New in America 2

In the classroom, I had no idea what was going on. I had no idea what the teacher was saying. After a week, the teacher handed out quizzes. I had no idea what was written on the piece of paper. I just looked at my neighbor's quiz and copied his answers. Over time, the teacher obviously suspected that I was cheating. One time, after I had copied all my answers from a Korean student next to me, the teacher followed me to the bathroom. I think she asked me if I was cheating, and I shook my head.

I was so ashamed. How was I supposed to respond? I was afraid that they would send me back to pre-school. I would be the only nine year old in pre-school...

The next time I cheated, I was a bit more discreet. Instead of copying all the answers, I copied about 80 percent of them. For the other 2 questions, I chose 2 completely random answers. This would surely fool the teacher.

Meanwhile, the students were really nice to me. They were playing a game of football, and they passed to me and I caught it. I had no idea what sport I was playing. What a relief! I remember 2 students with names like Alice or Becky. They asked me what I had gotten on a quiz and I proudly answered 80 or 90. They liked me, I thought. There was one blue-eyed, blonde guy who sat next to me. He was so nice to me and so kind. He asked me lots of questions, and I just smiled back at him. I don't know. I was blissfully happy.

Back home, I watched a lot of cartoons. Bugs Bunny, Wily Coyote, Daffy Duck, and Road Runner amused me. They were so wacky.

One day, I went to school and something was amiss. The blonde, blue-eyed guy was accusing me of stealing his pencils. He dropped his pencils on the floor all the time so I took some of them since he never picked them up. Why was he so angry with me? I offered to give him back the pencils. I think he said that he didn't care. He became less warm toward me. He wouldn't chat with me like before. I felt the distance in his eyes.