I Will Never Forget Him

We Meet

     Truthfully I don't remember how we met. I think I asked him for a pencil in second grade. It was probably his hazel eyes that started the attraction. Though I didn't realize it in second grade, I was going to fall for him, even if I didn't understand the concept of love.

As a young child, I was more or else happy. Summers were spent with my grandparents, going to with them to church and grocery shopping. I was almost always around older people and frankly, I liked them better. Still do. But due to my lack of child interactions, I became more mature than the other kids. When I started going to school, kids seemed to want to distance themselves from me. I tried to act 'normal', I really did, but I couldn't help but say a few big words. 'Seriously' and 'obviously' weren't common words used by kindergartens. Plus, I could read, which totally intimidated them. Therefore, they left me alone, some even picked on me.     

 The sweet little girl that spent time with the elderly turned into a vicious bully. I thought that being mean was the only way people would like me and respect me more. In  third grade I began to really pick on people, including that stupid boy . All through elementary school, we never held a civil conversation. 

      I believe I was in fourth or fifth grade and we had about a hour, hour and a half left of school. He hadn't been in school that day. So you could imagine my surprise when I saw him walk into class. There was something different about him, though. When he smiled, I no longer saw his crooked, pearly white teeth. Instead, they were lined with green braces. Me, being the bitch I was, had to make a comment.

      "Ew, what's in your teeth? Those are so ugly." I had said in a new bitchy accent I had picked up from the other girls. I snickered but then he caught me off guard.

      "You know, why do you have to be so mean?" His eyes were questioning, even judging me. Then he turned back to his friends. With his back to me I was left to wonder why I was indeed so mean. That was the first instance where I felt truly sorry for someone I'd made fun of. I knew at that moment that I had to change my ways and I'd make my amends with him.