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It was September 3rd and six-year-old Zoe Wilkes was on her way to her first day at Bluebell Elementary. Her mother walked beside her with a camera in hand, documenting every moment for Zoe’s dad. Dr. Wilkes had been called into work early this morning, disappointed that he had to miss his little girl’s first day of school.
“Zoe, sweetie, look up.” Candice urged her daughter and Zoe looked up, a smile from ear to ear, while her mother took the picture. She had to try not to start tearing up again, still not quite believing her little girl would be starting school. She also was glad last night’s drama hadn’t made an appearance this morning. Zoe had been fine all evening until it was time to go to sleep. She had burst out in tears. “But mommy, what if they don’t like me?” She managed to ask between the sobs and Candice realised she wasn’t going to be the person to put her daughter’s mind at ease. Zoe had always been a daddy’s girl.
So that’s why she motioned for her husband, who had been standing in the doorway of Zoe’s bedroom, to switch places with her. Silently Harley made his way over to the bed and sat down beside his daughter. He put a hand on her back and she immediately calmed down. “Why on earth would you think those kids won’t like you?”
“But Lemon said..” She started to explain but her father stopped her.
“Well, you shouldn’t listen to everything Lemon says.” Harley made a mental note to tell Brick about how the things his daughter had said had worried Zoe. “You’ll make lots of friends, I’m sure of it.”
“Really?” The girl stared at him with her big brown eyes, the corners of her mouth curling up ever so slightly. Harley wiped the tears from her face with his thumbs and placed a kiss on her forehead. “Really.” And with those few words all the worries had disappeared from Zoe’s mind.
When they arrived at the school Candice gave her daughter a big firm hug and a kiss when the teacher called for all first graders. She had a bit of trouble accepting the fact that this was actually happening. She snapped a couple of more pictures of the kids going into the school and after that wiped a few tears from her cheeks. She looked around the schoolyard and saw that she wasn’t the only parent having a bit of trouble with the situation.
At home Candice didn’t quite know what to do with herself for the rest of the day. She was surprised to find that she was actually bored now Zoe wasn’t around and caught herself counting down the minutes until it was time to pick her up again.
When 2 pm finally did come around Candice anxiously waited for her daughter in the schoolyard. After last night’s events she had no idea what to expect. But it would soon seem all her worries had been for nothing. Zoe couldn’t stop talking about how ‘awesome’ school had been. But she wouldn’t say any more about it, insisting that she would wait until her father got home to tell the whole story.
At dinner Zoe described the whole day in details to her parents. She told how the teacher had read to them about a girl called Matilda, that the reverend and his wife and stopped by to wish all the children good luck. And of course she told them all about her new best friend Annabeth.
She also told them about how a boy called Wade kept pulling her ponytail. “And he kept running away before I could chase him!” Her mother reached for the phone, determined to call Jacqueline Kinsella and put an end to this. But before she could even dial the number Harley stopped her. “I wouldn’t worry to much about it, Candice. It’ll work itself out,” he said, a small smile on his lips.