A Lesson Learned the Hard Way

I'm just like everyone else here. I came here to get an education. To further my knowledge and to learn. Just because I'm younger than the average student is no reason to shun me and act like I'm not even here. I took the same entrance exams as everyone else. Just because my IQ is higher is no reason to be jealous. I know it is why I'm being ignored and not included in campus activities. It's just a case of jealousy. Something I've faced all my young life. People either marvel at how smart I am or completely ignore me because of it.

I see the looks they give me. I'm not sure why I'm the focus of their attention. They only seem to notice me when it is in their best interest to notice me. When they want me to show off for them. I'm never included in the rest of the group when they go for pizza, or just a night out. Of course, I'm too young to go to the nightclubs and bars they hang out at. It's just best I stay in my room, do my studies and keep ahead of the game.

There's a knock on my dorm room door and I get up to answer it. There are about six guys standing there. I know them since they are in the same dorm as me. I wonder why they are here.

"Yes?" I try to sound confident.

"You want to go with us, Sandburg? We're going to the football game and then for pizza afterwards."

"Um…no thanks, guys. I've got studying to do."

"You study all of the time, Sandburg. All work and no play make Blair a dull boy. C'mon. Live a little bit."

I really don't want to go with them, but feel like I'll get acceptance from them if I do.

"Okay. Just give me a few minutes."

I put away all of my papers and books and follow the guys to the football game. I'm not really into football, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying myself. And it was a fun time at the pizza parlor also, as I was included in the conversation and actually felt like I belonged. I thanked the guys afterwards and they only laughed at me.

That should have been my first clue.

When I opened the door to my dorm room that was the confirmation.

All of my personal items had been ransacked and even some had been destroyed.

It took all of my self-control not to sit down and cry my eyes out like a baby. But I'm not a baby. I'm a college student and I have to accept that people are going to be jealous of me because of my superior intellect and my young age.

And I also have to accept that I may have no friends here, except some professors and the maintenance personnel. It will be a lonely existence, but I'll get by. I'll just study that much more and get my degrees that much sooner.

I clean up the mess that is my dorm room, throwing out what cannot be salvaged. Luckily, it was nothing too sentimental. I've learned my lesson. I'll study and excel and give them a real reason to be jealous of me. I'll show them.