The Bully and the New Kid

I was sitting in first period English on a normal day in grade six. That is when I first met Milton Fergand.
He came into class, with his bow tie, suspenders, button-up shirt, and big “Harry Potterish” glasses. He
looked down at the ground and shuffled his feet nervously. “W-where can I s-sit?” he murmured,
stuttering. “Right over there, by Jacob,” said Mrs. Anderson. Jacob is one of my better friends. He is a bit
of a troublemaker, and doesn’t like to agree with people. He did exactly what I expected it to do, and
complained by yelling “Oh come on! Why can’t Harry Potter sit over there?” he pointed over to beside
me. Half of the class snickered as he did so. Before Mrs. Anderson could protest, the boy speed-walked
over to the desk beside me and sat down. He slightly missed the chair, and hit the ground hard. Almost
all of the class burst out in laughter, but the teacher stopped it by yelling “QUIET!”

Throughout the class, this boy who went by “Milton” just stared at his desk, picking the gum off of the
bottom and playing with it in his hands. After class, Jacob kept pushing Milton around and knocking his
books over. Every time this happened, Milton would just mutter “Sorry” and move on. It continued on
like this for days until one day, Mrs. Anderson paired me and Milton up together on a project. “Have
fun, Joe,” whispered Jacob as he walked by my desk to get a tissue, making a scene of blowing his nose
loudly and for a long time. I went to Milton’s desk, and we awkwardly sat there for a while writing notes
down on our papers, until finally he said something I couldn’t hear. “What?” I replied.
“What’s your favourite video game” he said.
“Oh, I don’t play them” I whispered.
“What,” he said in surprise, “Everyone plays video games!”
“Fine, don’t tell anyone, but Skyrim.”
“What??? I love Skyrim!!”
“Nerd!” yells a random student. “I told you to be quiet,” I said, angrily. “Okay, sorry,” he replies. We
then had another moment of awkwardly taking notes and not talking, before he again breaks the silence
by asking me to come to his house to play video games. I didn’t really want to go, but to be honest, he
had some cool games that he told me about. He told me the address after school and I got on the bus,
debating whether I should go or not. I got home, but I just couldn't bring myself to go to this kids house.
As the hours went by, I was still debating whether I should go or not, but as soon as the hour hand hit 10
at night, it was too late. I eventually fell asleep, and I woke up at my usual time and went to school.

As soon as I walked into English class, Milton approached me and asked me why I didn’t come to his
house. I replied by saying I was busy, and I promised to come over to his house that night. Jacob shot me
a dirty look when he caught me talking to Milton. After school, Jacob came up to me and said “Don’t talk
to that loser.” I just said “Okay” and walked away.

As soon as I got home I told my mom where Milton’s house was and she took me there. It was a small
house; it looked pretty run down. I knocked to the tune of “Shave and a haircut” twice before Milton
answered, looking happy and nervous at the same time. “C-come one in” he said. I believe he may have
a stuttering problem, because almost every time he talks he seems to stutter on consonants. I entered
the Fergand residence, and it looked really messy. There were clothes and Mcdonald's paper bags all
over the floor, and a family photo only hanging from one screw on the wall. “I know, It-ts messy” he
acknowledged, “The living room is over t-there” he pointed to a door ajar at the end of a short hallway.
We sat down in front of the television, and when he turned it on I gasped. The screen was showing
pictures in black and white, not in colour like most TV’s. “Y-ya, we can’t afford a c-coloured television,”
he said in reply to my astonishment. We put some games in and booted up his system.

I have to admit, after an hour or so, I actually got used to the black and white, and I started to like it. It
was fun and different, and after a good two hours of gaming, we decided to watch some TV shows. The
first channel we flipped to had some kind of fashion commercial on. The commercial showed some
modern-day outfits, and it ended off with a red “X” over an outfit that looked similar to Milton’s, with
the caption “No one likes these gross old relics!” Milton then yelled at the television screen, saying
“Why can’t I just dress the way I want! Why am I looked down on because of what I wear!” He banged
his fist against the coffee table, but quickly sat up and apologized. I snapped a quick look at my digital
watch. It was 7:30, my mother would be here any minute. “I have to go,” I said. He said “Bye” and I
opened the front door right as my mother pulled up. I then headed for home

I hung out with Milton everyday after school from then on. People didn’t like him and thought he was a
loser and the kid that you can make fun of. I didn’t really talk to him in school. I also didn't like how
Jacob was acting. He was usually funny, but this time I thought he took it too far. Eventually, I convinced
Milton to come to my house. I tried to be cautious though, because I didn’t want Jacob to see me
hanging out with Milton.

One day, I was sitting with Milton playing some video games in my downstairs living room, when I heard
a knock on the door. I remembered I forgot to lock the door, and before I could react Jacob opened the
door and was standing a few feet away from me with wide eyes and his mouth hung open. “Joe, what
are you doing with him?” he stammered. For a second, I felt really ashamed of myself, but then I
realized: Why should I even listen to this guy anymore? He just bullies people around and tries to make
a scene when he’s angry. “Why can’t you just accept to for who he is?” I said confidently. “Because NO
ONE can accept who he is. He’s a worthless loser,” replied Jacob with anger, “You know what? I’m out of
here. Have fun with your stupid little friend.” Jacob then ran upstairs and slammed the front door before
I could even react.

The next day I didn’t even try to apologize to Jason. Some people were making fun of me and stuff, but
to be honest, I didn’t care. I would rather be friends with someone who actually helped me out and
wasn’t a total idiot to everyone all the time. I started trying to convince Milton to speak up and try to
make some other friends besides me. People could actually really like him if they got to know him.
Milton started to feel ashamed about the way he dressed. I told him not to worry. “Who cares how you
dress?” I’d say. Next day, I found an outfit similar to Milton’s, and I wore it to school. People stared at
me, but I didn’t care. I would dress like that for the rest of the school year without caring.
I spent days trying to convince people not to judge someone by the way they dress, and after a month, I
think it actually started to work. More and more people were seeing me and Milton not as losers, but as
people who were confident, and had a high self-esteem. Even more people started to like us. People
eventually started to follow us. Eventually, people like Jacob were the ones that were the “losers” by
judging everyone else by their appearance. We were now leaders and people followed us. Some people
even started to dress like me and Milton.

It went on like this throughout middle school. I learned something myself: Never judge a book by its
front cover. Try and get to know the person before dubbing them as “losers” because of their
appearance. You will live a better life, and people will have more respect for you, since you respect
them.