I was just 9 years old when I first set foot in that school. Everything felt so big and overwhelming at the time. Coming from a different place, I didn’t know anyone, and honestly, I didn’t really care to. Back then, I was just a kid—innocent, carefree, and mostly unaware of how people viewed me. I was in the 4th grade, surrounded by countless unfamiliar faces. Among them, he was just another boy, someone I’d seen a few times but never paid much attention to.
There was nothing remarkable about those early years, especially when it came to him. My life then revolved around playing, and I loved playing with the boys. In my old school, it wasn’t strange for boys and girls to mix, but here, things were different. It was like there was this invisible rule that boys and girls couldn’t play together, though no teacher ever said it out loud. It just was.
I didn’t bother with my looks either. I didn’t care about how I dressed, and back then, it didn’t matter much to me. But apparently, it mattered to others. Some of the teachers even called me dirty, and the teasing from my classmates wasn’t any better. They would laugh at me, mock me for things I didn’t even understand at the time. Even he, the boy I would later come to notice, joined in sometimes. But, strangely enough, there were moments when he stayed silent, and I appreciated those small moments, though I never gave them much thought.
Seventh grade was when things started to shift a little. By then, I was older, more aware of the world around me, and a bit more sensitive to the things people said. That’s when I first heard the rumor—a stupid rumor, really—that I had a crush on him. I didn’t. Or at least, not back then. I remember being furious when I heard it. How could they say something like that? It wasn’t true. Or at least, I was sure it wasn’t true at the time. But, as rumors do, it spread, and soon everyone seemed to believe it.
I was mad, embarrassed, and confused all at once. I didn’t understand why they would say such a thing. I barely even thought about him, let alone liked him. But rumors have a funny way of planting seeds where there were none before. And even though I denied it, something began to change in me. But that would come much later.
For now, I was just trying to survive middle school—the bullying, the teasing, and the feeling of not quite fitting in.
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Between Us
Romance**Blurb:** In the complex world of adolescence, one girl struggles with the pain of unreciprocated love for a boy who seems out of reach. As friendships shift and her closest allies slip away, she grapples with feelings of betrayal and loneliness. ...
