I'm ready to go Momma," she said, picking up her backpack from where it sat by the door.

"Let's go," her mom replied, opening the door. Sofia skipped over to the car, the ice in her water bottle making a clacking sound. Her mom opened Sofia's car door, and she jumped in, wishing she was a fairy so she wouldn't have to jump anymore. She could just fly into the car, or even fly to school. That would be cool. 

When they got to the school, Sofia climbed up next to her mom, and gave her a big hug. 

"Have fun at school Sof," her mom said.

"I will have a lot of fun, Momma." Sofia climbed back to her chair, and used her fairy magic to open to door (She actually just pressed a button, but she liked to keep that a secret). 

Sofia hopped out of the car, waved at her mom, and walked up to the blacktop. The screaming sound- the bell - rang throughout the schoolyard right as Sofia reached her line. Perfect timing. Sofia stood in her spot at the end of the line, and waited for Mr. Williams. He emerged from the classroom, and lead the class inside. Sofia took her seat, and was ready to start the day. 

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Ms. Martin didn't know why she was so nervous. She was being silly and childish. It was only the first day of her new job. She didn't need to worry. She would be fine. And besides, she always worked better when she was surrounded by books. In school, she considered books to be her friends because, well, she just wasn't the type of person to make friends. She did have one friend though, in high school. One friend who loved books as much as she did, and didn't mind long stretches of silence, devoid of conversation. But of course, she went to a different college than Ms. Martin had. And they just stopped talking. Ms. Martin hadn't had a true friend for a long time after that. Not until Denver. But, like her high school friend, he left as well. And she would never see him again. 

Ms. Martin shook the memories out of her head. Now was not the time to be distracted. She needed to be totally focused today. She needed to make a good impression. Ms. Martin tightened her grip on the steering wheel, and fixed her eyes on the road ahead. 

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Sofia sat in her chair, happily drawing. Mr. Williams had told them to draw a picture of themselves on the first day of school. Sofia was so happy, she felt like the world just got brighter. She loved drawing. She finished drawing herself, and decided to add more to the picture because it looked too plain. She added some grass and a tree and a school in the background. She even drew in the sky and the sun. She noticed that her bright yellow sun looked like the color of Tracy's hair when the light shone on it. 

"All right kiddos," Mr. Williams said to the class, "Time to turn in your drawings! Remember to put them in the blue bin, not the red one."

Of course, there were a bunch kids who put their drawings in the red bin, so, when Sofia went to turn in her picture, she took the papers and put them in the blue bin. She noticed with horror that some kids had drawn themselves with purple faces and red eyes. That was not what a person was supposed to look like. 

"Thank you Sofia, for putting those pictures in the right basket," Mr. Williams said, sounding pleased. Sofia beamed, but her smile faltered when she heard Tracy and Fire-haired girl giggling at her behind her back. She didn't like it when they did that. It made her feel really, really small. 

Sofia walked back to her seat, and waited for Mr. Williams to tell the class what to do next. 

"Okay kiddos, Carpet Time!" He said, with enthusiasm. 

A little bit of Sofia's cheer returned. She loved Carpet Time. She absolutely loved it. 

Today, Mr. Williams read a book about an ugly duckling. Sofia already knew this story, but she enjoyed in anyways. She loved how at first nobody liked the duckling because he was ugly, but then it turned out that when he grew up, he was really pretty. And Sofia liked ducks and swans. She also liked the color green. Green was a really pretty color. 

Mr. Williams asked them questions about the book. He asked them what happened in the story, and who was in the story. Sofia knew all of the answers, and Mr. Williams even called on her a couple times! Sofia got it right every time, and she was happy. 

Then, the bell rang, and it was time for snack recess. Sofia walked over to her backpack, and dug her snack out of her lunchbox. She walked outside to the benches with the rest of the class, and took her usual spot at the end. She quietly ate her snack, and was about halfway finished, when Tracy and Fire-haired girl came up to her. 

"We want to sit here." Tracy said, in her high pitched, bossy voice.

"Yeah." Said Fire-haired girl. Sofia really needed to figure out her name

"I'm not done with my snack yet."

"We still want you to leave."

