Writers block sucks.

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Lunch didn't come fast enough, in TJ's opinion. Since he stepped into school, he couldn't catch a break. Hateful words being thrown his way that was getting harder to ignore and brush off, Austin shoving him out his way and against his locker whenever they crossed paths, which seemed to be every time classes changed, and the student body moving to avoid him like he had the plague. The only saving grace for the day was that he was almost done with the repairing of the theatre club's stuff, and he would probably be done with it today.

The sooner he could get away from school, the better.

"You don't look so good, man," Randall commented.

"I haven't been sleeping well the last couple of days. And today isn't helping," TJ said. "I just want to get home and go to sleep."

"You sure you don't want me to dig up anything on Austin for you? It can get him off your back real quick," he offered. TJ shook his head. Not feeling hungry, he pushed his lunch tray aside and laid his head in his arms. Sleeping was all he was really interested in lately. Understanding his frustration, the others let him get what little rest he could before lunch was over.

"So, um, is there anything exciting happening soon, Menlo? You and Randall get to know things before the rest of the students, right?" Ashley asked.

"That's right. There's a dance coming up in a month, but we don't plan on announcing that in the paper and putting up fliers for another week. They want to make it a big deal, having students help pick out the theme and decorate," Menlo explained. "That's about it, really."

"You can wear and show off one of your dresses, Ashley!" CJ said.

"You think so?" Ashey asked.

"Yeah1 They look great, and you've made plenty to choose from. I'll help you pick one out."

As much as talking to his friends would help get his mind off of things, TJ opted for staying out of this conversation for a small nap. After lunch he would have to deal with barrage of bullshit being sent his way, so he wanted to enjoy this break for as long as he could.

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Walking out of the auditorium for the last time, TJ was glad he didn't have to go back there. He served his (wrongfully given) time, and was free to go. Though he was still grounded, at least he wasn't stuck around more students who had a handful of snide comments to throw his way. Part of him wanted to dust off his pranking skills to get revenge, but he decided not to. Not worth the risk.

After walking Sasha, he went straight for his room, with Sasha right behind him. He tossed his back bag on his desk chair. That could wait to be done. He wanted to forget about school and everything related to it.

Austin had dragged him under a staircase between classes to use as his and his friends personal punching bag. That particular staircase wasn't used often, and if there were any students actually using them, they turned a blind eye. They punched and kicked, leaving him spotted with bruises from the neck down. Maybe they knew anything on the face would get spotted by a teacher.

At some point Austin pulled away and grabbed his backpack. He dumped everything on the floor before kicking, stepping, and ripping pages out of his note and textbooks. When the bell rang, they ran out, leaving him on the filthy floor, aching. He pulled himself up and stuffed the books and papers into his bag. Hopefully he would miss any teachers in the halls looking for students skipping class.

One of the papers Austin ripped was his homework, and he couldn't turn it in, meaning a hit to his grade. But lately, he couldn't bring himself to care anywhere near as much as he did at the beginning of the school year.

He turned over and noticed the pick stuffed rabbit Robert won for him over the summer sitting on his shelf. He grabbed it and held it over his head. Summer was great. If he could, he would go back, when it was just him, Robert, CJ, Menlo, and Randall just hanging out, not doing much of anything while everyone else was away at summer camp.

"I wish I could talk to Robert. He would know what to do," he said. "He's probably too busy with school to deal with my problems."

He hugged the stuffed animal close, soaking in what small comfort it brought.

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TJ might've turned down his offer, but Randall felt something akin to a moral obligation to find some dirt on Austin. That jerk wasn't letting up, and he needed to be knocked down a peg. It didn't take much to figure out that he was behind all the teasing and name calling being thrown TJ's way.

So he followed Austin after school, keeping a safe distance and staying hidden. He really didn't want to get tossed in a trash can. Again

He watched Austin separate from the rest of the football team and walk back into the school. He walked up to the double doors and listened for any sound before following inside. Hearing voices, he listened in.

"Alright, I did my end of the deal, hand over the money!" That was definitely Austin.

"All you I was start a few rumors! I could've done that myself!" "We spread rumors all the time!"

"Look, Red, you paid for rumors, you get rumors. And now no one wants to be around him," said Austin. "What did you expect me to do?"

"More than that! Something embarrassing, something humiliating! I didn't pay you to do what you always do!"

"Hey, it's not my fault you weren't specific about it! Don't get mad at me 'cause you didn't make it clear what you wanted!" Austin shouted. "So what, do you two have a problem with the job I did, too? Speak up!"

Randall didn't hear any new voices, and for a moment, considered peaking in to see who else was a part of this conversation.

"I believe what she's saying that we expected the damage done to be greater." Randall recognized Gretchen's voice. "Everything you've done, it looks like he' able to just ignore it and not let it bother him."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Even when it's more than one person, he's able to brush it off. I've seen it up close." Randall knew that was Blumberg speaking.

"So what, you wanted me to run him out of school?" Austin asked. "Because that's gonna cost extra."

Randall glanced inside just to make sure who he was hearing was right, before heading out of there. He was honestly surprised that LaSalle wasn't in there with him. He saw him hang around Austin more often than not. Was it surprising that some of TJ's old friends went out of their way to make things difficult for him? No. It was somewhat expected, given how they acted last school year. The real question is how far they were willing to go.

