It was Isha's first day at school, and she was scared. No matter how many times her mother told her it wasn't scary, Isha didn't believe her. There was something in her mother's eyes that told Isha that it would hard for an elf in a human school.

The pointy ears would give her away immediately. Her mother gave her the heavy bag, and said, "Goodbye, my amber, have a good day!"

As Isha boarded the bus, she felt everyone inside's eyes on her. A mean-looking girl came up to Isha and told her, "Hey, new girl, give me your seat!"

Everyone looked expectantly at Isha, who said timidly, "I don't have a seat yet, I just got on the bus," The bus drive was very tense; everyone was looking at everyone else expectantly.

When Isha finally arrived at school, she dragged her feet out of the bus and into the school. Through the gates ... past the happy girls ... into the cloak bay ... Suddenly Isha heard a shrill BRIIIIING! She covered her ears, because elves have sensitive hearing.

Everyone else was heading into the classes, so Isha walked into her classroomHer mother had told her what classroom she was in before she left, Room 1, but that didn't make Isha any happier to be here. Almost as soon as she sat down, a plump woman bustled into the room. "Hello, everybody, my name is Ms Laungaray, and I'm going to be your teacher this year. Today we have a new student, and yes, I know, you are all in year 1, so you might be new, but what I mean is that she has never seen this school before, so could, um, Sophie, could you show her around?" A brunette replied that she'd be delighted to, and then turned to Isha and said sweetly that she'd take good care of Isha.

But at morning tea, the brunette, Sophie, left Isha on her own and went off to follow an older girl who had plenty of followers. A red haired girl sat on a branch above Isha, and she said that her name was Zoe. Zoe held in her delicate hand a small, finely-threaded bag that seemed to glitter with happiness. The other hand beckoned Isha up the tree to join her, as there was plenty of space.

"You're an elf, aren't you?" asked Zoe quietly, keeping her voice down. "I'm a fairy, and that means I can tell which species you are. So you're an elf," she continued, before Isha could speak, "I'm unpopular here, so could you please be my friend? Please?" Isha agreed, and at that moment Sophie walked by them and told Isha, "You won't want to be friends with that loser!" and walked off with two other, mean-looking, girls.When Isha got onto the bus to leave school at 5 o'clock, she hadn't made very much friends. She was too different, too unlike the other girls, so they simply left her alone. Sophie, too, had abandoned her, just because she was friends with Zoe.

The trip back home was torturing, because the other girls whispered to each other, but then shut up and refused to speak to Isha, making the elf feel like they were talking about her. The nearest bus stop was a five minute walk from Isha's home, so she hopped off and ignored the taunts of the other girls as she started to walk home, thinking that it was too bad that Zoe was an exchange student and stayed at the school.

Yep, Isha really didn't like that little fact. In fact, she hated it so much she asked her mum if she could be an exchange student too. As was expected, Isha's mother said no. But she did mention that Zoe might want to come round and stay with them, instead of being with the school.