Brianna Kemp’s father had to move her entire family from Chicago to a small town in Maryland after his business went bankrupt. He didn’t lose faith in life, though, and decided to start his family’s new life there.

Along with the move came a new school for Brianna, who was 14 years old. She had a difficult time accepting the move, as she was a popular cheerleader at her school in Chicago. She also had a good set of friends, and she didn’t exactly like meeting new people.

When it was time to go to school, her father drove her there to wish her well. “Good luck, sweetheart. I know this is going to be difficult for you, but you can do it. I know you can!” he said, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

“Thanks, Dad,” Brianna said quietly before leaving the car. While she was sad, Brianna didn’t want her dad to worry even more, so she put on a brave smile and waved before her father drove away.

When she got to the school, she was greeted by the school secretary, Mrs. Keppler. “Hello, welcome to Chester Middle School! I’m going to give you a quick tour of the school,” she said.

“Thank you,” Brianna responded shyly and nervously.

Mrs. Keppler showed Brianna around, pointing her to the cafeteria, the school auditorium, and the gym. They also passed through the art and music rooms, the science laboratories, and the kitchen.

Finally, Brianna was led to the classroom and started her suffering first school day. Faced up with so many new faces, she made a brief self-introduction, still nervous. Then she was guided to sit in the back row alone. During the breaks, all the students seemed so familiar with each other. Brianna found it hard to start a conversation with any one of them, as they were always busy with their own friends. She felt like she was an outsider and didn’t belong. What a suffering the first school day was! So were the following weeks.

When the day was finally over, Brianna shared her day with her father.

Over the next few weeks, things changed beyond Brianna’s imagination.

Have you ever felt so embarrassed (尴尬的) in your life that you wanted to simply disappear? Well, I have.

My worst day began on a hot Monday morning when I was in the second grade. My class would choose some players for a baseball team on that day. For some reason, I had overslept that morning. And in my hurry to get dressed, I took the first white shirt I could find. I hurriedly put it on, rushed out of the back door and headed for school. Unfortunately, my mistake didn’t show itself until we were all on the baseball field.

Earlier, I had noticed a few of my classmates looking at me and talking among themselves. A few others were laughing. But I knew they weren’t mean kids; maybe they had just found something funny. So I didn’t think their behavior was directed at me and I didn’t give it much thought at the time. But as we were all standing around and waiting to be chosen for a team, one of my friends finally told me what all the talking and laughing were about.

I could hardly believe it! In my hurry to get ready for school, I had accidentally taken one of my sister’s shirts. There I was, waiting to be chosen for a team and wearing a girly shirt known to all. The shirt was complete with beautiful little blue flowers, heart-shaped buttons down the front, and many other features that showed it was a shirt designed for girls.

I was so embarrassed that my face was burning red. When I finally calmed down a little, I realized I had to do something — this situation called for quick action. Knowing I couldn’t leave school, I rushed to the school closet (壁橱) and crazily searched it to see if I could find any clothes. Finally, I was lucky to discover a piece of clothing. It was an old heavy coat that I left there the previous winter.

I quickly put it on to cover my shame and embarrassment.

Seeing I didn’t want to go to school, my mom asked me the reason.

One day after school, Susan’s eight-year-old daughter Liz went home with disappointment. She cried sadly and told her mother that she failed to be chosen for the school basketball team. And Liz kept saying that she was an unlucky girl. Susan knew that her daughter enjoyed playing basketball and had been practicing hard for the chance, so she must be terribly sad.

After knowing about the situation, Susan decided to cheer her daughter up. She went over to Liz, asking, “ Would you like to come with me to the supermarket and be my helper ?” To Susan’ s surprise, Liz agreed at once. Susan then gave Liz twenty dollars and a shopping list, saying she could use the change to get a treat for herself. Liz was excited and rushed away to get ready.

When they arrived at the supermarket, Susan advised Liz to put the twenty-dollar note in her pocket. Liz helped her mother collect goods and fill the shopping cart (购物车) while keeping an eye out for the things she wanted. She worked out how much change she would have, and then chose an apple pie as her treat.

