Vye’s family had moved a long distance. That meant big changes for her. I hope I get a seat soon, she told herself as she stood next to her new teacher and in the front of classmates she was meeting for the first time. Look down, she told herself, trying not to fidget.
“Please sit and be quiet, everyone,” ordered the teacher, Ms. Humb.
As soon as the students sat, all eyes were on anxious Vye.
“As you know, Vye is new to our school. It’s not easy to move to a town in the middle of the school year. So, please be welcoming,” asked the teacher before turning to Vye. “A desk for you is coming noted the teacher.
Then, the principal unexpectedly opened the classroom door. “Excuse me,” she said the principal as she stepped inside the room. “I need to talk with you in the hall, Ms. Humb.”
Ms. Humb looked down at Vye. “Wait here,” said the teacher before turning to the class. “Stay in your seat and write in your journal, everyone.”
Once the teacher left the room, the students did what Vye hoped they wouldn’t do: They continued to look her way.
A curious girl a few feet away had a question for Vye. “You’re kinda plain, like me. But are you smart, like me?”
Wanting to be left alone, Vye shrugged.
“Don’t you know?” questioned the girl, wondering why anyone would let that be known.
Vye hesitated, then answered the girl. “I’m not stupid.”
A busybody sitting on Vye’s left spoke up next. “Do you play a musical instrument?” he asked.
“Uh-uh,” softly said Vye while glancing at the boy.
The nosy boy wasn’t about to leave Vye alone. “Do you sing or dance?” he asked.
“No,” briskly said Vye, continuing to wish she’d be left alone.
“You must be good at sports,” said a girl to Vye’s right as if playing a guessing game.
I wish they’d stop asking me stuff,, thought Vye, staying silent.
Remaining quiet didn’t help. Another boy continued the questioning. “Do you play soccer?”
I better answer, Vye told herself. “I’m too klutzy for physical stuff,” she answered.
Wanting to be right, a girl looking ready to pop out of her seat blurted a guess. “You’re good at writing poems. and stories, aren’t you?”
“Nope,” said Vye with a quick, but firm head shake.
“Are you good at drawing or at a craft?’ asked the boy in front of Vye.
Vye sighed before answering. “That’s a real big no.”
Tired of the guessing, a popular girl poked fun at Vye. “I know! You do magic. Disappear for us!” she loudly teased.
Hearing a few students chuckle, Vye tried to play along. “If I could, I would disappear,” she kidded, not surprised to find no one laughed.
A grinning boy in the back of the class then took his turn. “Like me, you’re good at getting into trouble, right?” he proudly asked.
Again aware of snickering, Vye was honest. “I’m too much of a scaredy-cat for that,” she noted.
“You have to be good at something,” added the same boy.
A girl who also saw herself without talent chimed in. “Maybe she hasn’t found what she’s good at yet.”
Vye fidgeted as she looked at the door and hoped the teacher would reenter, but the door stayed shut.
“Maybe you could be like my granny and get good at knitting,” mocked a boy proud of being a troublemaker.
The knitting crack caused several to giggle.
Upset by what was happening to Vye, the class misfit tried to be helpful. “If you have a dog, I could help you train it to do a trick or two. People think well of someone able to get a dog to do tricks,” he explained.
The popular girl didn’t miss the chance to ridicule. “I don’t think hanging out with an oddball who wants to help you teach your mutt to roll over is going to help you fit in,” she contended with a snicker, bringing about the loudest laughter yet.
Vye took a deep breath as she turned to the misfit boy. “Thanks for the offer, but I don’t have a dog. If I ever get one, I’d like your help,” she told him before again facing the others. “There is something I think I’m kinda OK at—something that let’s me feel good about myself she timidly noted.
“What’s that?” snarled the friend of the popular student.
“Yeah, what’s that?” said a sneering boy.
Vye glanced out the window.
“We won’t believe you unless you tell us what it is,” warned the popular girl.
“That’s OK,” finally said Vye, unable to think of a good reason to risk being laughed at again.
Then, the misfit boy again spoke up. “I’d very much like to hear what it is,” he told Vye.
Believing he was sincere, Vye took another full breath, then answered. “I’m OK at being nice,” she modestly shared.
The popular girl was quick to reply in a nasty tone. “That’s it! You feel good about yourself just because you think you’re nice. That’s dopey!” she claimed.
The misfit boy spoke up for Vye. “I think being nice makes someone as good as anyone else.”
“That’s because you’re dopey, too!” attacked the popular girl.
Though feeling he’d been put in his place, the boy replied. “Being nice makes, makes someone, makes someone good enough,” he stammered.
“Good enough for what?” asked the popular girl with a scowl before facing Vye and answering her own question. “Good enough to be a nicey-nice nobody.”
As several students laughed loudly. Vye briefly thought about telling the popular girl that no one should want to be liked because she’s not nice, but she knew saying that to the girl would be unkind. So, rather than see herself also not be nice, she turned and calmly gave the misfit boy a compliment. “You seem like a nice person to me—someone who’s kind and fair,” she told him.
The class troublemaker saw a chance to get everyone’s attention. “I guess that means we’ve got two nicey-nice nobodies among us!” he scoffed, enjoying the laughter that followed.
Again keeping herself from saying something she’d regret, Vye waited for quiet, then spoke meekly. “I’m not pretty or brainy or talented, and I’m not at all cool,” she admitted. Next, she turned to the misfit boy. “I agree with what you said: ‘Being nice makes someone good enough!’”
“Not that again,” said the popular girl with a smirk.
“Someone good enough deserves what counts,” answered Vye.
To everyone’s surprise, a slouching, very shy girl—someone who never spoke up—wanted Vye to say more. “What counts?” softly asked the girl.
Vye took a moment to choose her words, then spoke warmly. “Isn’t taking good care of our mind by seeing ourselves be kind and fair what counts?”
Everyone fell silent.
When the teacher finally came back into the classroom, she was pushing a desk for Vye. Scanning the class, Ms. Humb was pleased to find everyone writing in their journals. Some were jotting down how a new student had said about being good enough.
1. Why did Vye’s classmates want to know what Vye did well?
2. Why do many people believe it’s important to be really good at something?
3. Why are those who use putdowns sometimes popular?
4. Explain why you agree or disagree with what counts to Vye?
5. Do you think being nice (kind and fair) is the best way to take care of your mind? Explain your answer.