Worst Two Years of My Life

The class I was in throughout elementary school was super-small - 15 students. The smallest in the district. So I didn't have much of a problem with the other students; we all knew one another and we were all friends. Middle school changed everything - for the worse.

Right from the start I realized it wasn't going to be easy making friends, and it had nothing at all to do with my speech impediment. It was my obsession with Hanson, which I look back on as being a mixture of pitiful and comical. I wore a Hanson t-shirt everyday, and since by that time they were no longer cool, I was the target for a lot of ridicule. Eventually I caught on and bought some new clothes, but I still didn't have many friends. The other students had decided that I was just too weird.

When I stopped wearing the t-shirts everyday, people stopped teasing me about it. But I guess they felt bad for ignoring me because they started on my speech. My voice was constantly likened to one girl's four-year-old sister, and I quickly got used to people mocking me in fake lisps.

In the middle of seventh grade, however, I did make one friend, who remained my best friend until high school. Between her and the two friends I had remained with since elementary school, I did have someone to talk to, but I still felt like an outcast, especially since none of their other friends approved of me. So I got left out of group outings a lot.

Everything changed when we started high school. I guess it was because some of my peers had matured, or maybe they just got bored with me and started looking for someone new. I wasn't particularly fond of high school, but it was a hell of a lot better than jr. high. I just hope college works out all right.