New School Means New Troubles

Junior is a very strong character in this book. Throughout what we have read so far, he has been able to stand up to his entire tribe and go to their most rival school to be able to get a better education. He also lost his best friend when he decided that he needed to go to a different school and then made new friends, sort of, at Reardon. Going to a school where he was the only Indian other than the mascot, Junior had a hard time fitting in and only knew the rules of the reservation. His first big confrontation led to him punching the most popular guy in school, Roger. Roger cracks a joke about being an Indian, Junior had to defend himself and his tribe. In his tribe, you couldn’t let someone say something bad about your family, friends or the tribe without getting into a fight. Junior knew he would get his butt handed to him, but he threw the first punch anyway. Roger just stood there, looking at him like he was crazy, and told him he was an animal. Junior's mind started to race. "I had followed the rules of fighting. I had behaved exactly the way I was supposed to behave. But these white boys had ignored the rules. In fact, they followed a whole other set of mysterious rules where people apparently DID NOT GET INTO FISTFIGHTS (Alexie 65)." As Roger walked away, Junior called after him and asked him what the rules were, which confused Roger even more. Because Junior had stood up for himself against Roger, Roger had a new found respect for Junior that he had not expected. They didn’t become friends but Roger stopped bullying Junior, and is sometimes even nice to him.

Being a kid, changing schools is never easy. When I was in fifth grade, my family from where I had done most of my growing up. Even though the move only put us a few miles away from where we currently lived at, it meant a new school, leaving my best friend and having to make new friends. I felt like someone had thrown me under a bus and my world was crashing down around me. I kept wondering, “Will I fit in? Will the people at this new school like me or will I be everyone just think I’m some sort of weirdo?” I begged my stepmom to let me just walk from the new school to the old school because they were only a mile or two apart. She refused to let me. So I tried the ‘well, the bus driver could just drop me off after everyone else at their school; they do it for the high schoolers.’ route. Again, she refused, saying this would make me late to school every day. I couldn’t understand what the big deal was. All my friends were at my old school, and we hadn’t moved very far, so I shouldn’t have to go to this new school. It was so dumb. My arguments didn’t hold up well.

Well, I ended up making plenty of friends at this new school, and a new best friend. We became inseparable. At the time, elementary schools didn’t really have many clicks. There was a couple, maybe one or two but not enough for kids to be snobby. Even so, everyone knew everyone and most everyone got along. At my new school, all the kids in my grade played soccer out in the field at lunch. Although I had never played sports because of my asthma and my lack of coordination, I was fascinated with the thought of being able to play with my classmates. I joined them every day out on that field, rain or shine. We all had so much fun and I soon learned that I was actually more athletic than I had thought I was. Those two years at the new elementary school were the only years I played soccer. With the love I have for that sport, I wish I had been able to continue. Unfortunately, over the sixth grade summer, everyone seemed to grow into clicks and I no longer fit in with all my old friends; therefore, there was no more soccer team.

Although I had been completely against moving and going to a new school when I was younger, the experience that I had there has stuck with me all these years after. When I look back, I am actually grateful that my stepmom had not let me continue to go to same school after we had moved. While I have many memories from that school and I still remember scaring all my friends with bloody, gory ghost stories, if I had not gone to the new school, I would never have found out my love for the outdoor sport of soccer. (Indoor is just too painful.) Since then, I have not been able to join an actual team but when the summer comes along, when I am not at the beach, I am playing soccer, barefoot in the grassy fields.