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Reader Secrets - Page 2

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So, it's 8th grade. We have a fresh out of school science teacher (and in retrospect, she was very cool). Only 4 girls in a class of 30, making for some very loud days. One day, we moved her desk and chair into the hallway, not an easy task. It was a pretty mean thing to do--something you'd do to a sub, but we did it to our new teacher. She made it through the year, and I think we made her tougher.

*

Age 13, Grade 7

I don't go to school, but being home schooled, I do homeschooling activities at a recreational facility. Every singe time I go, there is a girl. I had heard that she didn't like to be called a certain nickname (that was an abbreviation for her real name), so I yelled over to her using the name. I expected her to just make a funny face and walk away, but my plan backfired: she came over and talked to me. That when I realized that everything all of my friends have said about her was true. She was creepy, show-offy, and not fun to be around. I've never acted mean to her, just kind of distant and quiet. I always try to ignore her, but she always seems to find me.

Me and all of my friends who have met her constantly say rude things about her behind her back. Nothing harmful, but rude things about her and her "she-mullet" hairdo and her being a "close talker". I suppose she probably considers us friends, and we're talking bad about her....

*

When I was in sixth grade, I was best friends with a girl that all the boys liked. One day, the boys surrounded me on the playground and twisted my arm behind my back until I'd tell them who my friend liked. I didn't tell. The next time she had a secret, she refused to tell me because, "You'll tell everyone." I was sooooo mad.

*

5th grade was a year when I already felt insecure. It was my first year in middle school. I felt ugly, fat and uncool.

She befriended me and I felt like I finally belonged. But she wasn't as nice as she seemed. She would say hurtful things and then say, "Just joking!" with a playful slap on your shoulder. Everyone took what she was "just joking" about to be gospel. So the day she said, "That dress makes you look like a pig! Just joking!" and gave me a playful slap...

I slapped her back, pretty hard. It felt good. I had heard her say so many hurtful things to me and others over the year. "Just joking!" didn't make everything you say alright. I got a lunch detention, but it was worth it.

*

In junior high, 7th grade, I was picked on because someone told this girl I was spreading lies about her. She confronted me, literally by picking me up by my shirt collar, dangling feet and all. Totally freaked me out. It was based toatal on a lie, I never said anything about this girl, I barely even knew her. My older sister found out about it and went after her. Cops and all showed up. After that I decided I wasn't gonna take stuff like that anymore.

*

Listen to this story on the player below or click here.

*

The first occurred when I was in the 8th grade till the 9th.

I had a best friend Christine. We had been best friends all through Jr. high. Giggling, rambunctious twins that were rarely separate. The irony was even though people called us the double trouble twins we were exact opposites in every way possible. I was short, a German/Cherokee kid with long hair down to my hips. Christine was Black with short kinky hair and all long limbed. I didn't even see it coming...you see I've always been colorblind when it comes to friends. Never once did I judge. After all I myself was considered a half breed and had a hearing disability. I'm now deaf. Fast forward to the first day of school in the 9th grade, first assembly, first day of High School. I couldn't wait to see Christine. We had hung out a few times during the summer. But it was near impossible to get together.

Christine shrugged me off, barely saying Hi. I asked her were she wanted to sit in the assembly. She told me she would be sitting with her people. Pointing to an entire section with black students. I still didn't comprehend what she was saying and said ok I would join her. She made it quite clear I wasn't invited. It was my first raw experience of having someone see with color. Despite how much it hurt, I still rather have a diverse assortment of friends, than play the card Christine did. When it comes to friendship, may we all learn to be colorblind.

