Be You- Short Stories

Just A Feeling-Ch 1

Everyone treats me the same. They don't like me. I'm not sure why, but it's as if I have a disease or something. I only have one best friend and Aiden is great! She is the only one who gets me. It's hard to know why this happens, but it does. I've lived with it since I was sick. More people talked to me when I was a prick, then they do now. It's always been like a curse since the day I changed.

This brings me to the story: I was walking down the hall one morning, quite excited about what day it was. I couldn't wait to get home and meet my new baby brother. Aiden was coming with me, and we couldn't wait. From the moment I went to the car to go to school, I wanted it to be the end of the day already.

Jax (Jackson) was born on my birthday. Siblings having a birthday who aren't twins doesn't happen very often. I was very lucky to be one of those people.

I made my way to my first class and waited for my teacher to arrive. This is when it began- my stand. Hayden, a 12th-grade boy who had to retake US History to pass, came over to me.

"What's up?" he asked me, sounding depressed. He released his bag next to the seat alongside me and sat down. I wasn't with anyone in this class, so having someone sit next to and talk to me was odd.

"Not much," I blankly replied.

"You're..................." he held out the "r", "Jasmine, right?"

"Yeah. Hayden?"

"Yep."

"I thought you hung out with the popular kids?"

He dryly laughed. "Yeah, not anymore."

"Why's that?"

"They were all dicks."

"Really?" I sarcastically inquired. "I had no clue."

"No need to lie. Everyone knew. I just didn't care."

"What changed your mind?"

"About a week ago, before Selena Edward's suicide, I bumped into her, literally, in the hall. She punched me, and I asked her why she did that. She said 'It was for everyone I've ever bullied.' I didn't understand what she meant, so after a prank we did on Lil' Scotty-."

I stopped him. "Scott Grant."

"Right. After that, I stuck around, hiding of course, and watched what happened afterward. He cried. He punched his locker and left a dent. He bled. He cut out in the open. And the worst part- no one cared."

This hit me hard. I had no clue what a change people had on other people in the school.

"Do you blame yourself?" I questioned him.

"Yes. Always."

I didn't know Hayden well, but he definitely seemed to be changing. I only knew that he was a dickhead before, but now he actually cares.

"And what did you do with Scott?"

"I now leave him an encouraging note, every day."

"That's good. How does he feel about that?"

"I'm not sure. He doesn't know it's me."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Talking to him about this gave me a great idea: what if we made this a thing? Throughout the school, people leave anonymous notes to people that they respect or think need encouragement. They can even do it to people they like.

We talked for the rest of class, passing notes. Later we talked, and the rest of the day we talked. We passed notes through our lockers for a while, then we talked during lunch and study hall. It was a wild day, but we decided to call this note system "Just A Feeling". We'd provide paper and magnets and put them in a place everyone could get to- the lunch room.

This idea took a while to start, but when it did, we were working hard. Adding Aiden was a great help. We saw how it slowly changed the atmosphere of the school. Everyone was suddenly nicer, and people grew close. There were no more stereotypes, just people living their lives. We even got notes of our own.

Why am I telling this story? Because it goes to show that we are able to change the world. It just takes paper, magnets, markers, and a little hope and prayer to make it all work and come together.

Be who you are supposed to be.

This is just me with just a feeling.

Written by me