This choice: New School, New Friends, New Country! Rakin's story • Go Back... Rakin stood in front of his bathroom mirror, tears streaming down his face. This first day of middle school sucked, just flat-out sucked. It was probably the worst day of his life. Not knowing anyone at all at school was bad, sure, but he had to deal with the fact that he had just moved to the United States from Dubai, and was probably never going to see any of his friends again. What's more, being the new kid with a "funny" accent, brown skin, and a Middle Eastern background meant that every bully this school had would taunt him, and even the normal non-aggressive kids would shun him. It didn't help that he was the shortest boy in the sixth grade, looking more like a ten-year-old, though he was a month past his twelfth birthday. His mother tried to make him feel better by telling him it was an experience that would make him stronger in the long run, but that didn't help.
No, he thought through sobs, everything seemed stacked against him, and there didn't seem to be any room for improvement for the foreseeable future. He would just have to do the best he could to survive, and then maybe he would either learn to cope with all the crap he was going through, or hopefully his father would decide to move the family back to Dubai after this business opportunity in America failed to pan out.
As he took a shower, he started to feel better, and thought that maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all. But then as he washed his arms, he felt the bruises that were there as a result of being slammed into a locker by Lloyd, the biggest and meanest bully in the school. Lloyd was an eight grader but through a combination of early puberty and most likely being held back a grade or five, he was as big as any of the teachers. He had a mop of stringy red hair on the top of his head, and the natural ruddiness in his face made him look angry all the time, though that probably wasn't too far away from the truth anyways. Rakin could tell from the start that Lloyd meant trouble, right as soon as he saw the six-foot-tall boy coming walking through the hall during the break between second and third periods, and he tried to avoid the bully by turning around and walking the other way. Unfortunately, Lloyd made a beeline straight for Rakin, grabbing him by the shoulder and whirling him around, saying that he wasn't going to let a "terrorist" punk roam the halls of "his" school. It was racist "terrorism" in of itself, but there was nothing that Rakin could do about it, and no one else who walked by seemed to care as Lloyd punched him in the arm, then stuffed him into his locker. Luckily, through either dimness or because he didn't care, Lloyd hadn't locked it or even latched it all the way shut, so it was easy enough for Rakin to sneak out once he was sure the coast was clear, and make his way to class.
That was the worst thing that had happened, Rakin thought as he stepped out of the shower and started to towel off, but the rest of the day wasn't much better. Teachers constantly mispronounced both his first and last name, and some even made a slight sneer as they said it, though they at least attempted to hide that fact. Only one person would even say more than a few words to him, and that was a boy who seemed to be every bit as bullied as he was. At least this boy, Dan, seemed like he was more intelligent than most of the other students at this school, though he did look like a stereotypical nerd, skinny with thick-rimmed glasses and blonde hair in a bowl-cut. At this point, though, Rakin would have to take all the friends he could get.
At least the day was finally over now. After brushing his teeth, Rakin slipped into his pajamas and climbed into bed. As he closed his eyes, he held out hope that the days would only get easier from here, but he dreaded that was being naive. Little did he know that he wasn't even done with this day yet, though perhaps that wouldn't be such a bad thing.
The next morning, when he wakes up, he notices something odd, and not just that it's the first day of school again.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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