In first grade him and Victor got different classes and didn’t really see each other at all. He made a new group of friends and managed to stay hopeful about his friendships. He never invited anyone back to his house and spent his birthday alone with his parents at home. He didn’t want anyone else to come back to his house and eventually his friends started questioning why they could never go to his house. He made up excuses all the time as to why he couldn’t have friends over. Eventually someone asked the wrong person and the purple room came back. The teasing started again. It was worse. He would go home to his mom with scratches and bruises and tears rolling down his cheeks.

He told her everything. He wrote down their first and last name. He wrote down things he was called. He didn’t know what else to do. His mother would look through the list and ask him about it, but he begged and begged for her not to help him. She stayed quiet and so did Smith. His parents always wanted to intervene, but decided that they’d hurt their child’s trust in them if they went behind his back and told. He kept losing every friend he made and had to sit behind the classrooms by a dumpster to eat lunch, without it being smashed into his face and then thrown into a trash can.

He was lonely and sad about it at first, but he decided that if everyone was destined to hurt him, he should just sit alone. He stopped talking and trying to make friends. He stopped attempting to be nice to others that wouldn’t dare be nice to him. He didn’t give anyone his homework, pencils, or paper. Everyone called him stupid, mean, retarded, and delicate. He hid the pain and acted like he never heard a word they said. His teachers showed concern, but he said everything was fine and that he just enjoyed his alone time.

+ + + + + +

When he entered the second grade he was very happy with his new classroom. The desks were spaced apart in rows, so he didn’t have to talk to anyone next to him. It’d be too hard to talk across the space. He had just sat down in class and heard the room get filled with laughter. “Not again.”, He thought to himself as he turned around to face the laughter. No one was looking at him though. Instead they were crowding around someone at the door, “Who pulled you out of the gutter?”, Someone across the class yelled at the door. Justin curiously stood up and jumped so he could see over their heads. Justin saw something he couldn’t comprehend. A little girl with curly hair and dark skin. His whole neighborhood was full of white children and families. He had never seen a child like this anywhere. “Everyone, sit down please. Sit anywhere you’d like!” A slim man with neat, thick hair stood up from the corner. All of the students sighed and went to their seats, but Justin didn’t move for a minute. He looked at the girl, “you can sit next to me if you’d like.” She nodded and followed him to where he was sitting.

“Okay, tadpoles. We have to go over a little bit. First of all, welcome to the second grade. I see a lot of nervous faces. Nothing to be scared about! This is just first grade with a different number stamped in front. Second of all. I don’t have a seating chart. I will only make a seating chart if you refuse to listen. If it’s only one student I will move you to one of the desks in the front of the room. Understood?”, the man spoke and when he paused the whole class nodded. “We will go over the classroom rules, after I take attendance.” The little girl next to Justin raised her hand and was called on, “What’s your name, sir?” The man turned around and wrote it on the board, before looking back at her and saying, “Mr. Dowsen” She nodded and quietly looked down.

“Justin Alduin.”, He called out. “Here.”, Justin answered in a monotone voice. Justin was listening careful for his new elbow buddy’s name. Mr. Dowsen went through most of the list before saying, “Raven O’siris” She quietly responded by saying, “Present.” Some kids across the class mocked her name, but soon after Dowsen went over the class rules, they were headed to recess.

When the bell rang, Raven stayed by her desk. She waited for basically the whole class to leave, but Justin did too. “You wanna sit with me?”, He asked her and she looked concerned. “I sit alone.”, He stated and she nodded afterwards. They went to Justin’s spot together and she asked him if they were allowed to be there. “I sat here last year too. No one cares.”, He answered her. She sat down and took some pieces of bread out of her bag. She started eating one of them, while Justin took out his sandwich. “Is that all you have?”, He asked her, concerned. She nodded slowly, “We just moved here and we don’t have much food, yet.” Justin asked if he could have a piece of bread and when she said yes, he gave her half of his sandwich. She smiled for a second and got quiet, “Why do you sit back here?” Justin shrugged, “People are mean to me so being away from them is better.” She shrugged, “I guess so.”

They sat together, during recess and lunch daily for the rest of the year and their parents got to meet each other. Her mom always seemed crazy, but her dad was pretty sane. They didn’t talk much, but they only had each other. Justin was too scared to invite her over and her dad didn’t allow people at her house.

+ + + + + +

When third grade began, they met each other at the same location for lunch and recess. They talked more now and Raven started bringing small card games for entertainment. She had started bringing actual lunches now, instead of small snacks. Her dad still didn’t allow him over and Justin questioned if she could go to his house. “You know why people are mean to me?”, he asked her at lunch one day. “You never told me.”, She said as she shoved a lunchable into her mouth. “People started making fun of me, because my room is a girl color.”, he sighed. Raven responded, after she finished chewing, “I don’t think colors have private parts.” Justin shook his head, “Everyone said purple is a girl color.” Raven wrapped her arms around Justin and scared him, “My room doesn’t even have a bed.” Justin and her continued talking about their rooms, but he didn’t understand what she meant by saying she didn’t have a bed.

+ + + + + +

About halfway through third grade Justin and his family went to the dog shelter. Moon was already 10 and getting older, so his parents said they wanted a “support dog”. When they got to the breeders residence, Justin started running through the puppies. “There’s so many!”, he shook with excitement. Smith and Elizabeth laughed, while looking around to find a dog they liked. While he was looking around, Justin saw a little black blob sitting in the corner of the yard. It was a little dog sleeping in the shade. He crawled up to the dog and poked its side gently, “Are you dead?” The small puppy stretched out and yawned, before looking up at Justin and opening their eyes. Out of all the puppies there, this was the only one Justin saw with brown eyes. Justin’s mouth dropped in amazement as he stood up and picked up the little puppy.

He cradled the puppy in his arms and walked to his parents, careful not to injure the sleepy pup. “I want this one.”, He looked at his dad. The breeder walked over to him and laughed, “She’s the smallest one.” Justin smiled, “I’m small too! I like her eyes!” His parents laughed and tried to take her from his arms. He refused to let them take his puppy out of his arms and said he’d die if they didn’t let him keep her. They agreed and he got to pick out a collar for her. He picked a little brown color that matched her eye color and had to pick a name.

He was walking around the yard thinking, still holding the puppy. “I’m gonna call you Will!”, Justin declared. “That’s a girl, bud.”, His dad ruffled up his hair. “Hmmm…”, He thought for a second, “Will… Will… Willow? Willow! Her name is Willow!” Smith laughed and approved of the name and they took their new family member home.