It was a great beautiful day when Claire the clam woke up to attend her first day at school, but little did she know there was a storm coming.
She unearthed herself, shaking off the sand from her pink outer shell and felt the warmth of the sea giving her a big cuddle, before the currents took her all the way to school as she anxiously awaited what today held; being the new kid at school is always hard.
She doesn’t have eyes, so she will have to make new friends without seeing what they look like. She always judges sea creatures on their inside, their personality, not their outside, which she can’t see. That’s why she had really good friends back at her old school that she really missed. She’d rather have a few friends that like her for who she truly is rather than for her looks.
But making new friends is not easy as Claire is shy and closed off, like most clams. She barely moved her mouth an inch open except when her name was called.
Mr. Manatee introduced her and another new kid to the entire class. The other new kids was a crab named Claude, who others described to her as rough and bumpy with scary claws.
She couldn’t relate because she is smooth with ridges on the outside. What Claude looked like didn’t matter to her because she knew that it is the inside that matters, but she was too afraid to find out.
At recess, Claire was hanging out by the algae covered rocks and tried to keep to herself until, she felt a torrent of water rushing towards her, like a storm about to happen.
It was Manny, the manta ray who had come plowing in her direction. He was a bully at the school and everyone knew it.
Claire tried to dig as fast and as deep as she could to avoid the torrent and trouble from him, but it was too late. The manta ray flipped her over. Her world was literally upside down.
Fortunately, Claude, the crab was on the rocks, right next to her when he came to her rescue and turned her back over in response to her cries.
Claire gasped for air, as she felt the grip of a claw turning her over and she knew it was Claude
“Go pick on someone your own size!” Claude yelled at Manny, snapping his claws at him.
"Are you alright, Claire?"
Claire responded, “I think so. Thanks Claude.”
“No problem. New kids like us got to stick together, right?”
Claire just smiled and thought about how wonderful it was to have someone who didn’t judge on appearance, but rather what’s on the inside.
Claire usually judges everyone’s personality as she couldn’t see them to know otherwise. She misjudged Claude from how others described him.
She wishes everyone would judge her and him from their insides as well. Luckily, she has a friend like Claude to be there for her.
Little did Claude know underneath Claire’s hard shell was a big beautiful pearl. The pearl was shining like a diamond in the sunlight when Claude made her laugh. He didn’t need eyes to see that she was precious on the inside.
Claire is the most beautiful sea creature in the whole ocean. She was happy as a clam to have a friend that didn’t just see her for what she was on the outside but got to know her from her personality on the inside.
The End
@hopehuggs <3
Mingle with People Making a Difference in the EcoTrain Discord Group
