I darted down the halls, running away from that dreaded Carl. He was always bullying me. How could I get into this situation? I used to be the most popular kid in school.

“Get back here!” he yelled.
“No way!” I screamed. I kept running through the halls, trying to escape.
You see, it all started when my dad got a new job opportunity in America. I was fine in Germany, but we moved because we didn’t have enough money. We sold our house and moved here. I had to start a whole new life.
“Dad, am I going to like my new school?” I asked. I was really nervous, especially since I didn’t know anyone there.

“You’ll be fine,” my dad said, “just try to fit in!” Fitting in wasn’t my specialty, especially since I had a strong German accent. I said goodbye to my two fish, Jeremy and Bullseye  (they were one of the only things that I still had from Germany), and rushed to school. I didn’t want to be late on my 1st day!
When I stepped inside the school, everyone seemed like they knew what they were doing, except for me. I went to sign up for soccer; futball was my favorite sport in Germany. Some kids that looked like the popular group came up to me.
“Hey,” they said, “do you want to join our group?” Somebody actually wanted to be friends with me!
“Sure,” I said.
I remember what happened in Germany if you didn’t get into a “school group’’. People would always ignore you and it would be like that for the rest of the year. I experienced that in Germany, but here I’m fine with the popular kids.

After all of my boring classes, it was time for my soccer game. This seemed like a pretty big deal because all of the benches were full. I was going to make a huge impression on people. The only problem was that the coach didn’t really like me. I forgot to show up to practice!

“Alright, everyone!” the coach shouted, “Everyone will be starters on the team except for you, Timmy! You’ll be the bench warmer!”

“Um, coach?” I whispered. He interrupted me.

“Alright, let’s get this game started!” he yelled. All of the people on the team seemed like they were okay at soccer, but I was great. I guess this game wasn’t my chance.

There was about two minutes left in the game, and the score was 1-1. A kid on our team was moving the ball downfield until someone on the other team tripped him. He got a sprained ankle. This forced the coach to sub me in. There was about a minute left on the clock. I got the ball and ran with it all the way down to the goal.
“Pass the ball!” the coach screeched. Of course I wasn’t going to. I flipped over, extended my leg, and kicked the soccer ball. GOAL!!!! I won the game for my team. They were lifting me up in the air and yelling “TIMMY! POPPED IT IN! TIMMY! POPPED IT IN!” Even the coach was smiling at me. There was one person there that seemed a little suspicious in the crowd. His name was Carl and he was smirking at me the whole time.
The next day at school I felt better about myself. I was part of the popular group and recognized as a great soccer player.

“Hey Timmy, we all skippin’ class. You in?” the popular kids said.

“Uh, no thanks,” I said. These popular kids were really annoying me now. I wanted to be in the popular group, but I didn’t want to have to skip class for it. Little did I know that Carl would soon be taking my place.

Carl came out of nowhere and fell on me “by accident”. The popular kids started laughing. I thought they were my friends! Wait a second, this was a setup. These kids wouldn’t just let me into their group without knowing me.

“Soorrry, twerp,” he said sarcastically. I ran away as fast as I could. I realized he was following me. I kept running as fast as I could, knowing he was right behind me. That’s how I got to where I am now.

“Dad, why do I have to go to school?” I whined.

“You’ve been crying about that for the past 3 hours,” my dad said, “is something bothering you?”
“No, it’s just, uh…,uh…, I’m really tired,” I mumbled.

“Okay, well have a good day!” my dad yelled. I wasn’t tired at all. My school reputation was ruined forever.
After a long day of depression and boredom, I decided I needed to relax a little bit and find a way to fix this. I didn’t want my life to be ruined forever.

“You guys are my only friends,” Timmy said sadly to his fish.

“Glub, glub,” Jeremy and Bullseye said.

“What do you mean, change my life?” I asked. For the next 5 minutes I thought about it until I finally realized what they meant. “You’re right!” I yelled a little too loud, “I need to get new friends!”

The next day I surprisingly pushed through all of the stress of being bullied and going to all of my classes. It was lunch time. I surveyed the room for any open spots. I saw one left, but there seemed to be weird people sitting there. I sat down.

“Hey, Timmy,” one of the kids said, “Nice goal a couple of days ago!” How did he know my name? Wait a second, this was the soccer table! Maybe I could make some new friends here.

“Thanks!” I said. Before I knew it everyone was talking with each other and I was included in the conversation! It wasn’t like that at the popular table. Nobody cared about each other at the popular table. Even though I’m not popular and I don’t have any “cool” status in school, I can tell my soccer buddies will stand up for me if I ever get bullied by Carl again.