I enjoyed going to middle school every day. Although my outfits changed, the one consistent piece of clothing I would wear was a gray sweater that my grandma bought me. I liked that sweater. However, after a few weeks of wearing the sweater, my classmates started asking me why I would wear it so often. I would tell them that my grandma bought it for me and that it meant a lot to me.

I love my grandma so much. I like spending time with her. We would go to the movie theater, she would take me out to eat, and we would even go to the mall together. Whenever I had a day off from school, I liked spending it with her. Although it looked like a simple gray sweater, it represented the joy that my grandma brings to my life.

Unfortunately, my classmates would bully me. They claimed that I did not wash my sweater because they saw me wearing it every day. They assumed I was poor and dirty. It made me sad. I asked my mom to buy me a new sweater. She agreed to buy me a new sweater and hugged me after I told her that my classmates were bullying me. I wore my new sweater to school and I was happy because I thought my classmates were going to stop bullying me. The bullying did not end there. I had really beat-up shoes and that became the target of their new jokes. It made me sad every so often, but I no longer cared what they said. When I listened to them, I would get sad, so I just ignored my classmates from school.

After I ignored my classmates, I didn't have anyone to talk to. It got to the point that I did not have anyone to eat lunch with during the first semester of school. The second semester, I was informed that I passed the ELPAC test, which is a test that English learners have to pass in order to reclassify from ELD classes. I could finally take an elective class! I chose to take leadership because my counselor told me that this class would allow me to help around the school campus.

After a few weeks of being in the leadership class, I met Andres and Victor. They would be nice to me and all three of us became friends. We would sit together in class and do work. We would spend time together during our nutrition and lunch. We would bring snacks and food to share with one another. They didn't mind that I had beat-up shoes, and they didn't care how “dirty” my gray sweater was. They showed me real friendship because they stood up for me when my classmates would make fun of my sweater.

After a few months passed, we were in graduation season. My friends and I graduated on stage from middle school. We were so happy because my group of friends was enrolling in the same high school. However, my brother was already enrolled at another school. My mom decided that she was going to enroll me in his school instead. If she put me in the same high school as my friends, she was going to have to drive to two different schools. I was devastated because my friends and I were not going to be in the same school. However, we still talk on Facetime about our experiences at our new schools and play video games online together. Although we are no longer together, they taught me that I should never judge someone before getting to know them and that real friends support one another when they need them the most.

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