Rancorous

Chapter 1

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TWELVE YEARS AGO

Herlina

I ran and ran but I could still feel how cold the air was. I stopped running and breathed in and out. My friend Daya was "it" and she still couldn't tag anybody.

Standing still, I began to think about my mommy and daddy. I didn't like going to school for such a long time. It was still a little hard not to cry when I went on the school bus, but I was getting better at it. I used to be very scared before, but not that much anymore. I had friends now, like Daya.

Suddenly, I heard laughing and the mulch crunching on the other side of the playground. Okay. Everyone else was still too far away to see me. Phew.

Looking up, I thought it was amazing how the clouds were swimming in the sky. It was like the sky was water and the clouds were fishies. Really slow fishies. I giggled.

My neck started to hurt so I moved my head back down. I smiled when I saw the boy I wanted to be my friend. He was sitting under a very tall oak tree.

But then, I was sad.

Dirt Boy.

Stinky Boy.

Gross Boy.

Those were the names everybody else called him. They laughed too. I always thought it was because sometimes he wore the same clothes for three days. Maybe even more. But I didn't think it was funny.

I got angry when he never talked back to everybody who called him bad names. So, I had to tell my friends to stop, but they never listened to me.

I always wanted to talk to him when I saw him alone. I thought he was mysterious, and I liked that. The boy with light brown hair grabbed a stick and started scratching the dirt on the ground. I did that too sometimes! I pretended the ground was paper and a stick was my pencil.

"Herlina! Jason's it." Daya walked to me.

I didn't look away from the boy. I wondered what he was like. Was he funny? Kind? Goofy? Mean? I really hoped he wasn't mean. Maybe he loved to play with Legos just like me!

"What are you looking at?" Daya asked me. "Eww. It's that stinky boy."

This time, I did turn to Daya. Crossing my arms, I gave her my meanest look. "Don't call him that. He doesn't stink."

Daya pushed her red hair back with sass. "Yeah, he does. That's why he has no friends."

I wanted so badly to be his friend. I wanted to get to know him. Every day, I was too shy to talk to him. What if he didn't like me? I always waited for him to talk to me first. But now, I was tired of waiting.

Taking a deep breath, I closed my hands into fists and stomped to the boy. I could hear Daya telling me how I was making a mistake. I ignored her. I was on a mission.