First day of school

My siblings and I had never been a part of the public school, not even pre-school or kindergarten as some home-schoolers had done. I was super excited; I had only read in fictional books what school would be like. I was nervous and shy. I knew a few people in my class from youth group but of course they ignored for the most part since I was the new kid and they all had their friends. My clingy friend was in my class and I was happy for that. I made friends pretty quick though. I remember sitting down to homeroom and the person behind me introduced herself and said we should decorate my binders because they were pretty plain (being brand-spanking new). One of the biggest adjustments for me was figuring what the teachers expected for homework assignments. I went overboard when answering questions, I would write paragraphs when a sentence was all that was needed. I struggled at keeping up when copying notes off of the board because I was used to having all the time I wanted to write slowly and neatly. I think it was during the first week of school, I got the dreaded call down to the counsellor's office during class. I was panicked; I thought my mom had set up the appointment since she was worried about how we were coping with the separation and starting school. I didn't want anyone to know what was going on at home and the thought that a stranger knew was enough to make me want to puke. I went to the counsellor's office and it turned out that she just wanted to chat since I was a new student (it was a very small school). I told her everything was fine and I don't believe I told her anything about my family life. I was excelling in my classes despite my mom's doubts that our home-schooling was effective and comparable to our grade level. I was even a little bit ahead in math and that made me feel really good. I did not understand the concept of marking and grades haha. I was on the honour roll even though I had no idea what that meant even when my teacher tried to explain it to me. I liked being in a place with people my own age to interact with and to escape from my family life for just a few hours.