Billy always knew that he was different, different in the way that he was smarter than most kids his age, which made going to school and making friends difficult.  Most kids made fun of Billy, calling him a “nerd” or “freak”.  He just wished that they would look past this and really get to know his brain.  People would find out that Billy was not only smart, but funny, kind and the type of person you would want to be your friend.

Billy was going to be a Sophmore in highschool this year and was dreading the end of summer which would signal the start of the school year.  Billy was very smart for his age and had skipped a couple of years in elementary school and this caused him to be the target of bullies.

As the first day of school approached, his mother noticed that Billy seemed a little nervous about returning to school.  “What is going on in that head of yours, Billy?” she asked. 

“I’m not looking forward to starting school tomorrow . . .  I don’t know that I can stand up to the kids that make fun of me for being smart,” Billy exclaimed. 

“You know that they are just jealous of you, show them your fun loving side too.  If they truly get to know you, then they won’t make fun of you anymore,” his mother countered back. 

“I don’t think I can,” Billy cried out, tears streaming down his pale, white cheeks. 

“Billy, you just have to believe in yourself, like your father and I believe in you,” she lovingly said.

The first day of school was finally here and Billy walked into the bustling hallways that smelled like they haven't been cleaned in years, only to run into a group of boys who immediately started in on him.  Billy put his head down and quickly started to walk past the group.   “Oh look, it’s little Einstein, “ one boy yelled.  “Hey, little Einstein.  Why don’t you go fly your kite and get hit by lightning,” another boy shouted and laughed.  Billy stopped dead in his tracks.  His glasses fell off taking with them a few strands of his short, blonde, curly hair.  For the first time ever, he turned and addressed the group of boys.  “It was Ben Franklin who flew the kite... Einstein!”  Billy responded with a sly grin.  As he turned and walked away he could hear the snickering and laughter of other students as they started calling the other boy Einstein.

Later that day, Billy was approached by one of the boys in the group from earlier in the day.  “I just want to apologize to you and to see if you wanted to join me for lunch.”  Billy smiled and accepted the lunch invitation.  As the rest of the day continued on, more and more kids approached Billy and wanted to get to know him better.

When Billy arrived home from school that day, he was all smiles.  His mother asked, “How was the first day of school today”? 

“It was great mom!  A couple of boys started to make fun of me, but I turned it around on them and when people saw me stick up for myself, then they decided to try and get to know me.  I made so many new friends today!” 

“That’s great Billy!  I told you that if people got the chance to know the real you, then they would like you.”
“You were right mom, I should’ve listen to you sooner and stood my ground against the boys that were making fun of me.  Once everyone saw that I wasn’t afraid to stand up to the bullies, then they were interested in getting to know me as a person and not just a brain.”

As Billy walked up to his room to work on his homework buzz buzz buzz his phone went off.  It was one of the bullies that he had stood up to earlier that day.  Billy nervously answered,  “Hello?” Billy cautiously answered.

“ Hi, this is Tom.  I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out tomorrow after school?”, Tom asked.

“ I’d love to” Billy replied.

“Ok cool,  just meet me by my locker and we can go over to the park and play some soccer” , Tom said.

“ Sounds great, I’ll see you then.”  answered Billy.

After hanging up the phone, Billy had wished that he had faced his fears sooner because this was going to be the best school year ever!