In seventh grade after moving from place to place and school to school; my family settled down in a cozy mobile home. At the time I didn’t think about living in a mobile home. For some reason when I started school again; other students started calling me names like Dyke, Siko, Devil’s child, and sometimes even “The Cursed”. I knew it was because my family was really poor and at the time we couldn’t do anything about it. I couldn’t say anything back to them and it made me uncomfortable. It got worse when they found out my mother was married to a woman. I mean, they knew my mother was a lesbian, but they had no idea that she was married to someone of the same sex.

After about a month, I still was getting harassed. In the end I was beaten and bruised by those I called ‘friends’. For instance, Jackie, the only other short hispanic kid in school other than me. Jackie didn’t mind my parents being women, in fact she, thought my mom was really brave to stand up against the society. Jackie was great the only person I really knew, but one day at lunch it was very different.

“Hey Jackie did you bring your lunch again?” I had asked her in pure curiosity, because since she usually takes food from me I thought maybe I could get back at her.

“Yeah, but nothing good other then my M&M yogurt.” She had laughed at me and got up to go get a warm school lunch. As she walked the path from our picnic table to the cafeteria I glanced at her yogurt then back to her. When she walked through the doors I sat there staring at her delicious dairy treat, but I just couldn't bring myself to take an M&M from it. After a minute or two full of an internal emotion battle to the death, she walked up again. I had just barely picked up the M&M, and was about to toss it in my mouth when she yelled at me, aggravated.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

“I’m sorry I thought it’d be ok I ju…” I was cut off by a sharp look of hatred.

“You just what?” Inside I knew it was wrong, I just didn’t fully understand the situation. That’s how the big mess started.

“I really am sorry Jackie. I only took 1, I promise”  That wasn’t good enough for her. She even told a group of boys about it. That’s when it got physical. A close friend of hers (and one of my 2 crushes.) Nathan. Nathan was in one word, different. Sadly, he wasn’t happy hearing about what happened and decided he would confront me after Jackie and I made up, after talking over lunch, and were walking to class.

“Hey!” After we heard the holler we stopped and turned around to spot the one and only Nathan. He looked at me in disgust and then Jackie with a smile and began to talk to her with stern words.

“The guys and I decided that you should just kick her.” Jackie scoffed, pinching the bridge of her nose in an annoyed manner. I on the other hand had no idea what was going on.

“Wait. What? Nathan what are you talking about?” I asked him confused. I couldn’t tell my eyes from my foot. Nathan’s eyes squinted into a permanent frown.

“What do you think you f***ing ditz!” His yelling only caused me to become more anxious than I was before and I began to choke on my own breath.

“Nathan calm down! It was just a misunderstanding ok?” Jackie had tried to cool him down to no avail.

“Are you gonna beat the s*** outta her or not? You gotta make it quick.” At that moment I wondered how such a small guy could hold so much hate in his heart over something so minimal. He was around my height, but much skinnier, and he always seemed so friendly.

“Nathan she’s my friend I can’t kick her.” She paused  and looked into my soul. My sky blue eyes looked back in fear. Then she changed her expression into something more intimidating.

“Why don’t you do it Nathan? It’s your problem anyway.” He smiled but shook his head turning to walk away and as I was about to run for my life in the opposite direction he turned and ran toward me, deciding to kick my knee right out of place. Jackie came to me and tried to help while muttering her apologies and saying how she “Didn’t think he’d do it.” Later that day, I went to the hospital with my parents, and I was on crutches and a knee immobilizer for a couple of months due to a ligament tearing.

Even before I had the incident with my knee I wasn’t able to catch my breath, because I was always the one with a target stuck on my back. I had a habit of reading under trees and yelling at people for ripping off its branches. On picture day, a couple days before the knee incident, it was the same. I sat under my tree relaxing to the sound of nature when ‘thunk’. A water bottle was thrown my way so I went to toss it out in the recycling when more followed. Bottle after bottle I got bombarded. Then after my luck had completely failed me, a group of popular girls approached me with full gatorade bottles. From there, all I remember is girls beating me on the head over and over until a teacher showed up and stopped them from doing anymore ‘real’ damage.

  My mother took me out of school in hopes of homeschooling me, in a couple days, I found myself at the front door step to a new school. I wasn’t fond of the idea, but it was too late to change anything. I told my mom that I really...really didn’t want to be the outcast again. Sadly, I was dragged into another very foreign atmosphere.
I remember scanning the halls before I dared to leave the classroom I was in. Many times, I would silently inch my way through the constant current of grody pre-teens. I was scared to know the horrors of the hallways or possibly end up bumping into enemies; I somehow managed to always create. Little did I know someone from the background of my daily life was cheering me on.

I can recall the event like it was a lullaby sung by my mother’s lips. I was in algebra sitting at a table of four, displeased with the idea of being in a small group. I layed my head in my cradled arms  and released a quiet and depressed sigh. After a split second I felt a sudden poke on my skull followed by a harmony of pouty grunts which then turned into almost annoyed groans. I knew for sure someone wanted my attention, but I was very reluctant at first. I lifted my head a little only to be greeted by an over excited, geekish blonde girl. She waved at me with such exuberance that her glasses were sliding off and I couldn’t help but quirk my eyebrow and laugh.

After that, I began to talk to her and trust her with information nobody else knew. When I’d end up crying in the hall after remembering the things people did to me or when I’d start to think about my brother’s death again...she was there. She’d hold me and listen no matter how hysterical I became. Instead of me continuing to loathe every human being in sight, I thought about her smile that never faded and I just knew. I wasn’t being fair judging people by those in my past, so I decided that everyone deserved a chance to be trusted until they proved themselves unworthy.

Even after all the coddled pain, there was someone there. I still think about the funny sleep overs and the laughs we shared. I even think about the sorrows I poured into her heart. I still like hearing her name ringing in my head. Meg. She’d always forgive me if I shared too much about how I felt. So even today when we are miles away, I just remember the same skinny blonde girl and I smile.