Just A Little Different

Chapter 1

I walked into the kitchen, sleep still clouding my vision. Mom was sitting at the table. I got excited when I saw her. Maybe I can try again.

"Hi, mom!" I said, unable to hide my joy. She didn't even look in my direction. She never does anymore. I'm too abnormal for her. Ever since I was little, I've had what she calls issues. My psychologist says there's nothing wrong with me, I just have a rare mental disorder that just makes me change randomly. It's been getting worse, though. There's no set trigger, but I've noticed that it usually happens when I get really excited, really sad, or scared. My mom doesn't buy it, though. She says mean things to me, but I still try to make her love me, show her that there's nothing wrong with her little boy.
"Mom, look at me!" I raised my voice. Still nothing. She sat like a statue, looking the completely opposite direction. Growing desperate, I heard my voice, crack and high pitched, grow even more, not quite yelling, but almost. "Look, mom!" I just want her to notice me.

Hearing that voice triggered something in her because she slammed her hand down on the table and jumped out of her chair, mumbling something as she walked out of the kitchen. I didn't do it on purpose. It made me sad to think my own mom didn't even like me. But that didn't stop me from following her out of the kitchen. I had to ask a question before I got ready for school. "Hey, mom? Can I-"

"What?!" she snapped. I froze. I should've seen that coming, but I didn't, so it caught me off guard.

"I...I was going to ask if I could go to Ben's house after school."

"Oh, right. The boyfriend." She sounded scornful.

"He's not my.."

"Just do whatever you want. Be home by ten, you know what to do. Now go get dressed before I decide to not even take you to school. I will make you walk three miles."

Without another word, she went outside to start the car. I ran upstairs to get ready for school. I threw on a pair of jeans and a flannel button-up. It was the first thing I could find. I ran to the bathroom and brushed my teeth and hair, which my mom insisted I cut because she thought it made me look too feminine. I don't care. I like my hair. Then I grabbed my cell phone and my backpack and ran outside to the car, but I sat in the back seat. I didn't want my mom to have to look at my face when she looked my way to make sure she could drive safely through intersections. If she didn't want to look at me, I wouldn't force her to.

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When I got to school, I was aware of the stares of others. I just kept my eyes on the ground and walked inside. I get scared walking to my locker because it's down a hallway that is mostly vacant. Few kids come around here except to get to their lockers, and I'm always one of the only kids in this hallway in the morning anyway. I would've waited for Ben, but the stares were bothering me today. I wasn't sure why.

I threw my backpack up onto the hook and pulled out a few notebooks, a pencil bag with one pen, one pencil, a sharpener and a mini calculator, and a reading book for when my work was done. I also grabbed my I.D. The teachers asked for school I.D.s every morning and we would get detention if we didn't have them with us. They were also used in an emergency. If we were out of our class when the principal called lockdown, we would show our I.D.s to the nearest teacher to confirm we're not the intruder and they would let us in before they locked their door.

As I closed my locker, I heard "Hey, freak." next to my ear. I didn't need to look to see who it was. My eyes widened as I recognize the voice of Adam. He and his friends were always terrorizing me.

"O-oh...hey Adam," I stammered.

"Shut up." He knocked everything out of my hand, but he always did that. I didn't want to lean over to pick it up, as I was afraid he would kick me in the face as soon as I got on the ground.