51

=Exposition/Inciting Incident= Dear journal: Throughout my life I’ve learned many lessons, but I believe that the most important lesson I’ve learnt is in some cases, what you see or what I see may not tell the entire story. Throughout my life I have been made fun of and I would say pretty much unnoticed as the kids always tended to forget that I even existed. I was always left out when it came to parties or being chosen to participate in games. On February 28, 2002 around 7:37 P.M, I got my primary of many pairs of glasses. I remember looking at myself and immediately knowing that I was going to be made fun of; I was the shortest kid in the class, I was bad at sports, and to top it all off I had a pair of dorky blue glasses with spider man written all over them. I felt awful. The next day, I slowly walked towards my kindergarten class. All I could see in front of me were the pale blue walls filled with what had become very familiar bumble bees. In the waxy atmosphere of my kindergarten class, sat next to one of my old, best friends, who I had only known for a year. His name was Jack. He had black hair, brown eyes, was 4 ft. tall, and had a devious voice. "Hey Jack, how you doing nowadays?" I tried to start a conversation. "Good, but you look worster than Medusa," Jack said. "Hey!" I replied, "Why you so mean to me?" "Friends are not supposed to hurt each other." That was just the foundation of what was said to me that day. I was called "four eyes, Spider head, spider eyes" and other names that I don't even want to remember. I felt like a clown that plunged his head into a moist, mushy, and gewy cake by accident. I was laughed at and made fun of time after time throughout my life and I’m at the point where I just hear blah, blah, blah. The only time I was treated practically was when an educator was around. I was that clown, the only attention I got was laughter and mean comments.

=Rising Action= On a humid and sunny day in June at my old red-brick school I was having a conversation with my best friend. "I've been trying to ignore the kids that make fun of me by talking to someone else, but sometimes what I hear stays in my mind for such a long time that I hear it over and over again like a rolling drum. I have nightmares every night about getting more humiliated and the kids at school making fun of me. The worse thing is that every day they come true." I confided to, my final and only friend, Ricco. Ricco, I though, would understand. After all, not too long ago he was the new kid in school and no one wanted to be near him. He too was considered to be different, an outsider that was not to be trusted. His parents changed his name to Ricco when they came to this country; they were afraid that other kids would be cruel and make fun of his real name. He was the only Indian kid in school but it didn't matter to me. We were there for one another and that is all I cared about. I was at the bottom of the food chain like a bug that is stepped on without anyone even noticing it. As days, weeks, months went by, the name-calling didn't get any better. "I still think that the bad gossip going around about you eating babies is contributing to this." Ricco said to me one day. "Yah...hey, wait! What gossip?" I questioned. "You haven't heard! Jack told me that..." "Oh! That pretty much explains it. I haven't been friends with that vice, backstabbing shark for almost two years now! Do you remember that day, so long ago?" "What day?" "The day of the roaring and clawing 5 foot high blizzard the white snow fell so fast that we had to sleep at school." "You mean, the time that you slipped trying to get to the bus and lost your glasses." "Yeah, Jack thought it was so funny that I was going around in circles trying to find my glasses that he started laughing so hard. I don’t know where all the other kids came from but there were so many. The laughter grew louder and louder. I don’t know where I got so much energy from but I sure punched him straight in the eye and then I looked to see if Jack had it and I found my glasses in his lower left pocket." After that I got in the famous "Four-Eyes vs. Jumping Jack Fight." The strict, loud, principal didn’t even give me a chance to tell him what happened. I felt so nervous I was shaking and melting into the ground. He looked straight at me with his cold, blue, piercing eyes and with his deep terrifying voice yelled, "You’re suspended!" My heart felt as if had been pierced by a cold, blue dagger. What was I going to tell my parents? Would they believe me? Would they kill the principal? These were just a few of the questions that rolled through my mind. When my mom arrived home, she quickly noticed that something was wrong. She said that I looked so pale that surely I must have caught the terrible virus that was going around. I was so afraid, that I truly felt sick to my stomach. The following day, I was still "sick". My mom took me to the doctor three days later and he said that if I had caught a virus it was gone and that I could go back to school. I never told my parents what happened that day and they never found out I had been suspended. Since then Jack and I have been rivals. "And even after winning that fight, you still get made fun of." Ricco concluded.

=Climax= Three years ago, when I got my glasses, I lost one of my best friends, Jack when he purposely hurt me just to hear the other kids laugh. Last year, Jack started spreading rumors about me that led to me being declared the least popular kid in school and of course that meant I was the kid that everyone picked on. Seven months ago, my grades dipped drastically because Ricco, my last and only friend, decided that he was tired of being friends with the least popular kid so he joined Jack's group. I became so angry, and didn't care about anything any more. Even the teachers I thought were making fun of me. I had no desire to go to school, I thought If at first you don't succeed, redefine success. Seventeen days ago, I received my report card and for the first time ever I got straight C's. Seven days ago, I went to the principal and tried to get help. Just as before, he did nothing. Yesterday, I reached a point of explosion; I'm fed up of being made fun of. I'm not going to take it any longer; I am going to take a stand. I have nothing to loose, not even a friend or two. I have no friends and that's causing me to fail, that is going out of line. "Today I'm going to take a stand!" I told my Mom. "What for?" my Mom replied. "My grades are going down, I have no friends, and everyone is always making fun of me." "What? Your grades are falling?" "Yah, I'm sorry, I didn't show you my report card, I am a straight C student." What happened after that is a long, long, story. So the next day, while I was on the bright, yellow, cheese school bus, I planned my day. "Today, joyous jumping Jack will now longer be joyous or jumping." I told myself with a mischievous smile on my face.

