SWNOVELS Chapter 1 Hard Days
November 20, 2000, was the day I was born. Since my conception the odds were against me and would pretty much set the theme for how my life would be. I was born two months premature and had caught pneumonia within days and spent the first few months inside an incubator with breathing tubes. The doctors had told Mama and Daddy that the odds were against me and that I most likely wouldn’t live, but I’ve always been stubborn, and, as you can see, I’m still here.
For the next five years the hospital had become my second home because of my breathing problems. I was too sick for kindergarten, so Mama would read to me, and we would color for hours. I told her that she was fun to color with, but I needed someone new, and so she was fired. There were two wings in the children’s ward: North and South. I stayed on the North side and knew my wing very well and had made a few friends.
One day at the hospital I had become restless and decided to sneak out and wander the halls. Until that day I had always stayed in my wing, but my desire to explore led me curiously down the other hall. I figured I’d see some children playing, just like we do on the North wing, but the sounds of the air-conditioning and the occasional beep from the machines connected to the patients were the loudest things in the building. If it wasn’t for one particular door being open and the loud beeping coming from the machine in there, I may have not peeked in that room, but I’m glad I did.
His name was Teddy Palmer. He himself was battling an illness, only his illness was much more visible than mine. I asked his mother about him; she told me that he was sick. Later I found out it was leukemia. I asked if it would be OK to visit him every once in a while. She thought Teddy could use a friend to lift his spirits and said I could. When I did visit, I wore a mask to protect us both. Teddy and I became very close in a short while.
Even though I missed being in my own bed at home, upon my release from the hospital, it was hard for me to leave Teddy, but his mother had given me his phone number to keep in contact for now. I’m glad his mother did; school would be my next greatest test, and I would surely need an open ear to vent to.
August 25, 2006
First grade—this would be the psychological death of me. Mama had told me that kids at my age would be much nicer and wouldn’t care about the way I breathe or make fun of my glasses; however, that wasn’t the case. Walking through the door, I could hear and see the kids conversing and laughing, when suddenly my shoe squeaked against the tile, making a loud chirping sound. Everyone looked at me and paused in silence. It was only my first day, and I could already tell by the mean looks from some of the girls that they were going to make sure that my life would be a certain kind of hell for the next twelve years.
I homed in on an empty seat and darted for it and slumped down, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. Unfortunately it wasn’t long afterward that I was pelted in the back of the head with wads of paper. The culprit’s name was Heather Crystal; yes, you heard that right. Heather Crystal. She was the ringleader, the one throwing the paper. The name sounded innocent enough, but I’m pretty sure this girl was the spawn of Satan.
I had already been through so much that there was no way this stuck-up little brat was going to get to me. She didn’t know who she was messing with, and I’m glad I did what I did. Without even thinking twice, I stood up and marched over to her and clobbered her nose. Heather buried her bloody nose in her shirt and was escorted to the nurse by the teacher and Heather’s followers. I was sent to the principal and labeled a bad kid from that day on.
Yet I had established respect from the other kids, but still even that did not detour Heather from trying to inflict years of torture on me. The first few years of school flew by, and, by the time I was in fourth grade, the kids had formed posses, from the popular kids to losers, nerds to special, and then there was me. I floated around unnoticed, belonging nowhere, but that was not by choice. School had become harder; life had become harder.
Fortunately for me, I had kept in contact with Teddy, which gave me the strength to get through each and every day. He was my lifeline, and, although it did help to have someone to blow off steam to, I was just about ready to have a nervous breakdown. Teddy must have sensed it in my voice, because something amazing happened in fourth grade. Teddy had persuaded his parents to move to Davilla and rent the house next door to me. Teddy had told me that it didn’t take much persuasion because he was sick of the hospital, and he needed a fresh start, and they wanted to give him whatever mental boost he needed.
I figured he was going to be homeschooled or something, but they had even gone so far as enrolling him in my school, in hopes to normalize him with the rest of the kids. Unfortunately, as I had been, Teddy was also immediately labeled an alien, but finally I had someone to walk the halls with and to sit with at lunch. Life had become a little more bearable then, and, though we weren’t popular with the rest of the kids, at least we had each other’s backs.
I tried to always stand up for him, but the bullying became too much for him, and his parents decided that it would be best to homeschool him. As rough as it was without Teddy, I could still look forward to seeing him at the end of the school day. On top of being alone once more, I still had to deal with Heather and her friends. I somehow survived the rest of the year and spent the entire summer with Teddy, which was the best summer I ever had. I had so much fun that it wasn’t long before it was time to go back to school and to face fifth grade alone.