I walk in and something strange is going on. No one else is in the room. Not even the teacher. Not even Charlotte, who is always first to everything. I feel the butterflies rev up in my belly and I try to calm them by finding my cubby and unpacking my backpack. The best part of arriving for the first day of school is pulling out of your brand-new rainbow-striped backpack the perfect black-and-white marble notebook and a box of pointy, sharpened pencils, ready for freewriting. "Oh, hello there!" I hear behind me, and I turn around to see Mr. Santorini and a whole pack of kids filing in behind him. I feel like there's a spotlight shining on me. And not in a good way. "Hi," I say quietly, making sure not to open my mouth so wide that little diced omelet tomatoes come flying out. "I grabbed the early birds who were here for a quick run down the hall to get some nervous first-day energy out." Then he turns back to the small group and says "Ten-hut!" and clicks he shoes together so loud my belly drops to my feet. My friends look at each other. "We'll get to that later, sailors." I feel my mouth hanging open a little and close it quickly. Early birds? A quick run in the hallway? Sailors? This Mr. Santorini feels like a character on Look at Us Now! and not like a real-life teacher at all.

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Excerpted from Starring Jules (Third Grade Debut) by Beth Ain
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