A new student arrives midterm, head down, with broken sandals. She sits
right next to Chloe. The teacher introduces the new
student as Maya, but hardly anyone says hello, and Chloe doesn’t smile or greet
her. Chloe’s best friends call her “Never
New” because she wears secondhand clothes. Each time Maya asks them to play
they say no.
When their teacher invites them to throw a pebble in water and watch the
ripples radiate to symbolize an act of kindness they share with the class,
Chloe stops. Maya no longer is there. Her family has had to move. Had Chloe
been kind even once?
MASL ‘Show Me’ award nominee 2014-2015.
32 pages
