I hate moving, he thought, I hate new schools, and I really hate having to make new friends. Caleb was so busy grumbling to himself he didn't look around until the bus stopped in front of his new school.

As he walked toward the building, Caleb glanced around at the other kids. No one was paying any attention to him. He didn't see anyone who looked as cool as his friends back home.

Life got worse after Caleb arrived in classroom 43B. Ms. Holmes, his new teacher, asked him to stand in front of the class and introduce himself. She asked all the usual questions - "Where are you from? What's your favorite book? What do you like to do for fun?" Blah, blah, blah.

After what seemed like a zillion years of embarrassment, Caleb sat down at his new desk, in his new classroom, in his new school. Ms. Holmes began reading the announcements for the day. Caleb looked up at the chalkboard and checked the schedule:

Well, thought Caleb, brightening up, at least we get to go to P.E. today! Sitting still through Math and English was hard, but the promise of playing outside kept him happy. When Ms. Holmes finally told the class to line up for P.E., Caleb practically jumped out of his seat. Everyone else found their friends and rushed to the line together.

In P.E., the students played Caleb’s favorite game, Capture the Flag. He was glad the teacher had assigned teams, so Caleb didn’t have to worry about being chosen. The teams were evenly matched, and by halfway through class, no one had won. Caleb’s team called a huddle and they all discussed plans for a winning play. Caleb was listening to Laura, the team captain, when he heard wheezing. He looked around and saw the boy next to him, Brian, bending over and breathing hard. "Do you need help?" Caleb asked. "Do you have asthma?"

Brian nodded yes.

"I’ll go get the teacher."

"Brian," said the teacher, with a concerned voice, "you need to go see the nurse for some medication. You seem to be okay to walk there. Caleb, would you please go with him?"

Caleb said sure, and the boys went back into the school. "You’re lucky to have a school nurse," he said as they headed down the corridor to the nurse’s office. "My old school didn’t have one. My little sister has asthma. My mom was scared she would have an attack in school and no one would know how to help her. She’s glad we’re here now."

Brian was only half-listening because he was busy concentrating on trying to breathe. When they got to the nurse’s office, she took one look at Brian, then pulled out his medicine and filled the nebulizer cup. Brian sealed his lips around the mouthpiece and turned on the nebulizer machine. Caleb could see the panic gradually leave Brian’s eyes as he breathed the soothing mist.

As Brian’s breathing improved, Caleb started making faces at him, like he did when his sister was using the nebulizer. Soon the two of them were laughing and the treatment was over. The nurse listened to Brian’s lungs with a stethoscope. "Good," she said. "I don’t hear any more wheezes. Before you go, though, let’s check your peak flow reading."

Brian showed Caleb the stickers that he had pasted onto his peak flow meter to mark the zones to indicate how well he was breathing. Brian blew into his peak flow meter, checked the number, then blew again. "I’m in the green zone, so can I go?"

"Only if you can tell me why you had trouble breathing," said the nurse.

"Because I was running really hard," Brian replied.

"No, Brian," she corrected gently, "not what you did, but what you didn’t do to prevent it."

Looking down at the floor, Brian mumbled, "I forgot to come and use my inhaler before P.E."

"Exactly," replied the nurse. "You are lucky to have a good friend like Caleb. You need to take care of yourself, though, and remember to take your medicine before P.E. from now on."

As they walked back to class, Brian thanked Caleb for his help.

"No problem," replied Caleb, grinning. He never would have guessed an asthma attack would help him make his first friend at the new school!

Reprinted from Allergy & Asthma Health magazine, Summer 2001.