"Now, choose a partner and speak with them, using some of the vocabulary you've just learned." Senor Rosario claps three times, an invitation for us to move our desks and find a partner. I turn to Betsy, a quiet girl who I know from Home Ec, and gesture to the empty desk beside me. She smiles gratefully and slides into the chair.

I straighten my worksheet on my desk, clear my throat, and turn to her. "Hola, amiga. Que paso?" Vanessa would be a little disappointed that I'm so slow with my Spanish, but I'm learning, bit by bit.

Betsy pushes a lock of blonde hair behind her ear and blinks. "Um...soy bien, y tu?" Her voice is soft, barely audible. Her lips quirk up lightly, petal pink, in a gentle smile.

"Bien, gracias. Que tal tu-" My response is cut off by the buzz of the loudspeaker. Everyone looks up, seeming interested.

"Kathryn Laurens-Hamilton to the principal's office, please, Kathryn Laurens-Hamilton?" Great. Now everyone's staring at me, and a few people are even doing that obnoxious 'oooooh' thing that makes it look like I'm in trouble. I sigh and gather my things, tucking my Spanish folder into my backpack and walking out of the classroom.

There could be perks to this. Even if I have detention or something, hopefully I'll be in the office long enough that I miss the rest of Spanish and can go straight to lunch. A free period might be worth getting a pink slip. I knock on the office door, sighing when I hear Principal Adams's voice. The two of us have never managed to repair the schism caused by the whole suspended-for-punching-another-student-in-the-teeth thing.

I turn the knob and walk inside, looking around nervously. I really hope no one's been making things up about me, or that the can of frosting in my locker has been confiscated- it was for a lunch science project with George. "Hello, Principal Adams."

"Please sit down, Miss Laurens-Hamilton." He straightens and nods at me, in a way that tells me this whole sitting down idea is not optional. I take a seat in the chair across from the desk, folding my arms and sighing.

"What trouble am I in now, sir?" I just hope John and Alex don't have to be called in again. Getting them to sign off on a low-scored test has never been a big deal. As long as I can show them where I went wrong, and as long as I understand what my mistakes were, it's alright. After last school year's fighting fiasco, if I gest suspended again, I can kiss all priveliges goodbye for the next century.

Principal Adams makes a little wheezing noise that I assume is intended to be a sarcastic laugh. "You're not in trouble this time, young lady. I actually wanted to talk to you about the student ambassador position you signed up for."

Vaguely, I recall jotting my name down on a pink bulletin board sheet- it was extra credit, and I didn't realize I would actually be called upon to perform any duties. "Yes, sir?"

"We have a new student who will be joining us tomorrow. She's going to be entering the ballet program at your level, and she's around your age. I was wondering if you would be interested in being her guide when she first arrives here." He leans back in his seat, as though I've already given my answer.

"What would that entail?" I must look at least mildly willing to comply, because Principal Adams doesn't seem quite as exasperated with me as usual. I sit forward in the awful, uncomfortable office seat.

He pulls a sheet of paper off of his legal pad and begins to write on it. "Just showing her around, helping her get to class, letting her sit with you at lunch...things you would do for a friend. Hopefully, you two will be friends. I do think you'll like her- in her interviews, she more than impressed us. That is all."

I walk out of the office confused, elated, and with sixteen minutes to go until lunchtime.

*********

The next day, while everyone else is laughing and chatting at their lockers, trading text messages with other friends and grabbing homework assignments, I'm waiting just inside the entrance doors to meet the girl I'm assigned to mentor. I don't know close to anything about her, so I'm hoping she'll present herself right away.

There's a puff of chilly air, and two people walk inside. Two women, both wearing scarves tied over their hair- hijabs, I think they're called. The younger one has wide-framed glasses and a big smile, and her mother kisses her on the forehead, whispers something in another language, and gives her a gentle push forward.

