This is a follow-up to "On Being Strange" and "On Being Strange II" by Eric Osbourne and Jen Wilson. Both of these students were finally accepted by their peers. But I am one who was not.

Last year, in the eighth grade, I was accepted. You might even say I was somewhat popular. The people I hung around with liked me for who and what I was. Few people questioned me about my lifestyle. Those kids were uninhibited, to a point and they had seen others like me, no problem, right?

This year, I am a freshman at a private high school. I was immediately ostracized. I didn't look like the others kids. I didn't act like the other kids. I didn't listen to the same kind of music as the other kids. I didn't think like the other kids. It always came back to "the other kids."

Rejected. The kids couldn't or wouldn't accept me for who I am. Now, halfway through the year, I have a few close friends - about four - who accept me for myself. This wouldn't have happened at Hingham High. I know that for a fact.

I have not figured out why the other kids didn't like me. I didn't scream at them, or try to physically hurt them. I was just myself. And I guess they couldn't accept that. n