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Rosalia

Rhodes School , River Grove , Illinois

Sixth grade was not the best year for me. I was a very crazy and hyper kid. I only had a few friends in my class, but they only stayed for a few periods; not all day. My closest friend at the time was Danielle. She was always kind and supporting of me. Other than my few friends, no one in my class really liked me.

Trying to make new friends in my class was almost an impossible task for me. When I tried to make friends, it made me very stressed to the point it made me act differently. I didn’t realize at the time, but I acted differently from not knowing what to do. It made me act so much more crazy, and that was horrible for making more friends. Day after day, I had to try and be nice to my peers, but in class they just hated me. Everyday I would get yelled at saying words such as “you're so annoying”. I didn't realize till a whole year later how different someone could act by just simply not having a healthy friend group. As any middle schooler, there was a lot of drama, and that was horrible since then I didn't know who to talk to. Some days to deal with this I would draw on my hands and everyday the teacher would tell me to just wash it off. I still struggled with that anyway even after she told me not to. The other kids also didn’t like the fact that I drew on my hands, and they stated that it bothered them multiple times.

Throughout sixth grade, specifically the end of it, my friends had met new ones that they really thought were fun and friendly . I hadn’t met them yet, but I heard amazing things about them so I wanted to give them a chance. I was really procrastinating meeting them since I didn’t want more people to hate me. I just didn’t \ know what I was going to say or do, and I didn’t want to be as stressed. I had to deal with the whole class disliking me already, so I was scared more people would not like me. The year went on and the class continued to dislike me.

When I met the new group, I felt like I could actually give them a chance. And that's what I did. They made me feel like I could be myself without all those horrible comments trailing behind me. I started being more like myself, and I acted so differently. I didn’t realize how much all this stress would make me act . I loved being able to be myself. At the time the class slowly started to talk to me more and got less hate from people.

At the start of seventh grade, I started really talking to them, sitting with them at lunch, and acting like myself. I felt so happy with myself, and the class talked to me so much more. I felt accepted, not only by my friends, but by my classmates. Seventh grade was the best year. I realized just be yourself and people will come into your life and like you for you.

© Rosalia. All rights reserved. If you are interested in quoting this story, contact the national team and we can put you in touch with the author’s teacher.