The large green van sat in front of the ancient school as if it afraid to move. Inside the van were two people, one of them being the driver. She was a tall, majestic looking lady that sat with the posture of a ruler. In the passenger seat there was a young boy, dark in appearance, with a scowl on his face looking away from the driver.


“I’m not going”, said the boy. “No one likes me” he explained. There was a long pause while the driver seemingly ran through the options of what to say in her mind.


She turned to him in a caring way and placed her hand on his shoulder. “You are a Bell and you are my son, you have friends everywhere” she said. “You need to go to class honey, its bad to be late on the first day” she explained as she gestured him to go to class.

The boy simply opened the door of the van and walked out. “Good luck,” she yelled, “remember who you are”.

He slammed the door and slugged his way to the double wood doors of the middle school. He walked as though he had weights on his head and shoulders. He was short; tan skinned, and had short dark brown hair with eyes so dark they seemed to be fake. He pulled out a folded white piece of paper out of his pant pocket and read the first line. Just then a thin, old lady yelled “get to class”. He said nothing. She started to walk over. “Whats your name” she demanded.

“Taylor” he whispered as he looked back down at the ground.

“Do you have a last name Taylor?” she asked.

“B…Bell” he said with hesitation.

“Oh” she said in shock. “Welcome to North Bend Middle School” she said as she walked away.

He turned and found where his first class is. The door opened for him. “Welcome to my class” said the man, “I’m your teacher, Mr. Johnson”. Taylor walked in slowly surveying all the faces looking up at him, searching for a friend. “What’s your name son?” Mr. Johnson said, “Let’s find where your seat is”.

Taylor turned to him, “Taylor Bell, Taylor Bell is my name”.

He looked up from his clipboard. “Bell?” he said, “as in like, Jared Bell and Shane Bell?”

“Yeah” he said, “they are my brothers”.

“Very interesting” the teacher said, “so are you playing football?”

“I think so” Taylor said with a smile.

“Good” Mr. Johnson exclaimed. “Your seat is right here” he said pointing to the seat in front of the teacher’s desk. Taylor went and sat down next to a short, athletic looking boy.

“Hey, I’m Jordin!” he said with glee, “Your Taylor Bell right? It’s nice to meet you!”

Taylor looked at the boy, “It… It’s nice to meet you too”.


That day at lunch Taylor sat by his self. No one else talked to him the whole day. Every athlete just walked by him and gave a dirty look.


The day was finally over now and Taylor was heading for the bus. He got on the bus and looked for a open place to sit but there weren’t any open seats. Then he say something, it was a girl, he knew this girl. She stood up and waved to him to sit with her. He walked over to the girl and sat down with her. This girl was friendly person, she had dirty blonde hair, she was thin and she had big green eyes that seemed to be a picture of the coral reef on a sunny day.

“Hi, Taylor how was your day?” she asked with a sweet high voice that made him smile.

“Hi Dani, my day was okay, no one really talked to me. And of coarse everyone knows Shane and Jared” he said.

“Of coarse everyone knows Shane and Jared, they are the star football and basketball players of the high school, not to mention that they also are track stars” she said, “but Taylor, you are different… you aren’t your brothers, you have things that you are better at”. She smiled at him to assure him that she wasn’t just trying to make him feel good.

“Thanks Dani, but everyone expects me to be some great superstar athlete” he said in self pity, “sometimes it just makes me feel like such a loser and it makes me so angry”.

The bus pulls up to a big house that looks as though monkeys live inside of it. The house has a big dark green van in front of it. Taylor turns to dani, “well this is my stop, bye Dani”.

She turns to Taylor and leans forward. She wraps her arms around him and he slowly puts his arms around her with a big smile on his face. “Bye Taylor” she says while waving goodbye.
He guns off the bus full of joy that he got a hug and runs inside of the house. The house smells of ground beef and of cheddar cheese. “How was your day taylor?” mom says as she walks over to give him a hug.

He looks up into her blue eyes that soften even the hardest of hearts and mutters “it was fine, no one talked to me”. He turns to go into the kitchen. He smells the ground beef and takes a handful of it and eats it very quickly.

“Don’t eat that! It’s for dinner” mom said loudly. She scorned him. “Go to your room and do your homework” she demands.

“I don’t have any” he replies, “It was the first day”. He knows that he got plenty of homework and hides that in the back of his mind.

“Are you sure?” she asked, “I will help you if you need any help”.

“I don’t have any homework mom! Why don’t you trust me!” he retaliates. She looks at him in doubt and wonder but says nothing.

The next day when Taylor woke up he got dressed in athletic clothes. This is what all the cool kids wear so I should wear it he thinks to himself. He quickly runs to the bus and when he gets to school he spots Jordin at the front of the school. “Hey Jordin!” he yells and runs toward him and group around him.

