An invisible hand grabbed me and pulled me off the ladder.I landed on my back on the gym floor with an “Oooof!” My head made a loud

"THUD" as it banged the floorboards.

I raised myself slowly, blinking hard, trying to shake off the shock. Then I pulled

myself up on my elbows and saw Benjamin laughing. Aaliyah dropped her lipstick into her bag and came running over to me. “James are you okay?” she demanded. “Yeah. Fine,” I muttered. “I was just testing the floor. You know. Seeing how hard it is..(laughingly) “It isn’t as hard as your head!” Benjamin joked. “You’re going to have to pay for breaking the auditorium floor!” He laughed again. “Ha-ha.” Aaliyah rolled her eyes, then made a disgusted face at him. She turned to me.“Don’t encourage him, James. He’s about as funny as a dead pigeon.” “I think dead pigeons are funny!” Benjamin insisted.Aaliyah rolled her eyes again. Then she grabbed my hand and tugged me to my feet.I felt so embarrassed. I wanted to go hide under the bleachers.Why am I always such a total looser? No invisible hand pulled me off the ladder. I just fell. That’s what I usually do if I find myself on a ladder. I fall off. Some people are climbers. I’m a faller. But I really didn’t want to look like a geek in front of Aaliyah and Benjamin. the real truth is that I am scared of height, After all, I just met them. And I really wanted to impress them. That’s why I signed up for the Dance Decorations Committee. I wanted to meet kids. It’s hard to make new friends when you start a new school in sixth class. Maybe I’d better start at the beginning. My name is James Anderson and I’m twelve years old. Just before school started this fall, my dad got married again. And right after the wedding, we moved to Ooty valley. We had to move so fast, I barely had a chance to say good-bye to my friends. And before I could catch my breath, here I was—the new kid at ooty Valley Middle School.I didn’t know anyone here. I hardly even knew my new mom!

Can you imagine what it’s like to suddenly have a new school, a new house, and a new mom?

The first couple of days at ooty Valley Middle School were hard. Kids weren’t unfriendly. But they already knew who their friends were.I’m not shy. But it was really impossible to just go up to someone and say, “Hi. Want to be my friend?”

I was pretty lonely at the first week or so. Then last Monday morning, Mrs. Bindu pillai, the principal, came into our room. She asked if anyone wanted to volunteer for the Dance Decorations Committee. She needed kids to decorate the auditorium.

My hand was the first to shoot up. I knew it would be a great way to make new friends.So here I was after school in the gym two days later. Making new friends by falling on my head like a geek.

“Do you think you should see the nurse?” Aaliyah asked, studying me. “No. My eyes always roll around like this,” I replied weakly. At least I still had,my sense of humor. “The nurse left, anyway,” Benjamin said, checking his watch. “It’s late. We’re probably the only ones in the building.”Aaliyah shook out her blond hair. “Let’s get back to work,” she suggested. She opened her bag and pulled out her lipstick. I watched her apply a thick coat of red to her lips, even though they were already red. Then she brushed some kind of orangey powder on her cheeks. Benjamin shook his head but didn’t say anything.Yesterday, I heard other kids teasing Aaliyah about her makeup and lipstick. They said she was the only girl in sixth grade who uses that stuff every day.They were pretty mean to her. One girl said, “Aaliyah thinks she’s painting a masterpiece.”Another girl said, “Aaliyah couldn’t go to gym class because she had to wait for her face to dry.”A boy said, “Her face must be broken. That’s why she’s always fixing it!” Everyone laughed really hard. Aaliyah didn’t seem to mind all the jokes and teasing. I guess she’s used to it.

Before school this morning, I heard some kids saying that Aaliyah was stuck-up. That she thought she was soooooo beautiful, and that’s why she was always paying so much attention to her looks.She didn’t seem stuck-up to me. She seemed really nice. She was looking pretty awesome too. I wondered why she thought she needed to wear makeup at all. Aaliyah and Benjamin look a lot alike. They could be brother and sister, but they’re not.They are both tall and thin. And they both have brown eyes and curly blond hair.I’m short and a little chubby. And I have black hair that sticks straight out like straw. It’s real tough hair. I can brush it for hours, but it still goes wherever it wants. My new mom says I’ll be really handsome as soon as I lose my baby fat. I don’t think that was a very good compliment. Anyway, Aaliyah, Benjamin, and I were painting some big banners to go up on the gym wall. Aaliyah and I were working together on a banner that read OOTY VALLEY ROCKS!Benjamin started to paint a poster that read DANCE TILL YOU PUKE! But Mrs. Bindu pillai poked her head in and asked him to think of a better slogan.He groaned and grumbled and started over. Now his poster read WELCOME, EVERYONE!“Hey where’s the red paint?” Aaliyah called to Benjamin. “Huh?” He was down on his hands and knees, using a thick brush to paint the W in WELCOME.

Aaliyah and I were also down on the floor, painting the black outlines to our poster. She climbed to her feet and stared down at Benjamin. “Didn’t you bring any red paint down to the gym? I only see black.” “I thought you were bringing it,” he replied. He pointed to a stack of cans under the basketball bag. “What are those?”

“All black,” she told him. “I asked you to bring down some red colour remember? I want to put red in the middle of the letters. Black and red are the school colors, you know.”

“pah,” Benjamin muttered. “Well, I’m not going upstairs for it, Aaliyah. The art room is

on the third floor.”

“I’ll go!” I volunteered, a bit too eagerly.They both stared at me.“I mean, I don’t mind,” I added. “I can use the exercise.”“You really did hit your head didn’t you!” Benjamin joked.“Do you remember where the art room is?” Aaliyah asked. I set down my brush. “Yeah. I think so. You go up the stairs in back right?”Aaliyah nodded. Her curly blond hair bounced whenever she moved her head.“Right. You go up three flights to the top floor. Then you go straight down the hall to the back. Turn right. Then turn right again. And it’s at the back.“No problem,” I said. I started jogging to the double gym doors.“Bring at least two cans!” she called after me. “And some clean brushes.”

“And bring me a Coke!” Benjamin called. He laughed.What a joker.I started running at full speed to the exit. I’m not sure why I started to run. I guess,I was trying to impress Aaliyah. I lowered my shoulder. And burst through the double doors. And barreled at full speed into a girl standing in the hall.“Hey ” She let out a startled cry as we both toppled to the floor.I landed on top of her with a groan.Her head made a loud CRACK as it hit the concrete floor.Stunned, we both lay there for a second. Then I rolled off her and scrambled to my feet.“Sorry,” I managed to choke out. I reached out to help her up. But she angrily shoved my hand away and climbed up without my help.As she stood, I saw that she was at least a foot taller than me. Tall and broad shouldered and powerful looking, she reminded me of those women wrestlers on TV. She had white-blond hair, which had fallen over her face. She was dressed all in black. And she stared at me furiously with steel gray eyes. Frightening eyes. “I’m really sorry,” I repeated, taking a step back as I stared up at her.She took a heavy step toward me. Then another. Those cold gray eyes froze me against the wall. And as she moved closer.

“What - what are you going to do?”, please leave me, I shouted.