Realistic Fiction
2 min
Don't be Afraid of the Unknown
Adam Astley
Going back to school isn't easy for teens. For Dylan, this certainly holds true. The freedom of waking up late and not having to worry about if you forget anything is certainly hard to pass up. But this year was different. Dylan was entering his freshman year, and there was one class he was really looking forward to - computer science.
Dylan had some essential coding experience from playing around with websites like Scratch and Tynker. He also spent a decent chunk of his free time on the computer. It was no surprise that when he saw computer science as a course, he immediately signed up.
Between his past experience, passion, and other friends in the course, it quickly became his favorite class. He'd just started learning about new content and getting used to his schedule when the unthinkable happened. His mom was making him switch to chemistry!
Dylan tried to reason with or convince his mom not to make the switch.
"Chemistry is a year ahead," he cried. "I don't know anybody in the class!"
His mom didn't listen, as she reasoned that chemistry class had higher priority than computer science class. And that was the end of the matter.
As Dylan walked into chemistry class for the first time, all he saw were unfamiliar faces. He was behind on the course material due to transferring into class late and sometimes didn't know what the teacher was saying. The teacher even gave him some extra notes to study. Then, halfway through the class, the teacher announced that the class would do an experiment.
Everyone seemed to already be bundling into their own little groups. Dylan looked around, confused, but then saw the teacher going up to him.
"Oh, I haven't assigned you a lab group yet, have I? You'll be with them, over at that table," she explained.
Dylan decided to introduce himself to his lab partners, and they were welcoming. In fact, he realized he was getting along well with them, and soon, they finished the lab.
Over the next few days, Dylan slowly settled into the routine of his new classroom. He caught up on his assignments, took the quizzes he missed, and got to know his new classmates. There was one quiz in particular he was worried about, but he ended up with full points. Before he knew it, he realized he was enjoying the class.
He looked back to when he first walked in. Everyone had seemed so hostile, but that wasn't true. He realized that most of his fear of the class wasn't from the class itself but from his own heart. He was scared of new and unfamiliar things. He decided that rather than closing his heart off, in the future, he was going to be more open to foreign things and face them.
This work of short fiction was written by a Bay Area resident for the San Jose Public Library Short Edition collection.
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