"Mom?"

Evan had opened the door to the small room that was used as her office, and was peeking his head around the corner.

"Hi honey, come on in."

Evan walked inside, and was thankful that the office was empty as far as he could see. He sat down on the small bed that was just inside the door, and hugged his knees to his chest. He closed his eyes, and began to breathe, just as slowly as he could manage.

"One, two, three, four, five." He counted in his head

"Evan? Are you okay sweetheart?"

He didn't even need to open his eyes to sense that his Mom was kneeling down on the floor next to the bed. He could feel her hands on top of his, her thumbs moving gently over the top of his hands.

"I just wanted to make a new friend today. And, and, he didn't want to be my friend."

"Who honey?"

"I had so many questions that I wanted to ask him, but he told me I smelled funny, and that we weren't friends…ever!"

"Evan. You are going to have to slow down and start from the beginning for me. I am not following you." She said slowly and calmly

Evan's eyes opened, and as they did, tears fell and rolled down his cheeks, crashing onto the top of his hands.

"We got a new boy in our class. His name is Connor, and he doesn't look anything like the other boys. I told Mrs. Phillip's that I would be his buddy, and he sat next to me at my desk, and told me that we weren't friends."

"You know how it can be on the first day of school Evan. It's scary right? Why don't you give Connor a chance, maybe he needs a friend just as badly as you do but is too scared to ask for one."

Evan rolled onto his back, and covered his face with his hands.

"He told me that I smelled funny."

"Well..how about I give you a bubble bath when we get home. That will make you feel better, and, make you smell good."

Evan took his hands away from his eyes to look at his mother.

"Promise?"

"Of course. Now, let's get you your medicine so you can get back to lunch. Maybe Connor wants to share his lunch with you."

"Maybe." Evan replied without any hope

Just like Connor, Evan had something that made him different then everyone else in his school. It wasn't on the outside like Connor's black hair, or the nail polish on his fingers, it was on the inside. Every day before lunch, Evan would take a short walk down the hallway to the nurses' office to take his medication. It had a big long name that Evan couldn't remember, unless his mom told him again, but all he knew, was that it helped make the butterflies in his stomach fly away, when he got too nervous at school. At first, the kids in his class would ask why he always went to the nurses office, but now, they didn't bother him anymore, it was just something that happened every day around eleven.

Evan held out his hand to take the small pill from his mother, and grab the cup of water that she held out to him with the other hand. He took his medicine obediently, and took the biggest sip of water that he could manage. Each day, Evan was rewarded with a kiss to the top of his head, before he hopped down from the table to throw his paper cup away.

"Good job Evan."

Evan thrust his hands into the pocket of his blue jeans and stared at the floor.

"Can I go home early today?" he asked quietly, almost whispering

"No Evan. But what you can do is get to lunch, and try to be friends with Connor. You remember what the first day of school is like, I am sure that he is nervous just like you. Now go on, I put extra cookies in your lunch box like you asked for. I'll see you after school."

After one big sigh, Evan shuffled out the door of the nurses' office, and walked across the hallway to the cafeteria. When he arrived, Evan found his lunch box waiting for him at the table where his class had been assigned to sit. Evan usually sat at the end of the long table by himself, and when he slid into his seat, he was surprised to find Connor sitting at the totally opposite end of the table away from him. Carefully, he snuck a glance at the other boy, who was too busy with his sandwich to notice, and opened his lunch box to find the cookies his mom had packed for him. He didn't feel like eating much anyway, but cookies sounded good to Evan right about now.