*

When I was in elementary school, I had a big nose. Maybe it wasn't so big but it was overly big for my face. Everyone thought so. I than, got the name Pinocchio. I would act like I didn't care than come home and cry myself to sleep at night because of all the other kids making fun of me. People started assuming that I got the nickname from lying and I let them think that just so I wouldn't get teased because it wasn't my fault. I would walk the hallways with my head down hoping nobody would look at my big nose. Of course that same year, we sent to a special showing at the movie theater of Pinocchio, and all the kids pointed at me throughout the movie and laughed. It was so hurtful. By the time I hit high school, the name was slowly fading away though it did get brought up sometimes. My face grew into my nose and it was a little less embarrasing. I would just laugh it off. Now I love myself and my big fat nose and I don't care what others think about it. Be proud of who you are.

*

I had this really awesome bottle of liquid for those bubbles that you can stack and that don't pop without a fight, and I took it to school one day. At lunchtime, out of my locker it came, and into the hall blew the bubbles. I enjoyed the attention I got, from people who ordinarily wouldn't give me the time of day, as my classmates jumped after the bubbles and squashed them and built bubble skyscrapers. But then a teacher walked by and asked me to please take it outside. What I hadn't thought of was the fact that these bubbles left a sticky residue when they finally did disintegrate, and I had made extra work for the cleaning staff. Mollified, I took the bubbles outside. - Eighth Grade

*

So a girl I know and I have been friends since kindergarten. I have always been involved with theater, and I got her involved too! In about 5th grade, she was quite a snot to me, and we stopped hanging out. In about 7th grade, she came back to keep doing theater, and I forgave her. The theater allows a high school student(s) to direct the children's show each summer. We decided we were going to direct the summer after 10th grade.

That was this year. We were talking about it, deciding between Cinderella and Anastasia. She came to my house and we were planning everything and beginning to write our application so we could finalize it over the summer. She told me she wanted this one guy to run the music for our show, I didn't get this. We don't need a musical director for a kid's show. She dropped the subject. A few weeks later, I overheard the same guy who my friend had wanted to be our musical director talking how he was directing with the same girl who had been planning with me. I confronted her about it, and she said, "Oh ya, I'm directing with him - I didn't want to tell you. I thought you'd be mad." I told her Of course I'm mad, you've been leading me on, hoping I wouldn't figure it out, then it would be too late for me to turn in an application.

I had never been so hurt in my life! She'd hurt me once by saying some nasty things and being a snot in the 5th grade, I forgave her, there's been other things, but this was the biggest thing. She knew how much the show meant to me, but she led me on planning on not even telling me.

*

Freshmen year of High School a lot of changes happened in my life. My mom was getting remarried to some guy I didn't like too much, half of my friends from junior high were attending vocational school instead of the public high school and I had lost my best friend since birth not even six months before to leukemia. I was horribly depressed and didn't really care much about anything--not how I dressed, not when I ate or went to bed or how I talked to people. It got me into a lot of trouble with teachers and the assistant principal, but worst of all it lost me what friends I had.

My few friends that made the transfer with me to public HS were rapidly moving away from being bookish nerds and transforming into trendy, popular girls. I didn't want to. I didn't want to wear make up and short skirts and high heels or flirt with boys. I was happy reading comics and books and hanging in the library. By mid-9th grade they had all abandoned me (and my 'immature' pursuits) and I was left by myself. Then the new semester started and suddenly I was in science class with a bunch of 'cool' kids. None of them had been my friend previously and I was kind of scared honestly. One guy though, who was new to the school but quickly becoming a favorite of the girls, was my lab partner. I forget what started out friendship, but we became really good friends really quickly.

During one really emotional day (when none of my old friends would talk to me at all) I cried on his shoulder and told him what had happened. The next day one of my formerly best friends approached me to help 'promote her cause'. She really wanted to go to the Spring Dance with him and since he and I were so close and me and her were friends...couldn't I help her out? I agreed to, but when I told the guy he got upset and told me not to be a pushover. He took me to the dance instead (and told me I could wear whatever the hell I wanted to wear--so I wore a simple black sundress with sandals, no makeup) and in front of the entire student body attending told my 'friends' what he thought of them.

Oh the looks on their faces! It was priceless! Unfortunately he got detention, so I volunteered to join him. After all serving a week of detention was the least I could do for him after he helped cheer me up.

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