Dear Mom,

welcome to being the loner

dear mom,

today's the first day of 6th grade.

for my english class, my teacher wanted everyone to introduce themselves

and say one thing about their past. 

i don't want to do this.

but it's part of our grades apparently.

"what's your name,

and please tell us one thing,

about your past,

or anything to us?"

i stayed quiet as i listened to the responses.

a lot of people just spoke about what their favorite color was,

what their favorite movie was,

or who they really admired. 

many of them also spoke about some pretty nice childhood memories.

meanwhile for me, 

i don't even know where you are mom,

dad's dead and never coming back,

and mr.raccoon's left me a long time ago.

before i knew it, it was my turn to say something. 

everyone was staring at me 

and i just felt so uncomfortable and scared. 

so i simply whispered out one small thing.

"i'm ann,

and i'm sad."

i could hear some people laughing at me. 

some people didn't even seem like they were paying attention anymore.

the teacher seemed upset that i said that. 

i felt small when she gave me that look of disappointment. 

so she told me how she'd go back to me after everybody else.

she went to a different person and i listened. 

"hello,

i'm cedric. 

my mom is gone and my dad is dead.

so here i am facing the world with my aunt and uncle"

i felt weird when i heard this.

who was this kid? 

why did it sound like what he said was exactly what happened to me? 

i peeked to the side at him. 

he gave me this small smile and a slow nod.  

his smile was sort of like aaron's. 

except, cedric didn't make me feel weird like how aaron did.

love,

ann

scribbled over an assignment as she feels this uncomfortable feeling of somebody staring at her.