First impressions

as the moving truck pulled away from her new house, cris commenced unpacking her things and breaking in her new accommodations, all the while contemplating her first day of school, which began tomorrow. before moving, her dad had explained how crucial a good first impression could be and offered a recommendation. she had no idea if his absurd advice would work, but she was willing to give it a chance.
the next morning, as cris gathered her things to make it to the bus stop on time, she took one last glance at her reflection in the mirror. "here goes nothing," she murmured before yelling goodbye to her parents as she raced out the front door.
cris arrived first at the bus stop, and while she frantically paced back and forth, she noticed another girl struggling to carry multiple bags. cris decided on the spot to embrace her dad's advice and rushed over to the girl. "let me you with those! " she squelched in an outlandish cartoon voice, hoping to break the ice. "i'm cris."
"huh . . oh, ! i'm aishah," she said with a stuttering giggle.
"why do you have so many bags? "
"these are decorations for the upcoming school dance. say, would you mind me get them set up? " aishah asked suddenly.
"uh, sure! " exclaimed cris at the unexpected offer.
cris was working through a set of problems during her midday geometry class, when she noticed the boy next to her struggling on a practice problem that she, too, worked hard to solve. she could see his frustration beginning to bubble to the surface, so she took a deep breath, thought of the funniest character she could and asked, " with your problem, do you need? "
"what? oh, yes," the boy chuckled. "i'm usually quick with probability, but i don't understand geometry equations quite so easily."
"yeah, it gave me trouble too. let me show you how i derived the answer." cris began as she demonstrated the solution and explained it, this time without the absurd voice.
" for the . i'm jackson, by the way."
"cris, nice to meet you."
when cris arrived home, she began thinking of all the new voices she could use to win over new friends. she began practicing a new one when her dad walked in and asked, "so, how was your day? "
"great! i'm aishah with the school dance decorations, and i met jackson by aiding him with a geometry equation. and they seemed to really like my first impressions! i just hope they like my second ones, as well."

character - who? plot - what? setting - where?
cris in the classroom

what belongs in the empty space?

a. what belongs in the empty space?
b. another student solve a math problem
c. decorate for the school dance
unpack boxes