Hi. My name is Aspen. And this is my story, or, well, our story. It all started off when I was born. Wait, too far back. It all started when I was twelve years old, in my second period of middle school, science. I was supposed to be writing what I thought was correct for the assignment, and my table was supposed to share what we wrote with each other. Someone we'll call Sero for the sake of privacy, told me to speak first. But when he did, I started panicking. I didn't know what to say, and I was paralyzed to the point if I spoke I would cry. Since I didn't want to cry in front of everyone, I just stayed quiet. My teacher came up and asked if I could read it to just her, but I shook my head.
I couldn't speak, and Sero was making my anxiety worse by the minute by saying, "Just read already," or something similar. I didn't have anything to calm me down at the time, so my anxiety bubbled over like boiling water, obviously. At the time I didn't wear a mask like I do now, so everyone could see me. I honestly felt exposed. Now we skip all the way to eighth grade, where I am now. There's another boy, we'll call him Joseph. I see him every day in math, and he makes me very anxious. He made me have a panic attack a few times. I remember when he was new, and wasn't a- uh, mean dude. Once this year, 2024, he kept pestering me when I was working, causing me to have a panic attack. I couldn't take it but I didn't tell my math teacher, who we'll call Mrs Chava.
Mrs Chava is really nice to me, but a lot of people don't like her, and I'm not sure why. Some people say it's because she's too strict. But I think they don't actually have a reason. They're just being mean. I want to get to today. Today I had a quiz in science. There's this one boy, whom we'll call Karl, he annoys the everloving crap outta me. Once he made fun of my stuttering, and every time I have to work with him, he doesn't focus. I do most of the work on my own and he just copies off of me. I hate it! It's gotten to the point I want it to stop, like, greatly want it to stop. Luckily tomorrows the last day of the third quarter, and next year, I'll be in highschool. I won't be getting bullied much longer! My science teacher is really nice too, let's call him Mr Jun. Mr Jun helps me a lot, and recently he told me, "You can take a walk if you need," or something like that.
All my teachers are nice. Oh, and throughout most of the eighth grade, I've been thirteen years old. But most of my teachers have helped me through this year, and it's been amazing. This year, I've made my own songs, and made many books. I can't believe how far I've come. But, in the seventh grade, there was this one teacher who gave me the creeps. Let's call him Mr Bao. Mr Bao took my phone once because I wouldn't tell him why I called my mom. I personally don't remember why I called my mom, but he wanted to know even when I said it was confidential. He kept pressing on the subject and took my phone when I wouldn't tell him anything.
I tried to tell him and when I got home that day, I told my parents, and they got mad. When I say mad, I mean really, really mad. Then later on, I switched out of Mr Bao's class and went to the class where I met Joseph. Now, Joseph wasn't always the mean person he is today. Once he asked me to date him, which I declined because I am not interested in any dating. His friends also asked me to date them, yet I said no to them too, because again, I am not interested in dating as of my seventh and eighth grade years. Maybe I'll always be alone, but I could care less. I want to be alone, unlike those pesky boys. Anyway, I don't think I introduced myself completely. I like to draw and sing, I like to think I'm good at both those things because I've always gotten good feedback on them.
Anyway, back to the story. I hated Joseph from the beginning, and I don't hate anyone. Like, actually. I don't hate anyone, well, apart from Joseph. I like to think I'm a pretty swell person, but my self esteem has gotten to a point where I don't like myself. Joseph was introduced to me in the seventh grade, and he's been in my class since. I used to think he was a good person, until he became friends with someone we'll call Marshall. Now me and Marshall never spoke to each other until Joseph came along. When Joseph started talking to Marshall, Marshall started bugging me. I never wanted to talk to them, but I had to when they started talking to me! Trust me, they are both menaces.
Now there's also a boy we'll call Kennedy. Kennedy got a buzz cut this year, and let me tell you, it was not flattering. But that's according to me. Apparently, Joseph had a girlfriend who eventually broke up with him for I don't know why. I tried to tell a friend about Joseph's misdeeds, yet Joseph said I was harassing him when I wasn't. I wasn't even talking to him! By definition, you have to talk to someone to harass them, and I wasn't doing that! I would never harass someone. I know some people wouldn't agree with me on that topic, but I wouldn't. I couldn't. On the other hand, I have talked about people when they weren't around, but it was to a counselor! I swear I wouldn't talk about someone behind their back.
