Winter Adams

I wrote this story for a contest and I want to share it.  Even if I dont win the contest I'm still very proud of my story so in advance thank you for reading.

Avery Meneses
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Hi my name is Winter and I’m in the 9th grade.  I never knew people could be so ruthless at such a young age, how can anyone enjoy hurting others.  I’ve been getting bullied since 4th grade, my older brother and sister were watching me and I asked them to take me to the park, I didn’t know anything bad was going to happen, it’s just the park.  That day wasn’t the best day to go, a local man that was always so nice brought a gun and shot whoever he could, unfortunately my brother was one of the people who got shot.  He died protecting my sister and I, and now I’m the depressed freak people make fun of.  It was going on for a while and I didn’t think it would stop or get better.  That was until I met Liam Mathews, he showed me that I shouldn’t listen to what these people say and I could stand up for myself.

     “Excuse me, can you show me where room 203 is, I’m very lost and confused.” I turned around and saw a cute boy with light brown hair and green eyes.
    
I chuckled lightly and started walking to the classroom “Come on, it’s this way.”  Walking down the hallway to the classroom a bunch of people started whispering and pointing at me saying stuff like ‘why is he walking with her, she’s to ugly’ and more stupid stuff like that. 

“Hey next time you talk about someone behind their back you should muster up the courage to say it to their face so they can stand up to you!” The boy said to a group of girls that were whispering stuff about me.

“Thank you.” I said quietly blushing a light pink “I don’t know your name.”

“It’s Liam Mathews, and you’re?”

“Winter Adams” I said walking into the classroom and taking a seat in the middle.  Liam comes  and sits next to me with a smile on his face.  “I meant what I said, I appreciate that you stood up for me and all but I’m used to it, you didn’t need to do that.”

“Of course I had to do that, they shouldn’t be getting away with what they’re doing and you not standing up for yourself is giving them the idea that they can continue doing it.  I’ve seen what bullies can do and I don’t want that happening.  Promise me you’ll start standing up for yourself.” I listened to what he had to say, I never really thought that I could stand up for myself, but I guess I just never tried.  I nodded my head and look down at the desk.

When lunch arrived I went to the back corner of the cafeteria and sat by myself like I usually did, I watched as Liam was looking around and refusing to sit at the popular table and any other table that offered him a seat. Why?  I still don’t know to this day.  His eyes searched the cafeteria, they stopped when they landed on me and he walked and sat down across from me at my table.  “Hey, I couldn’t find you, why do you sit all the way back here anyways?”  Everyone was staring at Liam and I shocked that the cute new guy wants to sit with the depressed freak.

“Why are you sitting with me?” I leaned over the table and whispered.
“Is it a crime to sit with you?” He asked leaning in as well getting closer to my face, looking me directly in the eyes.

“No” I said sitting up right.  “I just don’t want you to get made fun of because of me, it’s happened before.  This one girl tried to befriend me last year and everybody made fun of her because she was hanging out with me, the depressed little girl whose brother died in front of her, she transferred a month later because of all the bullying.  I don’t want that happening again, I don’t want that on my conscience, the fact that someone left a school because they couldn’t handle the bullying because they were hanging out with me.”  I look down at my lap and play with my hands.  I look up and see that Liam is still sitting across from me with a small smile on his face shaking his head.

“Winter, I am going to become your new best friend.”  He says grinning like a cheshire cat, and then we both got pasta dumped on our heads.

“Well if you’re going to become besties I think you need to be twinsies as well.” A very high pitched voice basically screeched in my ear.  I look up and see Diane Mitchell she’s pretty and popular, and for some reason she loved to pick on me.

I looked at Liam and see that he is very calm for some reason, then his eyes meet mine and he gives me a look that says ‘now’s your chance, stand up to her and squash her like the annoying bug she is’.  But I got scared and I just bowed my head in shame because I was terrified of what she would do or say if I did stand up to her.  I stood up and walked out of the cafeteria and to my locker, I grabbed a spare set of clothes that I kept in my locker in case stuff like this happened.

“Why didn’t you stand up to her?” He asked.

“I was scared, simple as that.”  I shut my locker and start to head to the restrooms when Liam grabs my arm and pulls me back to face him.

“What are you scared of?”

I look at his green eyes and see brown around the pupil like it's shooting out of the center.  “I guess I’m afraid that it’ll get worse and I’ll hit rock bottom, that I’ll start to hate life.  I don’t want that.”  Tears started to pool up in my eyes as a couple slipped down my cheeks, Liam pulled me into a hug and whispered reassuring and encouraging words in my ears.  When people started to fill the hallways Liam pulled me into the girl's bathroom and locked the doors after he made sure no one was in there, he helped me get the pasta sauce out of my hair and vice versa, I changed my clothes but unfortunately Liam didn’t have a change of clothes so he was going to have to change into the gym wear the school provides.

I walked out of the girls restroom and made sure there was no one in the hallway before Liam could come out.  “Thank you, I really needed to let that out and you helped push me, which was something I needed.” Liam smiled at me and nodded.  That was the day I met my best friend,   but that's not the end of my story.

Liam and I got bullied, pushed around, and made fun of for about a month after that first day, but one day at the end of september was the day I finally stood up to Diane MItchell and all her minions.  It didn’t even happen to me, I just got tired of seeing Diane putting people down for her own amusement.  A sweet girl named Karrie got in a bad accident the year before, she was the most popular girl at school, the accident left Karrie paralyzed from the waist down, so she was in a wheelchair.  Diane thought it would be funny to push Karrie down the hallway, a student pushed Karrie away and she ricocheted off the wall and fell down. Diane and all her minions circled around Karrie and laughed.  Liam and I saw what happened and rushed over to help her up, this was horrible.

“Seriously Diane, you just crossed a line.  I don’t care who you think you are anymore, you're just stuck up and snobby and need to be knocked down from that high pedestal you put yourself on.  Why do you think it’s ok to go around bullying people, how can someone so young get so much joy from bringing others down.  If you do get joy from that you are evil, and all of you people that follow her around like lost puppies, you only do it so you can be popular or liked, that's not going to get you far in life I hope you know that.  God you people seriously need a reality check or something you're all horrible.”

People started clapping, I was confused at first but afterward Liam told me that it was because they agreed with me and were glad to finally see someone other than Liam stand up to Diane and her minions.  After that day if I saw someone or I was being messed with I put a stop to it and I’m happy that my best friend encouraged me to stand up to these people, because who knows maybe if I never met Liam I would be six feet under ground, or I would still be that scared little girl who tried to hide from others and mix in with crowd.  I’m so happy that I met Liam Mathews.