“Welcome to the family, Jimmy Halpert,” Mr. Scott announced enthusiastically. Pam had been told before hand that a new kid would be joining the class since she wasn’t very good with change. The boy was tall and lanky, with dirty brown hair. 

“Isn’t this… a classroom?” the boy questioned, his eyes searching for an answer.

“This classroom will become your family, James, Jimson, JimTim,” Mr. Scott answered as if it was obvious. 

“Oh… ok,” Jim shuffled from the top in front of the whiteboard of the classroom when Mr. Scott had made him stand. 

“Where are you going? You have to introduce yourself.”

“Oh. Well. I’m Jim. My family just moved from Philly… and I really like basketball.”

Roy snickered from the back, clearly unimpressed.

“Can I sit now?” Jim asked, obviously uncomfortable. 

“Yes, my son,” Mr. Scott answered as Jim eyed him strangely. None of the other children even phased, having been with Mr. Scott thus far.

Jim’s eyes glazed over the classroom, looking for an open seat. Joining half way in the year meant cliques had formed and seats were solid. Most of the stiff, hard plastic chairs were filled with chatting and giggling students. Eventually, his eyes fell on an empty seat. It was next to a small girl with curly red hair sitting silently in the back. 

••

“Can I sit here?” Jim asked politely. The girl just looked at him, and he could see she was frightened with her body language. She was stiff and her shoulders tipped in with arms held close to her chest. She was looking straight at her hand, and rubbing them, the friction created between the rubbing grounding her from her fleeting thoughts. Her curly frizz blocked the line to her eyes and her ankle was flexing rapidly, making a soft tapping sound on the carpet. It appeared she wasn’t used to being talk to as she didn’t even realize he was talking to her at first. Jim began to repeat himself, to make sure she understood he was talking to her. 

Pam gave a stiff nod, and Jim settled into the seat. Pam felt her stomach become aflame. Her heart raced and her mind raced even faster. “Yay… someone else to realize how strange I am them tease me” she thought to herself anxiously. Her mind was buzzing with thoughts, and her body felt as if electricity was running through it. He looked at her, as if to pull her from her thoughts then pulled out a big notebook, labeled “pranks”. He gently placed the notebook on the table to avoid any load noise it could create. Pam eyes followed his to the notebook and she looked back at him suspiciously. Jim quickly felt her gaze upon him.

“Oh yeah. Y’know that boy Dwight over there? Well we went to the same school before I moved to Philly. My dad- uh- we move a lot. Anyways, once I learned I was coming here and HE would be here, I had to get started on this baby,” Jim said coolly, “Want in?”

A hard lump formed at her chest, freezing her airway. She wanted to convey she was in. Pam felt a smile sneak up onto her mouth and gave a nod. Of course she wanted in. Dwight had joined only this year, but all he had done was be a suck up to the teacher and talk about beets. She looked up to the boy in the front row, wearing overalls with dress shoes. He was certainly one to remember. Her was looking attentively at the teacher and raising his hand at every question. Pranks weren’t mean, right? Jim giggled and opened up the notebook. It was blue and had messy handwriting all over the page. It was still pretty neat for a first grader. Pam felt the lump start to disappear, but body still vibrating with fear. Pam glanced at it then looked back up at Jim. 

“I know, pretty awesome, right?” he smirked. 

••

Micheal began teaching and talking about his plan for movie Mondays. Pam usually just blew over whatever he was ranting about, but Jim looked intrigued, often looking at her questioningly. She knew exactly what he was thinking. She gave him a shrug and a smile and Jim let out a giggle. It was almost as if they could read minds with looks between one another’s eyes. Micheal then continued to talk about how they would start with his very own movie. Jim nearly burst with laughter. Pam only gave a look that said “yeah, it’s real. You don’t want to miss it.” He mouthed “really?” to her and she gave a smile. This was a conversation with a peer who wasn’t Penny- and they didn’t even need words.

••

The two tuned out the teacher and Jim leaned from his chair to Pam.

“How do you feel about jello?” he asked. 

Pam flinched at the closeness then her eyes beamed. Jello sounds perfect. He didn’t seemed bothered by her silence or her lack of response, instead he patiently waited for her to respond with her eyes or her expressions. It was automatic and natural for the two. It made her hand go up to chew on her nails just thinking that someone other than her family was acknowledging her, but she enjoyed the “conversation” with Jim.