"But I always sit here." Sofia protested. She was starting to get mad. And sad. 

"That is why we want you to leave." Sofia looked at Tracy. She really didn't want to move. So she didn't. She stayed. 

"If you won't leave, I'll just finish your snack for you so you will move." With that, Tracy swiped up Sofia's bag of pretzels, and took them. Sofia stood up, enraged. How dare she do that? Was she out of her mind?

"Thank you for moving." Swiftly, Tracy slid into Sofia's seat, her hair like rays of sun. Fire-haired girl sat next to her, and they started giggling. Fuming, Sofia stormed off. She couldn't believe Tracy. She was so mean. 

Sofia sat down by a tree. She could hardly stand Tracy. She was horrible and rude and-

Before Sofia even knew it, she was crying. Tears trickled down her cheeks. At this rate, nobody would ever like her. All of the kids thought Tracy was so amazing, and if Tracy told them all that she didn't like Sofia, then maybe the rest of the class wouldn't like her either. Sofia would never, ever, ever find a friend. 

Finally, the bell rang again, and Sofia glumly made her way back to class. Even doing an art project couldn't boost her mood. 

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Mr. Williams watched as Sofia Martin sat alone on the bench. She was such a sweet girl, he didn't understand why none of the kids talked to her. It broke his heart to see her alone like that. Mr. Williams sighed, and returned to his work. He was looking over the drawings his kids had just turned in. He would definitely have to work on art with his students. He needed to remind his kids that people were not the color purple. He couldn't get too annoyed though, these were only kindergarteners. And it was their first week of school. By the end of the year, they would have improved so much, that they would know that people weren't purple, and you can't draw the legs at those strange angles. 

When Mr. Williams came upon Sofia's picture, he was astounded. The girl really had a knack for drawing. She was only in kindergarten, but her work was astonishing. The rest of his class could definitely learn from her. 

Mr. Williams looked up again, to see that Sofia had moved from her usual spot on the bench. Now Tracy and Angelina sat there instead. In fact, he couldn't see Sofia at all. Maybe she had finished her snack and went to the playground. But from what he had seen of her so far, she never finished her snack until after ten minutes had passed. It had only been five. 

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Ms. Martin raced from work to Sofia's school. Her shift ended just as Sofia would be getting out. She didn't want Sofia to worry that her mother wouldn't come to pick her up. Ms Martin got to school five minutes after the bell rang. She really needed to leave a little earlier next time. But she was actually enjoying herself. Her new co-worker was a really nice woman. She had respected Ms. Martin's silence, but had still made it a point to try and get to know her. 

Ms. Martin raced to classroom fourteen, hoping Sofia wasn't worried. Ms. Martin knew that five minutes wasn't a lot, but to a five year old, five minutes was a big deal. 

When she got to the classroom, Ms. Martin stopped in shock. Sofia's teacher, Mr. Williams, was speaking with Sofia and two other girls, a blonde and a red-head. Sofia was crying, and the blonde girl had her head bowed. The ginger girl looked angry. 

Ms. Martin decided not to come nearer to the group. They may be talking about something important. She also didn't want to come close because she was afraid of what she would hear. She was scared that Sofia had done something bad, or something bad had happened to her. 

Mr. Williams stopped talking to the girls, and the blonde girl said something to Sofia. Sofia smiled and said something in return. The blonde girl's face lifted, and she hugged Sofia. Sofia looked utterly surprised, but hugged the girl back. When it was the ginger girl's turn to face Sofia, she made a quick forced comment, and Sofia replied, but the girl didn't give Sofia the same warmth that the blonde girl had given Sofia. 

Ms. Martin thought this an okay time to interrupt, so she walked over to the front of the classroom. Mr. Williams smiled at her.

"You must be Sofia's mother." He said.

"Yes, I am."

"What is your name?"

"Lillian. Lillian Martin." Mr. Williams shook her hand

"Wonderful to meet you."

"And you as well." Ms. Martin smiled, and took Sofia's hand. 

"Can we go home now, Momma?" She asked

"Yes."

And together they walked back to the car, Sofia telling her about her new friend, Tracy, as they went.