The First

THE first day of school for the year is always a special event. Then again, maybe the first of anything is special. You don't know what it's going to be like or about the people you are going to meet, even if you've asked some people before.
It's free seating, at least at first, until the teacher comes in and puts the loud ones with the quiet ones and the best friends at opposite ends. All part of getting to know one another, she will say with a smile and in a tone that fools none. Of course. It is all just a way for them to torture you. Of course.  
Following this, she begins a self-intro, I am your form teacher for this year, this is my co-form... 
And the classroom, through the various icebreaker the students were forced into, metamorphoses from a quiet space of awkward, self-conscious movements, to a lively atmosphere of budding friendship.