p. 1

by courtney martin

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p. 2

hi my name is kody i m 14 years old i have short brown hair tanned skin wear a pair of devalio spectacles and go to crougarton school on a popularity scale from 1-10 i m minus one by far and easily the least popular kid in school this all started on the first day i had just turned five the previous week and like any kid was proud but lurking in the shadows was the fear of the first day of school this feeling was normal and lots children that age got it and i was one of them buuuuuuuuuuuuuuriiiiiiing sounded the piercing alarm of the clock on kody s hand carved bedside table butterflies began thumping the walls of kody s stomach they were so bad that he felt like he had swallowed one that crisp april morning kody s mother connie was driving kody and his neighbour/best friend jaden to school the whole time the two of us did not stop brainstorming about what school would be like the butterflies were back as soon as the two of us heard the car tyres screech to a stop and the sound of children running screaming and crying.

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p. 3

when the first period bell rung i felt a stream of sweat running fluidly from my palms i entered room #3b and i realised that it wasn t really all that scary compared to what i thought it would be but that was all about to change the bell rung for the end of first period and there i was sitting next to my best buddy jaden when i was impolitely greeted by two kids from class #3c called billie and lumour billie was a tall skinny smart talking back chatting kind of guy on the other hand lumour was a short stubby stocky cheeky kid i placed my lunch box to one side while billie started talking to me that was obviously what they had planned for because while billie was chatting away lumour was stuffing as much of my food into his jacket and pockets as possible because when billie had finally walked of i turned around to an empty lunch box the next day there i was eating my morning tea avoiding the two bullies when a gust of wind rushed around the corner a ray of light stretched across the cold concrete floor when suddenly the most beautiful thing in the world appeared well to him anyway her name was suzie parker and just looking at her made me feel like i had died and gone to heaven because

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p. 4

everything about was peerless i was brought back to reality when jaden said hurry up i want to go and play after third period i sat outside with my lunch ready to open my lunch box when crack a bony firm fist connected with the back of my soft weak skull and i went flying of the seat everything went black when i awoke i felt something trickling down my face it was warm sticky red and thick after a while i realised that it was my own blood i was lying there motionless then i heard the strong thoughtless voice of lumour that s what you get for making googly eyes at my gal i lay there thinking to myself who s he talking about it s suzie if you re wondering i tried to lift myself but my frail arm s failed to do the job people stood there laughing because of my weakness when suzie walked past she also stood and laughed from that day on i realised only worry about making it through the first year before you start fretting about girls basically after that day no popular people even bothered to even manage a side glance at me so that your popularity starts from day one and mine started on the first day.

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