Let’s go on a time travelling adventure, back to my sixth grade year at a new school. I thought I would have the best time of my life; my cousin was there, the school was small, what could possibly go wrong? My answer to this question was soon answered when I met two particular boys. Being a private school, we had all the same classes together, so there was no “getting away” from them. This resulted in one heart scarring moment in my life.

I was jokingly warned by girls that the boys beside me were known to cause trouble but I didn’t believe them.

I sat in a rickety old desk that smelled of Pine- Sol cleaner and of freshly used Expo marker. As I entered the room, I found myself in a sea of kids in groups already formed. They were talking amongst each other as if they were all long lost friends and that they had so much to catch up on. I was informed that most kids in the school have attended this school as early as Pre-K. Immediately, for the first time, I knew and I felt as if I was the the odd new girl who would soon meet her despair.
We were doing a class activity, which involved working with others around me. I didn’t have any friends, so I kept to myself as much as possible.

The boy next to me asked, “Where did you get that pencil?”
Before I could answer the boy next to him says,
“Hey, that’s my pencil!”

The accuser's face had put on a sly smile, and I knew something was up. He looked at me deceivingly and I could see the boy beside him trying to hide a smile.

Getting the chance to talk, I explained to them that I had brought that pencil from home and that I had no idea where the boy’s pencil was. After being called out in front of my peers, I was embarrassed as my face was as red as a tomato as all the attention was focused on me now. I was ready to give in and just hand the boy my pencil when all of a sudden they did the unexpected.

Grabbing my crutches, he took them to an unreachable place, and started stomping on them like a little kid trying to kill the remnants of an annoying pest. Hopeless and flustered, I asked the teacher to help me get my already battered up crutches. The two boys played it off as a joke. The teacher failed to see what they had done with my crutches, and my classmates, who now had completely halted their loud brain throbbing conversation, had failed to defend me.

After this incident, you would think that they would be done tormenting a new, disabled girl to actually welcome me to their school. But, these two boys had also accused me of cheating on a test, which I had to retake, and still ended up getting the same grade. They have shattered my relationship with a longtime girl best friend by accusing me of being the one who was putting mean, hateful notes in her locker. In fact, it turned out to be someone from their evil clique. I had been sent to the principal’s office 4 times. Got my full scholarship taken away. And everyone in my life, even my parents, had failed to see the heartbreak and tears I have had endured.

No matter how many “Sorry” cries I have heard from them and even the teacher, no matter how nice anyone from that school is, I am still petrified and terrified of these two students. But I also wonder what was their motive? What did any of the student who made me feel like an outcast, get out of this nightmare of a year? Were the kids and teachers happy that I got kicked out?
It sure seemed like they were happy because I never heard from any of them except these two boys. They attend the same school I do, and I try to stay away. And I pray that I never have to go through anything like that ever again.