My feet swung back and forth on the way to our new house.

My eyes wandered outside the window.

My ears were open to the sound of the tires jumping against a bumpy concrete road.

My hand laid underneath my chin for support.

I let out a sigh.

After moving several times, I thought it’d get easier.

Except, it didn’t.

Moving schools is something I’ve always hated having to do. Considering I was an introvert and would only stick to a certain group of friends, it sucked.

This time, we’d be moving to somewhere I had no clue about. Like anyone who shares the same qualities as me of usually ending up categorized under the “outcast” group of kids, they would be anxious and frightened.

We bought a house in Lake Dallas and the school I’d be attending wasn’t too far away. Our house was quite small. We were a family of four sharing one bedroom, one bathroom and a living room.

My house was also located in the middle of nowhere. It was a long street with only houses on the right side; the left side of the road was a forest. At the end of the street was a dead end.

Compared to other houses, my house was the smallest. In addition, all my neighbors were white.

I anticipated what school would be like.

Would I be lonely?

Although I was new to this school and it’d be the beginning of my year, classes had already started prior to my arrival.

Monday came around which meant my first day of school.

I walked to my bus stop and noticed I was the first one on.

I had a seat to myself.

After several stops, I realized I’m the only person of color on the bus. Although it didn’t bother me, it was an unusual feeling. At my previous school, there was far more diversity so it was different from what I was used to experiencing.

Once I arrived at school, I headed to the front office where I received my school schedule. Because I was new, they had some difficulties with my schedule so I had to stay for a while until everything was sorted out.

Finally, I was told I could dismiss myself to my first class.

Choir, something I never cared for.

As I arrived to the choir class, the voices of students reminisced in the school hallways. The closer I walked, the quicker my heart raced.

As soon as I entered, the students stopped at their notes and stared at me. I was then instructed to join the crowd and warm up with them. I could feel the eyes weighing on me because I was the new kid.

As my school days passed by, I thought I wasn’t going to have any friends.

I told myself,

I don’t belong here.

Like any other schools, we had a schedule for recess.

It was finally Tuesday which meant recess. Not knowing what to do, I sat by myself alone in the swing area staring at my feet as they swung back and forth.

As I looked at the ground, I noticed several shadows approach me. Three girls came over and asked if I wanted to join them.

Kennedy, Chloe and Hayden.

The nicest girls I’d ever met.

We hung out and talked about several topics such as music, hobbies and ourselves. I learned Kennedy was a cheerleader, Hayden was overall a cool person and Chloe was a complete weirdo but in a good way.

I finally felt like people were seeing me for me and not for my skin color.

One day, I brought Takis to school. Before, nobody in the school had ever tried them. After one of my friends asked me to give them a taste, she immediately fell in love.

The chips would eventually become more and more known to the point where everyone was showing up to school with them.

I was filled with joy. Yeah, it was a small thing. Knowing I could share something and make it adapt to my new school made me feel a little bit as if I were back in my hometown.

Never did I think I’d feel at home in a place where I was so different.

As time went on, my peers did not see me differently because of the color of my skin.

They saw me as a human and that’s important to our world today.

It’s crucial people realize skin color doesn’t differ a person from a crowd.

We are all people.

Our skin color doesn’t matter.

We are all one.