Seth and Austin make an amazing breakthrough...
Chapter 6: Reliving Painful Memories
Soon after, Seth and Austin headed for Creative Writing and after witnessing what Jojo's dealt with, they seemed kinda nervous about dealing with people like that because of who they are and what they're like. It's like reverting back into their old school back from WhatCity and it was a painful moment for them to even witness.
Just then, the teacher comes in and said, "Good afternoon, students. We're about to do something very special today. I want each of you to write down your feelings about your fear, anxiety, the kind of things you're feeling scared about. Just find that inner strength to write something that touches everyone."
That struck a chord with both Austin and Seth, to unleash something on paper that has never been told before, that they were feeling deep painful feelings inside of themselves that they've dealt with for so long. They each wrote down their personal experiences about being bullied back in WhatCity and each of those words they've written are pretty much vulnerable to them, which will make them special to hear from other students.
Couple of minutes went by and Seth was still writing away and Austin was almost finished with his and they were both done at the same time. Jojo looked at them and asked, "Finished already?"
"Yep." Austin replied.
"That was quick, you guys."
"That's right."
Then, the teacher turns around and said, "Zuckermans, I see that you two have finished your composition."
"Yes, sir. We have."
"In that case, why don't the two of you come up and share the class what you have written."
Both of them got up in front of the desk, facing the students. Seth went in first, cleared his throat and said, "For most of you guys that don't know me, my name's Seth Zuckerman. I've chosen being bullied as my writing subject of fear. I decided to write this to share it with you all today. Everywhere you turn, there's people everywhere always trying to harm you, because you're not like them. But why? So many reasons-the way we look, the way we dress, the way we sound, where we don't fit in-and none of them seem to care about their feelings at all. All they care about is hurting those feelings by making it seem like it's 'cool'. It's not, because I've had a painful share of past experiences with bullying. It started when I was in WhatCity in the sixth grade and I was cornered by several eighth grader punks who like to torment me and just make fun of me, beat me up for no reason and also try to get me in trouble. It's not fair how they treat me like this as well as others. No one should be the victim of that kind of thing. The bruises may go away, but that pain always stay because you feel like you're worthless, like you're nothing. Like something inside of you shatters and they don't even understand everything about you. I've recently witnessed the terrible thing by letting some of my friends become a victim of being bullied, just because he's different and that brings me back personal and emotional memories of being there. No one should have to feel that way, because we're just like every one else, regardless if we're different or not. That's the one thing I fear most-being rejected or messed with because you're not like anyone else."
All of the students were very choked up and Jojo was essentially choked up the most, because it's really true. The teacher smiled and said, "Brilliant useage of creative flow, Mr. Zuckerman."
"Thank you."
"And now we have Austin."
Austin came in after Seth and said, "Hey, I'm Austin. The one thing I fear most is rejected for who I am. We used to live in Whoville and we became friends with Mike and Cody McKinney along with his brother, Alex. We grew to become best of friends and suddenly, our mom died when we were nine or ten, so you can tell that that was extremely hard on all of us and we moved out of Whoville to start life in WhatCity and not long as we got into this new school, it was chaos. I was the victim of some terrible and horrible bullying, people spitting at me, beating me up, thrown in trash cans-it was just a nightmare I couldn't wake up from. I couldn't make any new friends there, because some of mine are still in Whoville and I was always afraid at a new school that they wouldn't like me for me and when I try to, they just turn against me, like I'm a freak or something. And even when it's over, the only place I end up stopping is at home, because when I look back on that day of being hated by for no reason, it just makes me sad. There are some days were I want to just end my life, because I'm being called 'emo', but I can't end my life because of that. Sometimes when they hate me, all I wanna do is go home, lock the doors, jump in my bed with the windows closed and just cry. It's not fair that I lost my friends and that no one would make friends with me, because of the way I am, but I can't help myself. I just want someone to like me for just me and just be friends with the people I feel most comfortable with. So, that's kinda my fear-losing my friends as well as dealing with the loss of our mom and also being the victim of horrible torment."
All of the students were teary-eyed and emotional, including both Seth and Jojo. Seth shed one tear on his face and became totally surprised that Austin wrote all these angst-y stuff that he's dealt with. The teacher was speechless as well and said, "Well done, Austin. Well done to both of you. Let this be a lesson to all of you-even though you are different, we shouldn't be tormented because of that. We want to be accepted for who we are and not for what anyone else thinks of us. Thank you, boys. You may have a seat."
Both Austin and Seth went back to their seats and they saw Jojo wiping his eyes and Austin asked, "You okay, Jojo?"
Jojo sniffles and sobs a little and said, "I'm fine. It's just...that story really touched me in ways I've never been touched before. I relate to that story and it connects me so much."
"That's our story." Seth said.
"You guys are awesome writers."
"We try." Austin said, smiling.
Was that awesome or what? There's a lot more drama coming up!