“Nerd,” an approximately five-foot eleven kid exclaims as he punches me directly in the back of my head. Crash! He pushes me straight in the back with both hands into my locker. The children around him laughed like hyenas. A sixth grader that is that tall must attract a crowd, but how can he be so much bigger than me? He’s literally in the same grade as me. My chin began flowing with blood from it’s collision with my locker, and tears started to spew from my eyes. 

“I didn’t do anything,” I tremble as I turn around guardedly.

“And?” He questions while kicking me in the leg and beginning to meander away. Of course, the other kids follow him and cackle. I quickly took the opportunity to get away from the situation. I think about going to the nurse, but I can’t miss my first class on the first day of school. Using my sweatshirt, I wipe the blood off. I quickly take a spare Band-Aid from my locker (my mom always packs them) and put it onto the cut. 

 I walk into science lab at 7:30. I walk to an empty seat in the back of the classroom. The room is painted a metallic green, with 35 desks scattered in rows of seven. It’s a big room compared to where I came from. The walls are about 50 feet apart on one side, and 65 on the other. As I take my seat, the loudspeaker comes on. “Hello students of Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, this is Principal Thomas speaking. I am here to wish you all an exceptional first day of school, and a subsequent amazing school year. Before you begin your first day of school, I would like to give a thank you to those deserving of one. Thank you first to the groups who help us to come for another great year: the Parent Teacher Association, the Board of Education, and the Teaching Committee. In addition, I’d like to thank the teachers for coming back to teach, and all of you for your dedication to learning. With that said, let’s have a great year, and let’s have it start from the beginning.”Principal Thomas finally concluded. 

“Class, I’m so happy to see new faces, but now it’s time to meet you and get to know you more. If you don’t know me, my name is Mr. Strasburg, but you can call me Mr. S. When I call out your name, please respond with ‘here’ or ‘present,’ and then tell me three things about you,” Mr. Strasburg enthusiastically states.

“How can someone be so excited about school, even if he’s a teacher?” I think to myself, “Back at my old town, all eight of the teachers hated the school, and it seemed like they took their anger out on us.”

During my daze, I suddenly realize that Mr. Thomas stops talking. The kids in front of me begin to turn around in confusion, as if I did something wrong. I know this is my class, my schedule says so. Confidently, I raise my hand. 

“Yes?” Mr. Thomas politely inquires. 

“You didn’t call my name.” I state. 

“What’s your name? Are you sure that this is your class?” He asks. 

“Positive, Im Carter Smith,” I say as I get out of my chair and stroll towards him, taking my schedule with me. I show it to him, but oddly, a confused look appears over is face.

“I looks like you should be in math class right now. I’m sorry, but you have me on Thursday.” He reports. I take my schedule back and glance down. To my dismay, he was correct. Apparently, this is humorous to my classmates, as they commence laughing. Most laugh out loud like they did at my locker. Some try to hide it, but I can hear their chuckles and whispers, and I know I’m the cause of it. I go back to my desk, hanging my head low, knowing I haven’t made a good impression on who I hoped to be friends. I pick up my books and leave, trying to stay confident in myself. When I hear the laughter pick up, I can’t help myself as I begin bawling and rush out the door. 

“How was it today, Carter?” My mom asks as I walk through the front door.

“Fine,” I mutter while I plow up the stairs and into my bedroom. When I get into my room, I dive into my pillow, crying about my prior experiences. “I don’t want to go. I just can’t go tomorrow,” I scream into my pillow. 

I have had nobody in school to support me. I have to sit alone at lunch, just like many other kids. We mostly sit in the corners, while Jeremy’s preponderant group sits in the middle. I want to go up to the other lonely kids, but I don’t want anyone else to be hostile towards me. Some of my teachers are polite, but I am afraid to tell on Jeremy in fear of the consequences. Weeks have gone by of viscous and evil bullying. I can’t walk through the halls without being called a “dork,” or  “nerd,” or even told to go back to where I came from. To be honest, right now I wish that I could. The reason we came here stems from the fact that my dad found a job opportunity, and now I can’t do anything about it. In addition, my mom is always on call, so I don’t want to. She works so hard for me, I just can’t interrupt her. Our family got screwed over by my aunt. We were living happily, until my Grandfather passed away. He was a great man, and he would always lift the mood whenever we came to him, or he came to us.  I remember the day, my mother came back from the hospital with her eyes brimming. My father had already cracked the news that he had died. My Mom’s sister had stolen all of my mother’s money that was promised in his will. My mom never filed a lawsuit in fear of tearing the family farther apart. Although, my aunt continued to trick us into money. Ever since she stole the money, our family has been in an economic crisis, and we haven’t talked to her.

