I was walking to school and I saw a stray dog. It had no collar and it was very dirty. My mum had told me about dogs like that. "Infested with diseases, dirty beyond imaginable, aggressive and hard to train." Plus my parents had never really been fond of pets. It was crying, like a sort of moaning. It was laying on the sidewalk and it was shivering in it's thin coat. I walked over to it and patted it on the head. Pulling my school bag off my shoulders I placed it on the ground and pulled out my sandwich. For five minutes I sat there with the dog that I had already nicknamed Susie because it was the name I wished my parents had named me. For that five minutes I rubbed all up and down Susie's back to warm her up. I couldn't risk being late so I left her there on the sidewalk with the last few crumbs of the sandwich I'd given her and headed to school.
I arrived at school to find Jonathan Turner and William Welders by the gate. They were sitting down and were attacking people with spit balls.
"Oh look! Here comes Freckle Face!" They called. They attacked me then with their spitballs but I just turned the other way and ignored them. I didn't want to make them feel like they'd defeated me, that they'd hurt me or upset me. Although they already seemed to have made that assumption.
"Now she's going to go crying to all her friends! Oh wait! She has no friends." They laughed their heads off then and high fived several times.
"Except for the one that looks like a rat!"
And as much as I tried to ignore them and not let them get to me I failed. My eyes watered but I pushed them back and headed to the bathroom. I stood there and stared into the mirror. I pulled some of my hair nearer to my face to try and hide them but again i felt like I failed. So I just tied it back and told myself I didn't care what they thought even though they'd made me feel really self conscious of my freckles. I heard giggling and a group of girls from my grade walked into the bathroom. The type of girls that wore their skirts so high it was a belt and the sort that were as horrible as Jonathan and William. I kept staring into the mirror at myself, even when they walked in behind me and pulled their fingers through their own hair. One pushed me out the way with her elbow and washed her hands. I stormed out and I heard them giggling once again after I left.
The bell was rung and I waited outside my first class. Everyone was standing around loud and rowdy. Melissa walked up to me. She was wearing a bright red headband that was hard to miss.
"Hey," she said, "How are you?" I shrugged my shoulders. I suppose she guessed that meant I wasn't really in the mood. I turned towards the door and the other students turned away and laughed. I wondered what was so funny and came to the reality they were probably gossiping about me. This upset me even more than it should since I had never given anyone at this school a reason to hate me. Probably because I was a pretty easy target. I was ugly, not the smartest person, usually quite clumsy and Melissa says the stupidest things really loud sometimes.
"I liked your kick in PE," one of the girls said deliberately loudly. I stared down at my feet. Like she was perfect at PE!
"Your so much of a suck up in Science! That's crap you came up with that idea alone!"
"I did!" I said. Everyone at this point had turned around and was looking at me. My eyes started to sting as they prickled with tears. I pushed them back as hard as I could but I felt them coming.
"Sorry? I couldn't hear you!" she said, tormenting me. Everyone laughed at something that was hardly even funny. Melissa put her hand on my back but I shrugged it off. Couldn't she see this wasn't the time. She was only going to make things worse. I felt the tears coming through and again I fought them hard.
"Her hair would look so good if she had a shower once in a while!" her friend said. Now that was hardly true at all. I had a shower every single day. The fury built up inside me. Why are they doing this? The tears came spilling out and I turned and ran away. I heard them laughing behind me but I didn't care. I just kept running and running. It was until I reached an alley.
I sat there with my face in my hands. Crying my heart out. I was offended, humiliated and scared. I don't know how long I sat there in the alley. But no one bothered me and that was fine. It was at least a couple of hours. I drew pictures in the dirt with a stick and threw stones against the fence opposite to the one I leant against. My eyes were tired and sore and i sat there resting them closed. I heard footsteps and my heart started pounding. I looked around alerted and rested my heart when i saw who it was.
"Susie," I said, "Come here girl." I waved her over and she laid down next to me. Then Susie put her paw on my hand. It hurt at first, pushing my hand into the stones and grovel but then I realized something. She was my friend and she could sense when I was sad. I smiled at her as she rested her head down on her paw. Stroking her head and kissing it I told her about my problems. About the pretty girls and tormenting boys at school. About my parents always fighting and my grandparents dieing and having no one to talk to. Until now.
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