The Last 12 Years

Chapter 3

7thgrade also introduces you to some of your first friends that actually make an impact in your life. For me those friends came into my existence when I thought I was completely alone. No one really knows who's going to stay for the long run, but somehow I had a strange feeling that they were here to stay.

One day I remember being in line to get lunch when I heard some loud talking, almost turning into yelling. I recognized the scene almost right away. Someone had made the mistake of sitting at Heather Wilson's table. Now you might be thinking, "who the fuck is Heather Wilson?" Heather Wilson was the queen b, of the 7thgrade. She modeled part time for JCPenney's, ran for the student council, and was always the winner of everything. Heather always got her way and when she doesn't, it can get ugly. I zoned in to what she was screaming.

"Who the eff do you think you are?"

"Umm what", responded the new mystery girl who had made the mistake of sitting at Heather's table.

"I said, who do you think you are. This is my table and you're in my seat."

"Well last time I checked this was a public school and Jefferson Junior High doesn't do reserved seating." Oh my god, whoever this girl is, she's got balls of steel. She just stood up to one of the most popular girls. No one's ever done that in the history of the 7thgrade.

"Umm excuse me, I know for a fact that you didn't say that to me. Who even are you?"

"My name is Martha Contreras and I'm just here to eat my lunch in peace."

"Well you can go eat somewhere else because this is my table and my seat."

"Like I said before, I don't see your name here."

"Fine have it your way, I'll just show you what happens when you try to cross me. Lindsay!" With the calling of that name, one of Heather's goons stepped forward and picked Martha up. Now Lindsay was captain of both the wrestling and lacrosse teams and she had no difficulty picking this scrawny girl up from the seat. She then walked over and plopped her down on the floor near the trash cans. "Oh, while you're there, you can throw away your trash." She was referring to the plastic bags that the girl had left behind. Heather then proceeded to throw the bags at Martha's head with one hitting her square on the forehead.

"Ow, fucking bitch."

"I told you not to mess with me." Heather then sat down, and her group followed her lead. Within 5 seconds, the group was laughing and continuing as if they hadn't just evicted a girl from the table in a very forceful manner. Part of me wanted to go to her and ask her if she was okay, and the other part knew that if I did that, I would be officially on Heather's radar, and I worked really hard on being off that radar. If she knew who I was, or that I was gay, then my secret I've been trying to hide would be out. It would be as out as Ellen, and she went out on nationwide television, so I'm not sure if I'm ready for that level of broadcast. I turned to stare at Martha, and I was surprised to see her eating by the trash can. She didn't give the satisfaction to Heather by getting up and feeling ashamed to what she did to her.

"Damnit," I thought to myself as I felt myself walked towards Martha. I plopped myself next to her and starting to take a three-cheese calzone out of its basic plastic wrapping and pushing it towards my mouth. Martha gave me a quizzical look but said nothing and proceeded to take a sandwich out of her plastic TJ Maxx bag, and start to nibble around the crust. "So, uh that was pretty cool what you did there."

"You mean get thrown out to the trash by the female hulk?"

I laughed, and a piece of calzone fell out of my mouth and onto my lap. This prompted her to laugh and a piece of her sandwich fell onto her lap. This just made us laugh even harder and I knew in that moment that I had made a friend for life.