It was a foggy day. I was walking along the path and it was wet and dirty. I was trying to walk faster in order not to be late for the first day of school at St John’s College. Probably I was anxious, my hand couldn’t stop trembling.

At the school entrance, many students in school uniform were gathering around. They looked at me in a quirky way. “Is there anything wrong with me? Am I wearing the wrong school uniform? No. Have I done anything wrong? Not really.” I was puzzled.

After the morning assembly, we went to the classroom for the first lesson. I didn’t know where I should sit and whom I should talk to. I was totally confused. I heard someone talking about me. I couldn’t hear what they were saying but I was sure that must be something negative.

Meanwhile, a bald man wearing a pink T-shirt came into the classroom. I guessed that he must be my new form teacher.

“That’s all right,” said the teacher.” She is your new classmate. Can you introduce yourself?”

“I…I am-m Jenny Lai. Nice t-to meet you,” I said intermittently.

“Jenny, sit next to John,” said the teacher. “He is very nice and friendly.”

I looked at the empty seat next to the boy who was quite stout. Everyone in the class laughed at that moment. I didn’t know what they were laughing about actually. Maybe they thought that I was a laughing stock or my look was really bizarre.

Five lessons passed and there was nothing special. It wasn’t that bad to sit next to John, although he kept on talking about food all day long. I tried to talk with him about how the lessons were, but he still talked about food. Then I gave up and paid attention to the teacher.

Time passed quickly, but nothing changed. Two months passed and I adapted to the new school life, but my classmates still disliked me. “Am I really annoying?” I always asked myself but I didn’t know the answer.

It was a stormy and rainy morning. It was raining cat and dogs. The wind was pretty strong. I was holding an umbrella and walking along the path as usual. I hoped that something special would happen and change my school life!

Three lessons passed but nothing special. Two lessons again and nothing happened. It was the last lesson of the day and something did happen.

It was the Biology lesson. We went to the Biology Laboratory.

‘Students, today, we are going to have an experiment about how amphibians live. Now, look at the cage on your table. Do you have any questions?’ said the teacher with a dazzling smile. ‘There’s a snake, right?’

I heard someone screaming loudly with a piercing shriek. I didn’t know what was going on at that moment; I saw one of my classmates opened the cage, and let the snake out. I didn’t know whether he did it intentionally in order to scare all the classmates or not. The snake moved fast and no one could stop it from crawling on the table.

Our class was out of control. John climbed onto the table and screamed loudly. He cried but no one could help him. Some girls stood on the chairs holding their rulers. I thought they might want to kill the snake but they couldn’t because they were too scared. A group of boys were holding pairs of scissors. It seemed that they wanted to kill the snake. At the same time, our teacher was hiding under the table. He was shouting even louder than the girls!

I was really shocked when I saw how my teacher and classmates reacted. According to the book I read before, the snakes which are green are always tame and non-poisonous. The snake was on my table and it moved slowly. I grabbed it with my hand, and put it back into the cage. It wasn’t a difficult task for me at all.

I heard clapping behind me.

‘Jenny, you are brilliant!’ said one of my classmates. ‘I’ve never thought that you are that brave! I apologize for my impoliteness to you!’

I became friends with my classmates. We learnt and played together. My bravery totally changed my life. Everything we need we fight for it, including good relationships with others! We should be helpful and supportive, shouldn’t we?