Foxie's New Classmate

Foxie has always been the only fox in her class at school. However, today, that changed. A new student, Fernando, was escorted by the principal into her class after lunch. When Fernando walked through the door, Foxie’s ears went straight up and she sat at the edge of her seat. She was so excited to have another fox in her class! She immediately began thinking about ways she could introduce herself to him. 

Fernando was taller than Foxie and he wore jeans with holes in them - something Foxie’s mom would never allow her to wear. Foxie was intrigued by the new fox in her class so much so that she hardly paid attention until break time came. At break time, Foxie decided it was time to introduce herself.

“I’m Foxie,” She said with a smile.

“Cool,” responded Fernando. He was quite rude and cold in his response to Foxie, which really hurt her feelings. Foxie went away to the bathroom to cry. 

While in the bathroom stall, Foxie could hear some other girls washing their hands and talking about Fernando. They were all talking about how cool he was and how they were going to be his friend. Foxie felt ashamed. Foxie felt like she wasn’t cool enough to be Fernando’s friend. 

Foxie decided to get her scissors out of her trapper keeper and cut slits in her jeans. This will make me cool, Foxie thought. When she came out of the bathroom, she washed her hands then went back to where Fernando was standing. He had half the class ogling over him. There was no way for her to get his attention. She felt disappointed. 

When she went home from school, she told her mom and dad about Fernando. Then, when her mom noticed her jeans, she was not very happy with Foxie.

“Those were expensive jeans, Foxie,” Her mom said. 

“I know, but I just wanted to be cool in front of Fernando. And it didn’t even work - he never noticed it!” 

“Having slits in your jeans doesn’t make you cool, Foxie. Being cool is being a good friend to everyone; which it doesn’t sound like Fernando was. That makes you cooler than him, regardless of what you wear,” Foxie’s mom assured.

Foxie listened to her mom and let her patch her jeans back up. The next day at school, everyone was back to normal and Fernando was just another kid in her class. She was nice to him, but she didn’t try chasing him down anymore. Foxie knew that she was cool all on her own and she didn’t need anyone, not even Fernando, to tell her that.