When I was a kid, I didn’t have very good social skills and was awkward in social settings. I was loud when I should have been quiet, and sometimes shy when I needed to be more outgoing. I remember when I was in 7th grade at Kennedy Junior High, I needed to fart and didn’t hold back making the eruption very loud. In a matter of five seconds I was sitting in the middle of the room by myself because everyone had moved their desks to the outer walls to get away from the smell that I caused. The teacher was shocked, then started laughing at what had just happened. At first I thought it would be funny. Then I got embarrassed.
    Later, that same year, in the same class the teacher was encouraging all the students to buy books from the Scholastic book club. I remember wanting to buy a book. In the past, in elementary, I never had any money and was envious of the kids that were able to get books. It was like Christmas for everyone else and you got nothing. When I got to Junior High things changed, because I was earning money doing a paper route. I decided to rob my piggy bank. I paid for my book order with money I earned myself all in pennies. I think back on moments like this and think to myself, yes, I was that kid
    When I was in 7th grade I weighed 77 pounds and was small for my age. I was never the smallest student in my grade, however I was usually the second smallest. I remember in gym class, the coach would pick eight kids to be team captains to pick the teams. I was never the last kid picked but was almost always the second to last one picked. I dreaded gym class, because we were all required to show the coach we were wearing a jock strap. We would line up to take roll, and pull our jock strap down below our shorts to show we were wearing one. After gym we were required to shower everyday. Getting undressed, and being naked in front of your peers was awful and humiliating. Another thing I hated was getting shoved into my locker because I was so little. The lockers were only 8 inches wide and not many kids could fit in their locker, but I could. Seventh grade was definitely a learning experience for me.