With all goods collected, Liz went to the checkout counter (收银台) happily. Just then, she found her twenty-dollar note was gone! In tears, she rushed to her mother and told her about that. “What a bad day! I’ve met so many terrible things today!” she cried. “Take it easy. We’ll go to the help counter and see what the workers can do,” Susan comforted her.

The workers at the help counter made an announcement (公告) over the loudspeaker, “We have a little girl here who’ s very sad because she lost the twenty-dollar note her mother had given her for shopping. If anyone finds the money, please kindly bring it to the help counter.”

Moments later, a worker gave Liz a twenty-dollar note, saying a lady just handed it over.

“Well , actually I didn’t find the note. I gave away my twenty-dollar note,” the lady said.

When I was in middle school, my social studies teacher asked me to enter a writing contest. I said no without thinking. I did not love writing. My family came from Brazil, so English was only my second language. Writing was so difficult and painful for me that my teacher had allowed me to present my paper on the sinking of the Titanic by acting out a play, where I played all the parts. No one laughed harder than he did.

So, why did he suddenly force me to do something at which I was sure to fail? His reply: “Because I love your stories. If you’re willing to apply yourself, I think you have a good shot at this.” Encouraged by his words, I agreed to give it a try.

I chose Paul Revere’s horse as my subject. Paul Revere was a silversmith (银匠) in Boston who rode a horse at night on April 18, 1775 to Lexington to warn people that British soldiers were coming. My story would come straight from the horse’s mouth. Not a brilliant idea, but funny; and unlikely to be anyone else’s choice.

What did the horse think, as he sped through the night? Did he get tired? Have doubts? Did he want to quit? I sympathized immediately. I got tired. I had doubts. I wanted to quit. But, like Revere’s horse, I kept going. I worked hard. I checked my spelling. I asked my older sister to correct my grammar. I checked out a half dozen books on Paul Revere from the library. I even read a few of them.

When I handed in the essay to my teacher, he read it, laughed out loud, and said, “Great. Now, write it again.” I wrote it again, and again and again. When I finally finished it, the thought of winning had given way to the enjoyment of writing. If I didn’t win, I wouldn’t care.

A few weeks later, when I almost forgot the contest, there came the news.

I went to my teacher’s office after the award presentation.

My husband Erik and I had promised the kids a Labrador puppy.

I’d seen the ad at the local hardware store. “Thirteen puppies in all, “Sally, the owner, said when I called. ”There’ re only three left. “I decided to take a look the next day. The boys jumped and shouted excitedly as I copied down directions and hung up the phone.

Early the next morning, still discussing names, we wound our way through the mountains to meet our family’s new best friend. Our boys had simple names: Ike, Sam, Ben, and Dom, so they Preferred simple names like Rosy ,too. Finally, we met the sweet little dog. ” Rosy, “the boys called it softly. Our little puppy cocked her head. ” She likes it,“they cheered and set about making Rosy comfortable for the long drive home. They offered her a chew toy and lifted her up so she could see out the window. They took turns holding her in their arms lovingly and offered her a snack.

Though small, Rosy grew strong and healthy beneath her shiny black coat. And, just as I’d hoped, she was a calming addition to our houseful of noisy boys. But something was wrong. “It’s like she doesn’t know how to play,” Sam commented one day after school. “Dogs have different personalities, just like people,”I said. “Besides, she’s still very young. ” “But her legs aren’t very long, and one eye is smaller than the other,”Ike added, trying to make sense of why Rosy was different from other puppies he’d met.

I looked across the room to where Rosy sat between the boys. The last golden rays of autumn sunshine shone brightly on her face. Sure enough, one eye was misshapen. Not only that, it didn’t glint (闪光) in the afternoon light. I drew in a breath. Rosy, our puppy with a name as short as her four little legs, was blind in one eye.

Everyone in the room became serious and sad.

Surprisingly, the boys refused to give the little puppy back.