A New - Found Friend It was the beginning of the school year and Maria was not happy that Juan was her reading partner . School had only been in session for two weeks and Juan had already made fun of her glasses and her blue shoes Maria told Mrs. Damian , her sixth grade teacher , about these rude interactions in hopes of switching reading partners . Unfortunately , Mrs. Damian told Maria that Juan would remain her partner for the realistic fiction unit Still feeling upset about having work with Juan , Maria avoided eye contact with him when he walked into their room after recess . Until thud ! When Maria heard this loud noise , she looked up to see that all of Juan's books had fallen out of his backpack . Juan's face turned bright red as he bent down to pick up the mess . Maria rushed over to him Despite Juan's rude behaviour to her during the first two weeks of school , Maria helped Juan pick up his books and said , " No worries , Juan , isn't it hard to have to lug all of these books around ? That afternoon during their reading partnership Juan thanked Maria for her kind gesture . He even mentioned that the ideas she shared that day helped him to think of literary reflections . Maria realized she was learning a lot from Juan , too As the realistic fiction unit came to a close , Maria and Juan both realized that they learned a great deal from each other and had even found a new friend .​