From Hidden Brain Media, I'm Shankar Vedantam.

This is My Unsung Hero, stories where one person reached out to help another in a time of need.

I don't know the name of my unsung hero.

And here she was trying to encourage me that it was going to be all right.

Thank you.

You will forever be my own son hero.

Today's story comes from 12-year-old Clara Temple.

Around six years ago, when Clara was in first grade, she always brought lunch from home.

But one day, there was a mix-up, which meant she had to get a hot lunch at the cafeteria.

When she got in line, she noticed that the other kids were entering their student ID numbers on a keypad before getting their food.

And of course, because it was my first time, I had no clue what the student ID was.

Everybody all kind of knew what to do, and the line was going so quickly.

And then finally, when it came time to type in my number, I froze.

And I felt embarrassed, like everyone was watching me. And all the kids were like, come on, keep moving.

What are you doing?

And I just cried.

Like I couldn't move.

And everything was like so bad and I was so stressed.

And I had just kind of given up trying.

I just couldn't stop crying.

Like all my emotions came out.

And then the lunch lady came in and stopped all her work.

...