The girl walks towards me and grins. "Alssalam ealaykum!" She has a pleasant, happy face, her olive cheeks glowing with a smile and her dark eyes sparkling in the fluorescent lighting of the hallway. "My name is Mariam."

"Um, alssalam ealaykum," I say, for once feeling a little shy. I'm not sure why, but something about her is so confident and bright that I feel a little awkward.

She laughs. "No, no. You say 'ealaykum 'an alssalam'. It's a greeting, sort of." Mariam bounces lightly on her toes, and I look down and then giggle. She's wearing a pair of black Converse like mine, only much cleaner.

"Well, anyway, it's nice to meet you. I'm Kathryn." I extend a hand, which she shakes firmly, her hand warm on mine. "Welcome to Odom Academy."

Mariam grins. "I'm really excited to be here. Ballet is my passion, and I can't wait to do it every day." She tucks a lock of dark hair back up into her hijab. "Are you in the dance program too? What's it like?"

I roll up the sleeves of my tealy-green sweater, the one with sparkling silver threads woven through it. It's soft and fluffy and bright, and I thought it would make me look cheerful and welcoming. "It's tough, but the toughness is worth it. It drives you to do your best, and it's the best dance education I've ever had."

"Excellent." She claps twice, a cheerleader's attention-grabber. It's as perky and sharp as she is. "Is that our first class? I'm going to...how do you say? Shadow you for a few days?"

I nod, grinning. I love the way people for whom English is a second language speak- I love the accents of their voices, the cadence of their speech and their lilting pronounciation. "Ballet is right after homeroom, but I got permission to skip homeroom today and show you around." Homeroom is boring enough, and it's a bit of a nightmare with Mr. Lloyd-Weber. He's an intense guy with a thick British accent and an evil, sarcastic sense of humor. If you turn in all of your papers and don't waste time goofing off, he's nice enough, but anyone who takes his class less than seriously feels his wrath.

********

Chad claps his hands three times, the same way Mariam has been doing all morning. On the third, we all shift into fifth position, a simultaneous thump in our wood-block pointe shoes. He struts along the length of the studio, looking all of us up and down, one at a time. "Alright, students, here's the deal. Even though it's only October, we've already acquired the rights for our spring ballet. I am pleased to announce that we will be performing, in cooperation with our drama department's Shakespeare festival, the ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream!"

I gasp with excitement before cheering along with the rest of my class. I can't wait to do this, even if I'm just a fairy again like I was in Cinderella. I would love to be Titania, but that's probably going to go to one of our graduating students.

Mariam turns to me, her eyes sparkling. "I love that play! At my old school in Rhode Island, we went on a field trip to see it. It was so funny." Her cheeks are flushed with excitement, and she looks like some sort of angelic ballet student stock photo. I, on the other hand, am a sweating mess with my hair going in a thousand different places and perspiration running down my face.

"Dismissed!" Chad thumps his stick on the ground once, and we all scatter. I pack up my pointe shoes, carefully layering them in tissue paper before cramming them haphazardly into their box again. Mariam sinks next to me, unlacing the shoes with delicate fingers.

I look over to her, grinning. "I have Spanish next, but after that is lunch. I'l introduce you to my friends." I can already see it- she'll love Harriet, who finally has her voice back and will chatter with her non-stop. Theo will tell an art joke with her wicked smile, and Mariam will laugh louder than the joke deserves and it'll make Theo happy. Philip will charm her with a little quoted Shakespeare, which she'll understand but I never do. George will be as snarky as ever with his British accent, but even he'll warm up to her eventually.

"I can sit with you guys?" Mariam looks even happier than she did a moment ago, and without warning gives me a huge hug. I hug her back, inhaling softly- she smells like roses and honey and something deep and earthy and nose-tingling, like coriander, perhaps.

As we walk to Spanish class, grinning at each other and arms linked, I feel happiness swelling in my chest. I love making new friends, and I hope Mariam and I stay friends for quite a while.