"Hey guys," Frannie said, looking across the lunchroom. "Do you see that jellyfish sitting alone over there?"

"Yeah," Suzy said. "What about him?"
"Well, I think we should go ask him to sit with us." Frannie suggested.

"What for?" asked Tommy.

"I just don't think he should have to sit all alone," Frannie told her friends.
"I agree," added Bonnie. "Maybe he just needs some friends."

"But he's a jellyfish!" said Carter. "They're mean. They sting fish when they get mad, and they look funny. Look at him. Don't you think he looks funny?"

"No. He doesn't look funny," Frannie said. "You shouldn't say that. He's just like us. He may look a little different, but I'm sure he's nice. Let's just go say hello. If he isn't nice, then at least we tried."
"Yeah, okay," Carter finally agreed.

The group swam over to the jellyfish's table. He peered up at them with a look of surprise on his face.
"Hi," Frannie smiled when she spoke.

"Um, hello" said the jellyfish.
"I'm Frannie," Frannie continued. "This is Suzy, Tommy, Carter and Bonnie."
"Nice to meet you all. I'm Jordan."
"Jordan, would you like to sit with us?" Frannie pointed at their table.

"Really? You guys aren't scared of me?" Jordan asked.
"Nope. We would really like you to sit with us," Frannie smiled again.
"Yeah, that would be really nice," said Suzy.

"Yeah," agreed Tommy.
The group went back to their table with their new friend, Jordan.
"So Jordan, what do you like to do?" asked Carter.
"I love to play finball."

That was all it took to convince Carter that Jordan was okay. Carter loved finball as well. He and Jordan became fast friends. As they chatted, the group learned that Jordan was in third grade, like Bonnie. They also learned that jellyfish are actually very gentle creatures, they just get a little defensive when they are threatened. They talked about school and finball and how much they liked them both. They also asked Jordan questions about what it's like to be a jellyfish.

"Thank you for letting me sit with you," Jordan said. "Most fish think I'm different and don't like me because of it. It's really nice to meet fish like you guys that try to learn more about me, instead of just being scared of me. Do you want to eat together tomorrow too?"

"Of course!" the group all answered.

Suzy, Carter, Tommy and Frannie swam back to class together. As they swam, they talked about their new friends. They got to their seats and waited for the lesson to begin.

This whole week in class they'd been talking about Land. The teacher told them about different land creatures like mammals, the weather changes on land, and the differences between sea and land creatures. Mrs. S swam into the room and started her lecture about humans, and their characteristics.
"Can anyone tell me one trait of a human?" she asked.

"They like to throw sharp shiny metal into the ocean and kill fish with it?" asked a fish across the room.
"That's true, some humans do that, but most of them don't" said the teacher. "Does anyone else know a characteristic?"

"Humans are tall, and they don't have fins, they have arms and legs," said Suzy.
"Very good, Suzy," said Mrs. S.

The lesson went on this way for a long time. Mrs. S would ask questions and the students would answer back. Finally, just before the bell rang, Mrs. S had an announcement to make. "Since you've all done so well answering my questions today, we will be having our first test on Friday over the land things we've talked about." she said. "Any questions?"

No one raised a fin. The class just looked up at the teacher with no expression on their faces. Frannie assumed they were all just nervous. The class gathered their books and headed out to the buses.
"My first test is happening in two days!? What am I supposed to do?" she thought to herself as she swam to the bus. She figured she could talk to her friends about it on the bus ride home.

Frannie swam faster to catch up with her friends, but as she approached them, she overheard them talking about how they all thought the test would be easy, but how they were still planning to study for it. Frannie was getting a little scared.

"How does everyone else know so much, and I have no idea? How am I supposed to study for this test?" Frannie wondered.

Next chapter: "Frannie's First Test"