Inside Out
- It's time for the first day of school, and our main man is nervous. You see, he's never been to school before and Roberto has some scary stories, like how everything is in English, which he and his family don't speak.
- Our narrator and his bro will be starting in the middle of the year. They were picking cotton in another part of California called Corcoran in the fall, but now that it's January his family has moved near Santa Maria to pick strawberries. And a new place means a whole new chance to try out school.
- By the way, in the middle of all this school talk we find out that Mamá is pregnant with another baby.
- Okay, so our narrator is super nervous—but after taking the bus to school and meeting the nice principal, Mr. Sims, he's starting to feel better. He can't understand when his first grade teacher, Miss Scalapino, talks in English—which happens pretty much all the time—but there is a cool caterpillar in a jar, so that's a plus.
- Guess what? Panchito's real name is Francisco. Nice to know, isn't it?
- Francisco has made a friend named Arthur, who also speaks Spanish, so that's cool, and Mr. Sims notices that Francisco needs a jacket so he gives him one from the used bin. Yep, he's a nice guy.
- So since all this good stuff is going on, you just know some bad hullabaloo is on the way—and that bad hullabaloo is called Curtis. You see, Curtis claims the jacket is his and he's going to fight to get it back. Oh goodie.
- The rest of the day pretty much stinks. The only good things are seeing the caterpillar spinning itself into a cocoon, and that Francisco's parents aren't too mad at him. Phew.
- A few days later, Francisco gets a seriously awesome surprise. He'd drawn a butterfly pic weeks earlier and now Miss Scalapino gives him an award for it. Yay for recognition.
- The day just gets better when that cocooned caterpillar emerges as a butterfly. Talk about good timing, right? And Francisco decides to keep the good times rolling, so he gives his pic to Curtis and now we're feeling all gooey inside.