I feel a great deal of depression everyday, mainly because of the way I'm treated by my peers. They don't understand me. They never will. I don't know what's wrong with them, they always feel the need to put me down and there's nothing I can do, anything I'd say will only make them make fun of me more and the insults more hurtful. I feel trapped, nothing to do to make myself feel better and nothing to do for the acceptance and companionship of my fellow peers. I do have myself though, if that matters. Maybe they're right, maybe I am stupid and ugly and weird. If only I had friends like the other kids. What makes them so different then me? I don't know. I'll never know. I've asked my parents time and time again to move out of this town, but they don't listen. They don't understand me neither. They don't understand the torment I go through everyday. They don't care what I have to say. Their work seems to be more important. Maybe it is more important, much more important than me. Why? Why am I such a loser? Why am I so stupid? Why I am so ugly? Why am I so weird? Am I really what they say I am? Maybe the reason why they say it is because they're right. Maybe I am what they say and they're only telling the truth, the real truth. God, not even the teachers like me, they let those kids insult me and curse at me without even saying anything and they can easily hear it, anyone in the room can and they laugh. They don't care. No one does. If only there was someone who truly understood me and liked me, if only...

James broke out of his trance of thought and realised that it was getting pretty late and decided to undress and get into his bed and go to sleep and pray for a better tomorrow.

The next day James awoke to an alarm clock making a loud buzzing noise in which he could not ignore even in the deepest of sleep. James then got out of bed and left his room and went into the bathroom, where he would take a shower which would last ten minutes. After his shower, James brushed his teeth and glared at himself in the mirror in self hatred. This is probably why people hate me, he thought to himself. What James saw in the mirror was a boy, a boy who looked to be under great depression, with sad, gloomy green eyes with heavy black bags underneath them. James then put on a towel and left the bathroom and went into his room where he would dress for school. When James was done dressing himself, he went downstairs into the kitchen to prepare himself waffles and orange juice for breakfast, which he finished quickly. James then put on his shoes and left his house and walked to school. James arrived to school early, around 7:35, just enough time to get to his locker and to class before the bell rings. When James was done getting his books out of his locker, he walked to his first period class which was English 3 with Mr. Summers. When James walked into his English class, he noticed that the class was empty, except for Mr. Summers sitting at his desk and a girl he never meet before sitting in a desk next to his. She must be new, he thought to himself. "Hey James", said Mr. Summers his English teacher. "Hi, Mr. Summers", said James. James then sat down in his desk. James didn't say anything to the girl next to him because he knew that she'll just insult him like everyone else. "Hi, I'm Mandy. What's your name?", said Mandy, the new girl sitting next to him. "My name is James. You're new to this school, right?", said James. "Yeah, I just moved here yesterday", said Mandy. "Really? From where", said James. "From Albany", said Mandy. "How's it out there?", said James. "It's alright I guess, probably no different from here", said Mandy. "Yeah...", said James. "So, what do you people around here do for fun?", said Mandy. "Usual stuff, I guess", said James. "Well, that doesn't seem like too much fun to me", said Mandy. "You seem like a pretty nice guy, James, do you have a cell phone, cause we should hang out sometime." Wow, someone actually likes me, thought James to himself. "No, but I can give you my house number", said James. James then wrote his phone number on a blank piece of paper and handed it to Mandy. Mandy then smiled and put it in her pants pocket. The bell then rang and students filed into the classroom and sat into their desks. Mr. Summers then got up from his desk, with a book in hand and says, "Okay students, today we're going to read "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs. Without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlour of Laburnam Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly. Father and son were at chess, the former, who possessed ideas about the game involving radical changes, putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils that it even provoked comment from the white-haired old lady knitting placidly by the fire..." Mr. Summers continued to read as a spitball hit James in the back of the head. James then brushed it off. "You're such a loser, James", said a girl sitting a few rows behind James. "Excuse me?," said Mandy now standing out of her chair, "Who the hell do you think you were talking to like that?!", said Mandy. "Well I-", said the girl. "Well I, what? Shut up", said Mandy. The girl didn't say anything and Mandy sat down. Mr. Summers continued reading "The Monkey's Paw" aloud, without looking up from the book. "Thanks a lot, Mandy. It was really nice of you to stand up for me to that jerk", said James. "No problem", said Mandy. "Who is James talking to?", whispered one of the girls sitting a few rows behind James to another girl who saw James talking to an empty desk next to him with a piece of paper with James' phone number on it, lying on an empty seat.