It was that time of year again. Ever since Ryan Evans had started school five years ago he was the star, once a week, for a week, every year. He hated it. He did not mind when it was someone else's turn to be the star, in fact he always found a great pleasure in writing a nice note to the star of the week. When he was the star however, he could not help but hate it.

He always felt that none of the notes he received were not very truthful, or if they were they would say something negative. Ryan never felt like a star when he read those notes.

This year it was just the same. He was 10 now but his class still participated in star week. Every Friday when his teacher would make the announcement about who the star of the week was Ryan would cross his fingers and pray that it was not him.

It was almost the end of the year, when it was finally his turn. He had hoped that his teacher forgot about his turn, but he did not have such luck. When she picked him, his stomach sank and he already started to feel the pain of reading all those notes. Ryan once thought about throwing the notes away without reading them, but he was never able to do so. Even though he believed it was fruitless, deep inside he wished that someone would say something really nice to him.

This year the notes were all the same. Some notes read, "I like the color of his shirt," and others read, "He's probably hits better then most of the girls." Ryan felt angry at himself for reading all those horrible notes again. He knew the kids only wrote them because their teacher made them. He knew that none of the students meant what they said.

Ryan Evans dumped his notes in the rubbish bin before the end of his second day as star of the week. He could not wait until the week was over. Then his name would come off the whiteboard and he would not have to feel so humiliated for another year.

As he was returning to his seat his teacher called the students' attention. "I feel very proud of one of you today. One of you spent time really thinking about what to write our star of the week Ryan Evans. When I read the note I was really touched. I was hoping the writer could read his note out loud, if that's okay with Ryan."

Ryan blushed. He felt his heart pound in his chest. His teacher seemed very impressed with this note and for the first time since he was five Ryan felt really excited about being the star of the week. He nodded his head smiling shyly.

"Okay. Troy, will you please come up here and read your note to the class?" The teacher asked.

Ryan felt shocked. Everyone knew Troy, he was the most popular kid in their grade, even some of the fifth and sixth graders liked him. Ryan felt sort of special that someone like Troy would write something worth wild about him.

Ryan watched Troy stand in front of the class with an air of confidence. He looked down at his paper for a moment before looking up at the class. After a brief search Troy looked right at Ryan. Ryan startled a little. He felt a little tingle inside his stomach.

"Dear Ryan,

I notice the way you always try to help the teacher before school. I think that means you must be really smart.

I also think you must be really nice. I sometimes see you smiling even when no one is playing with you. You must be really nice to smile at people you never play with.

But most of all, I really like your hats. I noticed that you wear a different hat every day. I think that is really cool. Hats are so cool. I wish that I could wear hats every day, but my mom says I can't. If I wore a hat every day, I would wear the one you wore last week. It was green and green is my favorite color. I think you should keep wearing hats everyday even if they aren't green.

Your friend, Troy."

Ryan was shocked. That letter was the nicest one he had ever heard. It made him feel so good.

Subconsciously, he reached up to touch his hat. He always liked his hats even when people said they looked silly. He had a really big collection and he knew it would be getting even bigger in the future. He would especially lookout for any green hats that he could wear.

Years went by, and Troy never acknowledged Ryan or his hats. It was not until Troy tried out for the High School's musical that he ever looked at Ryan again.

Then he did, Troy looked at Ryan, and the first thing Troy said to him was, "I like your hat. Green is my favorite color." It was at that very moment Ryan knew, he and Sharpay would lose.