“Bye Mom, I love you,” I call back to my mother as I walk towards the front entrance of the school on the first day of October. 

“Should have stayed in Connecticut, dork” Jeremy, the popular kid from the first day of school, says to me while a group forms. Before I could retreat the area, or even comprehend the situation, a fist comes hurling at my face. I feel immense pain for one second, but the situation becomes scarier. All I can see is darkness. The eeriness that is running through my veins puts me in shock, so I can’t describe the feeling. 

When I wake up, I find myself in the hospital with my mom looking over me. “What happened” I inquire to my mother.

“You were unconscious and a teacher reported that to a school nurse” She replies sorrowfully. Although there’s no way that’s true. There are no teachers in the hallway, and my locker is in the middle of a huge strip near no classroom. The only possible cause is if someone went and told a teacher, but none of Jeremy’s group would do that. They would all stay by his side as long as they are in the same school.

“What’s wrong? You look like you’re contemplating something.” My mom says, hovering over me like a hawk. 

I don’t want to cause a scene. I know my mom needs to get back to work. “Nothing, nothing’s wrong” I reply confidently on the outside, but in reality I’m not sure if that’s true.

I walk up outside off my mom’s office where she’s eating a turkey and cheese sandwich meticulously. The walls in the room are as bright as the lettuce in her salad. When I walk in the door screeches open. “Hey, mom, I want to talk about something,” I declare, “I don’t really know how long I can stay in school.”

“Your father and I figured,” she says, “We’ve already made plans to move in four months. Just stay strong through those. You can do it, tune the bullies out and move forward.”

“Okay, sounds great,” I respond excitedly. My mom seems like she’s really sanguine in me, yet she sounds disappointed in the situation.

“Hey man” a voice says from behind me while I’m at lunch. Oh, no, I recognize that voice. It’s Sam from Jeremy’s group. “I’m sorry for what happened to you, I tried to help to the best of my ability” He said, “I went and told Mr. Strasburg. I hope he got their in time.”

“He did. Thank you so much” I say without looking up. I’m expecting him to just walk away to Jeremy’s table. Although, no, he doesn’t. I look at him, then I look towards Jeremy. He sends a very snarky look towards Sam, but he just brushes it off. As lunch goes on, some more people come our way. It seems as if they’ve gained confidence to become friends with someone else. They all usually just sat by themselves, just like me. Sam seems to really have an impact on kids around here. Most of the kids who come to our table are usually lonely, yet some more come from Jeremy’s group. It astounds me how kids can risk their popularity to be nice. 

This trend continues over the next few months, and I quickly begin hanging out with my new friends. Sometimes Sam, now my best friend, and others come over to my house, and I even have had sleepovers with some of them. We occasionally go to eat together in places like Jansen and Mt. Airy Deli & Mini Market.  On the other hand, Jeremy’s popularity has been deteriorating rapidly. Many kids begin to speak out against his actions, and have gained the confidence to leave him in the dust. 

“Carter, you’re probably going to need to start packing.” My mom calls out from across the house. I forgot. We’re supposed to move in a week. I can’t do this. I trot through the house to reach my mom.

“Can I talk to you and Dad later?” I question.

“Yeah sure,” she responds casually, most likely knowing what I’m going to talk about. 

“Dad, you don’t need to quit your job. I want to stay here.” I proclaim in our family meeting. “This year has definitely been a roller coaster, but right now I’m at a high point, and it doesn't look like I’ll be dipping down anytime soon.

“That’s great to hear from you, Carter,” my mom chimes in. I know how much this means to her. She knows that I’ve struggled so much, and she wants me to be happy. 

I’m in my history class, the only one with Jeremy, on one of the last days of school. It’s the last class and I’m super excited because we are playing a game on the American Revolution. I’m partnered up with Sam. We need to ask each other questions, so I ask, “why did King George tax the colonies?”

He seems like he’s contemplating something, but I know he knows the answer. He leans in and says, “Hey, you know Jeremy’s leaving, right?” My soul is dancing because today is better than my birthday. Jeremy must have decided that his situation in this school was not as great as he would have hoped. Although, I do hope that he can become a better person somewhere else. Jeremy leaving is making me remember how I was nothing, and now I’m one of the most popular kids in the sixth grade. Despite me being so popular, I care about being respected for who I am, and I try to respect others just like Sam did for me.