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"How have you been feeling lately, TJ?"

The calmness of Dr. Sages office was making it close to a second home, in TJ's opinion. If he could come here after school he would at least half of the time.

He answered Dr. Sage's question with a shrug. He didn't feel like answering questions. Or talking, really.

"How's school?"

He shrugged again.

"Is that student who's been bullying you still at it?"

". . .yeah."

"Have you told the teachers?"

"Like they'd believe me," TJ said.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because it's true. Austin framed me for what he did, and no one would listen to me. I stand up for myself when he messes with me in the hallway, and the teachers only see what I did. They don't care that won't leave me alone. What I did was 'just as bad' apparently," he said. "I hate school."

"Have you told your parents?" he asked.

TJ shook his head. "They already worry about me too much."

"I think this is something they would want to know about, TJ. It's their job to worry about you."

"Can we talk about something else, please?"

"Alright. How have you been sleeping?"

"I dunno. I wake up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep."

"That's no good. Has there been any changes lately?" Dr. Sage asked.

"I had to stop going to kickboxing for a while because Austin framed me or something he did. And no one wants to believe me, so I was stuck cleaning up the mess after school," TJ said. "I was stuck with a bunch of snobby theatre kids for 90 minutes, who all think they're better than everyone else. Gimme a break. . .And I got grounded."

"For the same reason you got in trouble at school?"

"No, they caught me smoking on my way home," he said. "I'd usually finish before I get home, but I was lost in my thoughts."

"Smoking? TJ, you know smoking's bad for you? How did you get your hands on cigarettes? They can't sell them to minors."

"I know a guy."

"Kickboxing is going to get a lot harder if you're smoking, and it can stunt your growth—'

"I know, I know! God. . .it just helps me relax, is that so bad? Everything going on at school is just so frustrating, this is something that helps me forget about things for a few moments," he said. "I know it's bad for me. But it's not like I'm going to be able to do it anymore with my parents on my back about it."

"If you're having anxiety, it's important that you tell us."

"I don't have anxiety. I have a bully on my back."

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There was something about doctors offices that was off to TJ. Maybe it was how they all looked the same, or how impersonal they looked. He was never excited to go for a check-up. There was a reason for him to be optimistic for this particular visit.

His parents finally brought him in for another check-up about his height. Now after a full physical, he and his mother were waiting for the doctor to come in to tell them what they found, if anything. Maybe there was a reason he was still so short that they could fix. He was still holding on to that hope.

"Hello," The doctor greeted when he came in. He held a folder filled with papers. "Sorry I took so long, our computers are running slow today for some reason.'

"So we did the full physical, got the blood work back from a few days ago as per your request, we usually don't do blood tests on kids unless there's a concern, and from the looks of things, there's nothing wrong! We did discover that you have an extra Y chromosome, though, but that's nothing to worry about, really. Which is good news, you're perfectly healthy in that regard, but you were concerned about your height.

"Your height is a bit abnormal for your age, of course. It's in the bottom percentage of you age group and is barely staying on the charts. We would look for underlying reasons in these cases, like hormones, an underactive thyroid gland, nutrient intake, but you're all clear on those. You did grow an inch since the last time you were here, though. . ."

"Doctor, me and my husband have been doing research, what about growth hormones?" His mother asked. "Would those make a difference?"

"A negatable one. On average we see a one to two inch growth with growth hormones. That might seem like a big difference with his height right now, but whether or not those couple of inches are because of nature taking its course or the hormones is still up for debate," said the doctor. "Plus the procedure involves invasive injections, can cost upwards of 30,000 dollars, the question comes if it's really worth it."

"So there's nothing I can do about it," TJ mumbled. "I'm stuck like this?"

"No, no, of course not," the doctor said. "This is just a simple case of constitutional delay."

"What?"

"A late bloomer. Based on your family medical records, this isn't anything out of the ordinary for this family. So what I would suggest. . .drink some pediasure? It'll give you a boost in nutrients and might kick start things. That's all I recommend at this point. I know being this height is frustrating, but all signs point to you just being a late bloomer. You'll shoot up like a weed sooner or later."

After leaving the doctors office and stopping at the store to pick up some pediasure of all things (seriously, wasn't that stuff for little kids? He was short but goddamn), TJ retired to the living room couch. So much for that.

"It'll be okay, sweetheart. I know it's hard, but you'll get taller, I promise," he heard his mother say. "How about we work on planning your bar mitzvah, huh? It's been a while since we worked on things, and it's coming up in a few months."

Right. That. He had forgotten all about his bar mitzvah, what with everything going on. He pushed himself off the couch and followed his mother into the kitchen.

"We already set a date two years in advance down at the synagogue, so we don't have to worry about scheduling issues. We were lucky enough that your birthday this year falls on a Saturday," she said. "Do you know how many friends you want to invite?"

"Just nine or ten," he mumbled.

"Are you sure? This is a big party, you can invite a lot of friends," his mother said. "Alright, if you're sure. How about a theme? There's a lot we could do there."

"Can it be space themed?"

There was still a lot to figure out, what flavor of cake to get, what food to have serve, and other junk. There was still a few months before then, so TJ wasn't in a rush to figure out all the details. He knew his mom was trying to get his mind off of what he was told at the doctor, but he just wanted to be alone for the rest of the day. When his father came home, he headed upstairs and curled up on his bed.

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