Sofia felt like jumping for joy. She was so excited! This day was going to be awesome. She bounded through the halls, singing, laughing, jumping. Her mother woke up, looking sort of mad. Sofia wondered why. 

"Sofi, it is three in the morning, could you please lower your voice?"

"But mommy, I'm just too happy!" Sofia twirled around in a circle to demonstrate just how excited she was. "It's the first day of school!" Her mom sighed, looking very weary. Sofia stopped twirling, and looked at her mom. She seemed  very sad. But then again, Mommy was always sad these days. Sofia could hardly remember a day that she wasn't unhappy. Sofia decided to be kind to her mother, and gave her a big hug. "Are you okay Mommy?" She whispered.

"No Sofi, I am not okay right now."

"Why?" Sofia asked, pulling away.

"I am very stressed."

"What does 'stressed' mean?" Sofia asked, curious.

"It means that your mother is very, very tired right now, and her silly little girl should go back to bed." She scooped up Sofia and started tickling her. Sofia laughed and giggled all the way back to her room down the hall. Her mother plopped her on the bed. Sofia wriggled under the covers, and pulled them up to her chin. 

"Good night mommy."

"Good night, Sofi."

Sofia smiled as her mom kissed her forehead, and walked out of the room, turning off the light as she left.

                     ~                    ~                    ~                    ~                    ~                    ~                    ~                    ~

Three hours later, and Sofia couldn't keep her eyes closed. She lay awake, not wanting to disturb her mother, but not wanting to go back to sleep either. Sofia had been so excited for this day ever since she and her mom had moved from a far away land called New York. Sofia remembered that it was cold and snowy in the winter, and she remembered her friends. She had a lot of friends. Sometimes, Sofia would wonder if her friends even remembered her. Even if they didn't, Sofi still remembered them, and wished they were here with her now. It would be nice if she already new some people at her new school. But then again, that was why Sofia was so excited for this day. So she could make new friends. 

"Sofi, time to wake up!" 

"Yay!" Sofia jumped out of bed, got dressed as fast as a lightning bolt and dashed out the door. She was a superhero, ready to save the world. She flew into the kitchen and almost crashed into the table.

"Woah there, horsey. Slow down." 

"Sorry Momma, I was just so happy." 

"It's fine, I just don't want you getting hurt on your first day of kindergarten."

"Are those pancakes Mommy?" 

"Yes, of course."

"Pancakes are my favorite!" There were also her super-food. She ate pancakes when she was starting to lose her superhero powers.

Her mother gave her a plate, and poured syrup over Sofia's pancake. She cut the piece of super-food into little bite-sized squares, and gave Sofi a fork. 

"Eat up!" She said. Sofia gobbled down her pancake, enjoying it's warmth and sweetness, and asked for another one. "My goodness," her mother said, "you must be hungry Sofi!"

"I am Mommy, but pancakes also give me superpowers."

"No way! Can you show me?"

"I want to Mommy, but only superheroes can see it."

"Aw, that's too bad. Maybe you can find a way to show me later, but for now, we have to go!"

Sofia jumped off of her chair, powered by pancakes, and bounded to the door, where her backpack was hanging. 

"Come on Mommy, let's go, let's go, let's go!"

"Alright, hop in the car, Super-Sofi"

Sofia leaped into the car, and buckled her seat belt. She bounced in her seat, making the car shake. Her mother came in, and noticing the bouncing, asked her to stop. Sofia did, and started talking instead. 

"Mommy, do you remember going to kindergarten?"

"Not really, Sofi, but I do remember that my teacher was the nicest lady on Earth."

"That's cool," Sofia said, "I want my teacher to be a nice lady too. I also want her to do art projects because  I love them really much. Do you think she will do that?"

"Probably."

"Good. Class isn't fun without art. When I get to school I am gonna meet a lot of new people so I can have a friend. We can have adventures and we can play on the playground and do art projects together! I bet my teacher is gonna be so nice and so will the kids. Do you think so?"

"Of course!"

"I am so excited! I wonder what we will learn. I really want to learn how to read because I think that will be fun and I also want to learn about animals and plants and numbers. Do you know any numbers mommy?"

"I know lots of numbers."

"Will I learn lots of numbers?"

"Yup."

Sofia giggled. She was so happy! Nothing could go wrong today, she was just to happy. She just couldn't wait to get there! This car ride was extremely long. She started telling her mom a story she made up about a princess and a superhero, and It was just getting to the good part when her mom stopped the car. 

"We're here Sofi!" Sofia stopped talking, and sat up.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Yay!" Sofia hurriedly unbuckled her seat belt. When her mom opened the door, she leaped out of the car with superhuman speed. She swung her backpack over her shoulders, and gave her mom a bear hug. 

"Have a great day, Sofi." She said.

"I will have a amazing day, Mommy."

"Goodbye! Your class number is 14!" Sofia waved at her mother, and walked onto the school campus. She looked up at the giant building, somewhat disappointed. She had hoped that her school would be five stories high and would have a training facility for young superheroes. Oh well, She thought, But I a still excited!

Sofia looked around. She wondered where her line was. There were kids milling about everywhere. Her ears were met with a cacophony of screams and laughter. She saw some older sixth graders, and was immediately nervous. The old kids smiled at her, and she blushed. She walked around. Her mother had told her to look for line fourteen, whatever that meant. Sofia cringed as she heard a new screaming sound, but this time it wasn't made my a kid. It was made by the giant speaker-thing in the wall next to her. She covered her ears, and looked the other way. All of a sudden, the crazy kids had stopped running around, and were yelling to each other in single file lines. 

Each of the lines was marked with a number, but she couldn't read them yet. Maybe that's what fourteen was, a number. The only problem was, Sofia couldn't tell which number was fourteen. She started to get really nervous. Some classes already had their teacher lead them into their class. Sofia's hands started to get sweaty, she could feel tears in her eyes. Then a nice-looking lady came up to her and asked, 

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Sofia shook her head. 

"What's wrong?" The woman's voice was as smooth as silk and sweet like sugar. 

"I don't know where 'fourteen' is." 

"Oh, sweetie, It is right over here." The woman led Sofia to a class that had a big sign with a straight dash and an oddly shaped cross. Sofia guessed that those strange symbols were the number fourteen. 

"Thank you." Sofia said, wiping her tears.

"Your welcome sweetie. Have a great first day!" Sofia smiled, and walked to the end of the line, folding her hands in front of her, and looking at the ground. She wished that all of these kids would be quiet. All of a sudden, the line of kids in front of her started moving forwards. The teacher must be here, Sofia thought. She tried to get a glimpse of her new teacher, silently hoping that it was that sweet woman, but couldn't see above the mass of red heads, yellow heads, and black heads. She tugged at her own brown hair, wishing that it was a more pretty color. 

She walked forwards, careful not to trip, and entered her new class.