“Oh, darn,” Kenny said in a sarcastic tone. “Guess I’ll have to miss the first two weeks of fifth grade.”

“Doh!” said Bob. “I’m sorry, guys. I guess I’m just so excited to marry Valerie, I forgot all about school. Should we move the wedding?”

My mom laughed. “We can’t change the wedding, Bob. It’s in less than a week!”

But I didn’t like the idea of starting school late. I knew I was going to stick out. But, of course, I hadn’t realized how much.

And now, here I am, starting my second day of seventh grade during what was the other students’ second week. On top of that, a gray cloud swirls depressingly outside the kitchen window. “Why is it so… gross outside?” I ask.

“It’s just morning fog,” Bob says.

“Bog!” shouts Lucas.

“Nice job, kiddo.” Bob laughs. To me, he adds, “It should clear later today. Or sometimes morning fog lasts a few days.”

“Maze!”

I ignore Lucas. “Then why is it called morning fog?”

“It makes people feel better,” he says with a smile.

“Letter!”

I do not feel better.

And I don’t feel any better when I arrive at Poppy View for day two. Just like yesterday, kids whisper and point as I pass them in the corridors. Mer-mattie, I hear, still feeling like I’m under water.

While I’m taking out my textbooks at my locker and putting my phone away, I hear a piercing shriek. The lockers are lined up along an outdoor corridor that connects the classrooms, which are really just little buildings of their own. Back home in Minnesota, schools are enclosed, often red brick, the gray metal lockers in stuffy hallways with flickering fluorescent lighting. Here the breeze from the ocean smells like salt and cold water, and the lockers are painted the school colors—red and yellow. There’s the shriek again. Across the corridor, Mercedes Miller giggles with her gang of girls. One thing that isn’t different from Minnesota is that there are always popular kids. And Mercedes Miller and her friends are clearly popular. They all have matching bracelets and headbands today. Mercedes’s nails are painted tangerine orange. The girls’ echoey laughter makes me feel even more alone. I miss Mai so much.