Jordin turns around. “Oh hey Taylor” he says, “hey guys this is Taylor Bell, Shane and Jared bells brother”. They all star at him and mumble as to say hi. Almost all of them are taller than him and Jordin. They are all well built boys that play football.

“Get out of the way dork” says a voice behind Taylor. Then Taylor turned around and saw a red headed boy that picks on him, Ryan Brand. Ryan pushes Taylor out of the circle without hesitation.

“Hey Ryan, be nice” Jordin says in defense, “this is Taylor Bell, his brothers are the high school football and basketball stars”. Ryan says nothing but looks done at Taylor in disapproval. Then the bell rings. Jordin and Taylor walk to class together. “So are you gonna be at practice today?” Jordin asks, “you should”.

“Umm… I don’t know. Maybe. Actually I think I will.” Taylor says. Taylor believes that this may make him popular and make everyone like him. He smiles about the idea.

That day in class they didn’t pay attention to the class at all. They were in a world of their own. All they could talk about was football and how to do everything good. But Taylor could only think of the popularity that comes with it or so he thinks.

That day at football practice Taylor did better than he ever thought he could have and Jordin was so happy for him. But Ryan is used to all the fame and getting all the spotlight. On the last play of practice Ryan was on defense and Taylor on offense. Coach told Taylor to run the ball. “Set… hike” shouts the quarterback. The ball gets flung to Taylor to run the ball. He turns up the field and runs as though everyone was in slow motion. He stops in the end zone and then… Crack! Someone had tackled Taylor after the play was over. He gets up and standing over him is Ryan Brand. Taylor was very mad and kicked him. He started yelling at Ryan and hitting him but walked away.

On the bus ride home he again sat next to dani. “Hey how was practice Taylor?” Dani asks. He says nothing to her. “I heard that you did really good.” She said. She inched closer to him and he tried not to look at her. He also moved a little closer to her.

“I’m sorry Dani” he said in remorse, “it’s just that I kind of got in a little fight with Ryan Brand, he just hates me”. He looks at her to see what she thinks.

“Ryan is just a bully and you shouldn’t worry about him” she says, “it doesn’t matter if he hates you… cuz… well… I like you”. She looked at him. She slowly puts her hand next to his leg waiting for a reaction..

He turned to her, “I like you too” he says in unbelief. He smiles and grasps her hand as though it was a priceless piece of china. She grasps it harder and he does too. They don’t talk the rest of the ride home but both had faces that were lit up with smiles and red as ripe red delicious apple.

At home he said nothing of the bus ride home but rather that he had done well at practice but got in a fight.

“You got in a fight?!?” yelled his dad. “You can’t get into fights again or we will have to send you to Utah with your grandparents” he threatened. Taylor’s head sank in the disappointment of his father and family.

The day of the first football game came. It was against their cross town rivals, the bull dogs. Coach Johnson called a team meeting to tell the starting position. “Bell… you will be starting halfback” he stated. Everyone clapped for he had taken the starting spot from Ryan Brand.

After that meeting Ryan walked up to Taylor and without hesitation he socked him the face. “You think you can just take my spot?!?” he yelled, “do something you wussy”. Taylor was furious; he could take it no longer. He finally walked up to him and threw a punch right to Ryan’s gut. They fought until principal Powell came out and stopped them.

I sat in the principal’s office alone. Then the door opened. There stood the principal with someone else behind her, my father. I shrunk in my seat from embarrassment. He said nothing but just sat down.
“Well Taylor… we can’t let you be in this school” principal Powell explained, “you have gotten in two fights and I won’t put up with it anymore”. She waited for a reply but Taylor had nothing to say that wouldn’t further worsen the punishment. The meeting ended up with Taylor being expelled from the middle school.

The car ride home with Taylor and his dad was quite. No one said anything. They simply sat still.

When they got home his father went into Taylor’s room with Taylor. Taylor’s room was empty except for two bags of luggage. “What’s this?” Taylor asked.

“You’re staying in Utah with your grandparents and going to school there” his father explained to Taylor. He grabbed tailors bags and walked out. “We are going to the airport” he said.

Taylor had time to say a quick goodbye to his family and sorry to his mother. As he was walking out of the door he ran back in and gave his mom a hug. “Tell Dani that I said I am sorry” he whimpered. He started crying and left.

The next day in Utah Taylor went to school and didn’t talk but did his school work. He rode the bus to his grandparent’s house. When he walked into the small house his grandparents asked “How was school honey?”

He looked up at both of them, “it was okay” he said. Then a tear came to his eye and he said “But the bus ride was different”.