When I arrived to school, I went right into the principal’s office. The office I feared to even walk by. His desk continued to be piled with papers and on right wall there was a big sign with the words "Beware of the Principal." Although my legs trembled and my words seemed to be in prisoned, I tried to clear my throat and I told him that if he didn't take any actions to stop the name calling, I would have to take matters into my own hands, because bullying and name-calling should not be allowed and I expected him to do something about it. After all he was the principal and if he did nothing I would drop out of school. These words just rolled out of my mouth, I had no plans, only a pray that I was hoping would get answered and that my life would change. After that was over, I went to class and eagerly waited for the bell to sing at the end of school day. It was a long day; time appeared to have stopped. After many, many more hours of waiting the school day finally came to an end. Jack was waiting for me as usual, to pick on me, but I went straight towards him. He called me four eyes and at that moment I kicked him between his legs! Immediately after that a teacher came and questioned me, “Why did you do that? You have no right to do that!?" Perfect, just like I planned! "I have no right?" I asked. "Mr. X, (My principal twin brother) no offense but have you been paying attention to what I've been asking you for the past three years!? So, when something is done to a student besides me you notice! I've been made fun of for the past three years and I've heard you laughing at me too for the past year. So why is he more important than me? Why do you pay more attention to what happened to him than what other kids do to me!?" "Um...Well I.. Uh have to um.. go..." and at that moment the principal arrived."

=Falling Action= As Jack and I were going to the principal’s office I tried to calm down 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9...10, I counted in my head, Just calm down and relax. As we walked to the principal's office, I studied the signs posted on the dull, gray walls. I came across one that said, "Everybody has the right to be treated equal." "Hah, ha, ha!" I wished that the principal had read it; I wished it was true, but deep inside I knew it wasn't." "What are you looking at?" demanded the principal. "That dumb sign?" I responded, "What dumb sign are you talking about?" Principal Z. said angrily. "The one on your middle left hand side, that's crimson and black, about one foot by sin inches." "Oh, that one? Its being taken down next week." Then we got to the principal’s headquarters and I looked at Jack smug smile. I knew what he was thinking. He was going to wiggle his way out of trouble and blame it on me. "Why are you acting like a barbarian, so dumb just hitting people for no reason!?!?!?" The principal yelled in a demanding voice. "Oh, you’re talking to me! I have no friends, so doing stupid things is my way of making my life interesting. What am I supposed to do? I'm made fun of everyday; I'm just a toy to them. When I grow up what am I going to do be? A comedian, a clown, or some hobo who asks people for money? If nothing else, I can always serve as a bad example to those who want a happy life!” I replied. Then Principal Z. stuttered sort of like Mr. X in his deep angry, mad, clueless voice and I heard absolutely nothing of what he said. Instead I was deep in thought. I can't wait to move. Get away from all this embarrassment and frustration. Summer seems so far away. I can't take this any longer. I'm done. Please help. Is anyone out there? I am sure happy I am moving over the summer to Mt. Flat Point because this is going to go nowhere. Hopefully the kids there are friendlier. I thought and hoped with all my heart.

=Resolution= The following school year: What was in my future? I surely didn't know what to expect. The new school stood at the end of a very large field. It looked majestic surrounded by a mysterious mist. As I approached the front door, I noticed many kids, they were talking to one another and appeared to be very happy. Just as I was about to open the door a random kid, that was around my age started to talk to me. He looked Hispanic and German, and spoke like Arnold Schwarzenegger, except his voice wasn't as deep. He was about my height, around five feet and wore really cool clothes. I will never forget how we became friends and how that conversation went. "Hey," the random kid exclaimed, ”my name is Milo, I see you're new around here, and if you need any help with getting acquainted or finding some place to get some delicious lunch, just ask me!" The random kid exclaimed. Hi my name’s Bob Gi Howdy Tayou. Nice to meet you." I replied. For some strange reason, he was in my class. Everyone, was friendly. There was so much to do. Ding!! Ding!! Boooooom!!!!! "It looks like school's over'. See, ya tomorrow." Milo smiled and quickly disappeared. "Bye, see ya." I said as he left. This year has been great, the kids here accept me for me. I have many friends now like Greg and Mo. I found out that Jack started bullying Ricco and that his parent's were called in to see the principal. The principal told them what he had been up to in the past couple of years. He sure got yelled at was kicked so hard that he flew to Mexico. I was told that he was being bullied and hurt at home so when he had a friend he would hurt them too. I didn't know that, I was just concentrating on what he was doing to me. I'm happy my parents aren't that harsh when I do something wrong! I also heard that Principal X. was fired for not taking any action. The teachers I caught laughing at me were also fired and they had to write an apology to me. Over all, my life is much better. I'm a great, straight, A student but every once in a while I get made fun of but now it doesn't really bother me. I realize that what I see and what you see might not be the whole story.