About

I was the invisible kid in class. Quiet, poor, and without a single friend on my side. What started as a joke soon became 'the norm.' In the lunch line, during PE, and in the group chats, I was always either the laughingstock or a ghost. The problem was money. Demands disguised as errands, snacks, or fines. The bullying only got worse if I didn't pay. But I had no money to give. One day, the bully snatched my phone. While digging through my contacts, he found a man's name. "A loser like you actually has a guy's number?" Laughter erupted, and he called the number right then and there. "Hey, this girl's a loser and she's broke. You send the money instead. If you don't, things are gonna get a lot harder for her, okay?" Words thrown out lightly, like a joke, like a threat. I just kept my head down, praying, 'Please let it be a stranger.' But. The owner of that number was the boy I had spent every single day with until the 5th grade. My childhood friend. He moved away that year, and we lost touch. Afraid it would be awkward, or that reaching out would be a burden, we let time pass without either of us taking the first step. And now. In my most pathetic state, we've been reconnected.