2- Jessica TRANSCRIPTION (Because of Mr. Terupt)

Act 1, Scene 1
The first day of school. I was nervous. Somewhat. The sweaty-palms-and-dry-mouth syndrome struck. This wasn’t surprising—after all, I was coming to a brand-new place. My mom and I had just moved all the way from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, over here in Connecticut. So it was my first, first day in Snow Hill School. My mom came to help me get settled.

We walked through the glass doors and beautiful entryway and stopped in the main office to ask for directions. A red-haired woman who proved to be exceptional at multitasking greeted us with a smile and a slight nod. She did this while the phone rested between her ear and shoulder, allowing her hands to scribble notes from a conversation she was having in her free ear with the brown-haired lady standing next to her. We waited. My fingers dug into the hard cover of my book.

“Hi. I’m Mrs. Williams, the principal.” This was the brown-haired lady speaking. She looked serious, all decked out in her business suit. “Welcome to Snow Hill School. Can I help you with anything?”

“We’re looking for Mr. Terupt’s room,” Mom said. “I’m Julie Writeman and this is my daughter, Jessica. We’re new in town.”

“Ah, yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you both. Let me show you the way.”

Mrs. Williams led us out of the office. I glanced at the secretary one more time. She’d be a great character in one of Dad’s plays, I thought. My dad directs small plays in California, where I still wanted to be.

“How are you today, Jessica?” Mrs. Williams asked.

“Fine,” I said, although that wasn’t really true.

We followed Mrs. Williams across the lobby and upstairs in search of my new fifth-grade classroom. The halls smelled stuffy but clean, like they’d just been disinfected. I wondered if the custodians had done that on purpose, to make a show of how clean their school was. I followed Mom down the blue-speckled carpet and past the rows of red lockers, where some kids were already unloading new supplies. I could feel all their eyes studying the new girl in town. After the stares came the whispers. My face burned.

“Here you are,” Mrs. Williams said. “This is your floor. There are four classrooms up here, all fifth grade, two on each side of the hall with the bathrooms right in the middle.” Mrs. Williams pointed as she spoke. “That’s your classroom.” She pointed again. “Room two-oh-two. Have a good first day.”

“Thank you,” Mom said. I just nodded.

Act 1, Scene 2
We walked into the classroom. The teacher looked up from his desk and smiled at us. The butterflies in my stomach fluttered as if I were on a Tilt-A-Whirl.

“Good morning. I’m Mr. Terupt,” the teacher said as Mom and I walked in. He came right over to greet us.

“Good morning,” Mom said back. “I’m Julie Writeman, and this is Jessica. I think she’s a little nervous being a new student.”

My tongue felt so swollen that I couldn’t talk. I settled on returning Mr. Terupt’s smile. It was a friendly one.

“Well, this is my first day, too. So I guess we’ll try to figure things out together,” he said.

My smile grew.

“Your seat is right over there at table two. You’re with Natalie, Tommy, and Ryan. Being near the windows should give you some good reading light. That’s a great book you have there, Jessica.”

I looked down at my book, A Wrinkle in Time. I rubbed my hand over the cover.

“I really like happy endings,” I said.

“Me too,” Mr. Terupt said. “I’ll do my best to give you a happy ending this year.”

I smiled again. I couldn’t believe it. My teacher was new, too. And he liked what I was reading. I don’t know why, but somehow he made my butterflies disappear and my tongue shrink. Things were going to be okay.

Present

 * Jessica Writeman
 * Julie Writeman
 * Mrs. Williams
 * Secretary
 * Mr. Terupt

Mentioned

 * Jessica's Dad
 * Natalie
 * Tommy
 * Ryan

Locations

 * Snow Hill School
 * Main Office
 * Room 202

Related
Previous Chapter: 1- Peter TRANSCRIPTION (Because of Mr. Terupt)

Next Chapter: 3- Luke TRANSCRIPTION (Because of Mr. Terupt)