There was once a boy named Derek who was very nervous to start the 6th grade. He and his family had just moved to a new city and he was anxious to meet new people and make some new friends. He loved music and had dreams of becoming a professional musician.

On Derek’s first day of school, during recess, he walked around trying to find classmates to talk to. Everyone around him was playing sports. He felt out of place and was determined to find other people with similar interests as him.

Hi, my name is Derek.

Towards the back of the playground, Derek saw three kids standing together, just talking. He went up to the group of kids and introduced himself. “Hi, my name is Derek. Can I join you guys?” His classmates welcomed him into their group right away. “Of course! We were just talking about music that we enjoy listening to!” Derek felt relieved and thankful to have found a group of kids that had similar interests as him.

My name is Thomas!

My name is Katie!

My name is Aaron!

The kids introduced themselves right away and asked Derek if he played any instruments. "I play the drums, but I'm not very good... I only started last year". "We'd be happy to have you play music with us sometime! We started a band and need a drummer!", said Katie. "Let's all hang out at my house on Saturday and play music together!", said Aaron.

Later that night, in his room, Derek was thinking about how happy he was. The students he met at recess were so kind and made him feel very welcome. He was no longer nervous to live in a new city and was excited to have three new friends.