2 weeks later....
Its spirit week. The homecoming game and dance is on thursday. I'm not going. I don't dance and I have never been good with crowds. I wasn't even social at my family reunion. Anyways, Monday is Pajama Day. I'm not going to participate because last year, I was told that I looked like a hobo. I WAS WEARING NEW PAJAMAS AND A ROBE! No one talked about that students who wore jogging shorts and tanks to school. At least I wore actual pajamas.
Tuesday is Tacky Day. I'm wearing a black dress that you would see on a porcelin doll, a black fur hat with bear ears, black torn tights from a halloween costume, and black shoes. My arms are thin and bony. I wear a jacket eveyday to cover them except for today. I can't wait to be humiliated. I walked to the bus stop hiding my arms. The air was cool and windy. "Damn...Thats tacky." a student comments watching me approach the bus stop. I ignored him. Honestly, I don't even look tacky. I look gothic.... just with cute hat. "I wanna break them stick arms!" another student comments. Both of them collapsed into their hideous laughters. I balled my hands into fist and got on the bus.
At school, a gang of 11th graders watched me walk down the hallway. "That ain't tacky! Thats just ratchet!" a girl wearing shiny rainbow colors laughed on her boyfriend's chest. I plopped down in my seat in science class. "Maya, you know you don't really look tacky...right?" Ms. Exley smiled. "Oh I love your bear hat! Ugh, I should have brought mine!," the new girl smiled. I have to admit, those two comments from my teacher and the new student added some light to my morning. "Oh shit! What the hell are you wearing?!?," an immature ass shouted at me. Another student stopped at my table just to examine me. He looked at me as if I were a new species. Once again, my morning is dark.
In Mr. Simpson's class, a couple students only stared at me. I couldn't tell if they were throwing bad stares or not. I just feel better now that one of my leftover friends thought I looked good.
We have to present our reports in Ms. MacArthur's class. I volunteered to go second. I presented my report feeling nervous from all the faces looking at me. My report was on the Arabian Greyhound, also known as the Saluki. An 11th or 12th grader named Brad continuously disturbed the class. Brad annoyed me and others since school started. He had the nerve to say something about my report. He raised his hand to ask me a question. I took a deep breath. "What? What is it that only you cannot understand?!?" I grinded my teeth. "So...you said this dog mummified people?" he spoke with a deep voice. "No! Dammit! I said the egyptians would mummify this breed you idiot! Jesus christ!" Ms. MacArthur told Brad to shut up and told me to calm down. I presented pictures of the dog. "Eww! Its skinny! It's legs are long! It looks sick!" female students observed. "It looks like her..." Brad whispered loudly to the teacher's ear. "Boy, If you don't shut up!" Ms. MacArthur slapped the back of his head.
I slammed my report in the tray of papers and went to my seat. I plugged in my earphones and listened to music as I poked my skin with a pin without puncturing it. I didn't bother to watch the other students present.
After class, Ms. MacArthur called me to her desk before I moved on to my next class, "Maya, you need to stop letting these idiotic students ruin your day. You need to be a little more tough. Understand?" I looked at her big eyes for a moment. "Sure. I understand.," I replied walking out the door.
The word "tough" repeated in my head for the rest of the day. At home, I rumaged through my desk for pins and needles. "I'll show you tough Ms. MacArthur..." I growled. I took a breath and started sticking pins in my thighs. I stood up and walked around. I could feel the pins moving and digging deeper with evey step.
