15. When Nicos first moved to Kensington in July, he was very unhappy. He came from a big city where he knew every kid in his building and did lots of things together with his friends. He noticed that Kensington was very quiet — unlike his home city, which was always noisy.
Nicos was worried about the start of school because he hadn't met any other kids yet. One day he decided to ride his bike to the town park. He was happy to see people at his age there. Then he noticed some of them looking at him and quietly speaking to one another. "Uh-oh," Nicos thought, "they probably don't like outsiders."
A tall boy with carrot-colored hair broke away from the group and walked toward Nicos. The boy stopped a few feet away. Nicos didn't know what to do, but suddenly the boy smiled at him. "Hey," he said.
"Hey," Nicos answered.
"What's your name?" asked the boy.
"Nicos. What's yours?" asked Nicos.
"I'm Tim. Nicos is an unusual name. Where's it from?" Tim asked.
"It's Greek (希腊语)," answered Nicos.
Tim's eyes widened. "Cool, are you from Greece?" he asked.
"Well, my family is, but I'm from London," said Nicos.
"London!" said Tim. "That's awesome!" He shouted to his group, "Hey, this guy's from London!"
The other kids headed toward Tim and Nicos. "This is Nicos," said Tim.
The other kids introduced themselves as Tommy, Michelle, Leo, Martin, Chad. Cory, and Keith. They were around him and started asking him questions so fast that he couldn't keep up. "What's the subway like?" "Are there fun things to do there?"
"Hey, we're going to a pool (泳池) party at Nicole's house this afternoon," said Lee. "You want to come with us?"
Nicos smiled, "Sure!" he said. Chad lived near him, so he and Chad rushed home together on their bikes to get their swim trunks.
Nicos had a great time that afternoon. Everyone was so friendly!
Even though almost everyone in Kensington knew almost everyone else, there was still room for someone new.