Westley has always known Claire. She's always been a constant in his life, whether it be as his babysitter, his secret Santa, as his pretend-girlfriend, his confident, as the person he could always rely on.
But she's also always been the girl he lov...
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I'm eleven years old and I just started middle school.
Since it's a new school with some new people I try extra hard to make new friends. I know how Mom is still worried about that. So I talk with everybody and I try being extra friendly.
It's still doesn't work. Everyone thinks I'm annoying.
I still play football, but I'm usually used as a second string. Dad stopped coming to see my games because he says it's a waste of time. I try harder, to be better, but I'm too small to make a difference on the field. Everybody's almost got a head over me.
I'm not the only one that people seem to dislike though. There's one guy who snaps the ball. Everyone calls him Smelly-Reggie. They used to call him Hairy-Reggie because of his afro but he shaved it, probably so people would get off his back. Clearly, it didn't work. His full name is actually Reginald and everyone makes fun of him because it's a posers name and they say it's stupid because his whole family is poor. I tried talking to him but he's always ignored me before, but one time the name calling gets a little out of hand and I find Reggie crying in the lockers after everyone is gone.
I go up to him and try to console him. I want to tell him that Elton John's real name is actually Reginald, and that's cool, but I don't think that's going to help him feel better. So I just sit beside him and give him some of the candy I keep in my backpack.
He doesn't really talk to me at first, but one day I'm sitting alone in the cafeteria, as always, and he comes to sit in front of me. He doesn't make a grand scene about it. But he comes back like this every day. And after a couple of weeks we actually start talking.
There's this other guy, Lucas, he was in the swim team with me but he peed in one of those pools where the water colors if you do, so he's still getting bullied because of that. Reggie and I find him hiding in the bathroom eating his lunch one day and we tell him to eat with us instead.
Just like that, our little group gets bigger, as we find other people without friends.
It's kind of comforting to know I wasn't the only one without friends. I was trying too hard before, I was being too loud and making too much of a scene. It wasn't the right way to make friends.
I had to be myself. And being myself means being a reject. I'm a reject after all.
