[GirlOfManyFaces]

I've been at the same school since preschool. There are 300 kids K3-12th grade. I have a grand total of 20 people in my grade. I've never going to a different school, or even a different building.
And now I'm going to a new school. My grade will have about 75 kids in it. And it's about 5 separate buildings. The high school by itself has over 600 kids in it. I will be the new kid who randomly starts in the middle of the year.
I know when new kids come in you're either cool or completely rejected. So I'm super nervous. What if somebody finds out about my past? How do I keep it a secret? I'm trying to be a new person but its hard when the past is such a fresh wound.
I'm going to be in mostly freshman classes, but some sophomore classes too, and maybe one junior class. I don't really have friends there. And EVERY SINGLE RULE is soooooooo different at the new school. It is NOTHING like my old school. I'm so nervous.
I shadowed today and all I could talk about is "my school this..."... "my school that..."... And I was Sooo awkward!!! The kids are REALLY different too.

Plus I am leaving behind my 3 BESTEST FRIENDS in the whole universe. My heart is being ripped out by lions. I love them SOOOOOOO much and I don't even know if I get to say goodbye.

I need some happy advice...

[roads]

Try to keep your focus in the new school about what it was in the old school. Don't take it all in. Keep your glance close to you--as it was before. Don't "see" people at the back of a group, only those comfortably close. Remember faces and names of people who strike you as already somehow familiar. Make very few friends at first.
I don't mean that you should be aloof, but be a little shy and quiet and let it honestly overwhelm you. Let that show and don't try to hide that. It's real. How the new kids deal with that will tell you very fast many truths about them. These are valuable things to know about them. The young people who sense your need for compassion, a friend, time to adjust--these are people you might want to make time for, if they offer their friendship at some point.

Remember, you don't have to do all the work of "breaking in" at your new school. There is a certain cachet among the Old Line social set at every school to see who can scope out and size up the New Kid on the Block first ... most thoroughly & accurately.

I don't know what "secrets" you are bringing with you--and I guess hoping to keep hidden. I hope you succeed. But don't count on that too much. Primarily, keep your world small. Don't let it outsize your old school--at least at first.

Build a network of support here--you'll find reliable folks whom you can connect with and bounce ideas off of. Stay in touch.

Roadie

[GirlOfManyFaces]

Originally Posted by Roadie

Try to keep your focus in the new school about what it was in the old school. Don't take it all in. Keep your glance close to you--as it was before. Don't "see" people at the back of a group, only those comfortably close. Remember faces and names of people who strike you as already somehow familiar. Make very few friends at first.
I don't mean that you should be aloof, but be a little shy and quiet and let it honestly overwhelm you. Let that show and don't try to hide that. It's real. How the new kids deal with that will tell you very fast many truths about them. These are valuable things to know about them. The young people who sense your need for compassion, a friend, time to adjust--these are people you might want to make time for, if they offer their friendship at some point.

Remember, you don't have to do all the work of "breaking in" at your new school. There is a certain cachet among the Old Line social set at every school to see who can scope out and size up the New Kid on the Block first ... most thoroughly & accurately.

I don't know what "secrets" you are bringing with you--and I guess hoping to keep hidden. I hope you succeed. But don't count on that too much. Primarily, keep your world small. Don't let it outsize your old school--at least at first.

Build a network of support here--you'll find reliable folks whom you can connect with and bounce ideas off of. Stay in touch.

Roadie

Thank you for your help. I'm worried I'm going to get in the wrong group. I don't want to be pegged at a smart kid, or a freak, or the prissy girl girl. I just want to be in the normal people group.