Short stories and poems

"She's Weird"

             She walked into the school nose red and running, with cheeks pink from the frigid air outside. But as she entered the building, the frigid cold transferred to her toes. Heart racing and palms damp she put her bag in her locker. The other children were laughing and smiling but she was quiet and went straight into her personal jail cell. She found her assigned seat and slid into the cold and confined space. She tucked her knees into her chest and started chewing her already short nails. Once she had no nails left to chew she would start on her pencil the wood crunched between her teeth giving her some comfort. She didn't actually hear a single word the teacher said all of it was muffled by the pounding in her chest. She knew what she did was unorthodox, looking at her it was clear to see but everything in her needed it. Nobody ever picked her first, in group projects she was forced to be assigned a group even when her classmates are given the choice to choose, no one chose her either way. Far too old to suck her thumb she still did. She knew she wasn't normal. No other kid was called into the guidance office once a week just to talk. She was always empty, never belonged in any social setting. A basket case in the third grade.