Stalled

Moving to a new town and making new friends was nothing new to me. My family
lived in many different cities and I went to a new school almost every year. By the time I turned nine years old I’d been to so many different places I thought I had seen it all.
However, on my first day at West Woods Elementary I found myself in the one place I never wanted to see.

As soon as the door slammed shut behind me I knew something was terribly wrong. The air that was normally a fruity orange scent, now smelled more like sweaty gym socks. The blue painted walls stopped me dead in my tracks. I had never been in a blue restroom before and I wasn’t sure if that strange thing on the wall was a sink or some kind of water fountain. All I knew was that I had just made the most horrible, embarrassing mistake a girl in the fourth grade can make.

I wanted to shut my eyes and run back through the door…but wait, I thought. What if someone saw me walk out? I’d never be able to show my face in that school again. So I hid in the last stall and locked the door. I tried to think of a way to escape without being seen, but it was no use. I was trapped. I would simply have to wait for the bell to ring. I knew I would be late for class, but it was the only way I could safely sneak out of the boy‘s restroom.

At that moment the door opened. Through a crack in the stall I could see two boys
snickering next to the trash can. I held my hand over my mouth, afraid they’d hear me breathe. Then I realized my pink tennis shoes stuck out from under the stall door. I had to act fast. As quietly as I could I stepped backwards up onto the toilet seat. Whatever those boys were doing in there must have been pretty bad. Because when my foot slipped off the seat and splashed down into the cold water, they sure ran out in a hurry.
It felt good to be alone again, but time seemed to stand still as I waited for the bell to ring. I wondered if it was broken. I wondered if it would ever ring. I wanted to cry.

Just when I thought I’d be stuck in there forever, the bell rang.
I rushed to the door and stopped to listen. There was only silence. Before I even touched the door it swung open. I froze at the sight of a very red faced boy standing right in front of me.

“Uh…Um,” stammered the boy, “I’m sorry, wrong room.”

He quickly spun around and, before I could stop him, darted straight into the girl’s
restroom.