Chronically Alive

Looking like a five- or six-year-old when you’re twelve causes big problems in middle school. When you add to that the fact that the most popular girl in class, Natasha, got a hold of classified information that you spent a week and a half on a children’s psychiatric unit in fifth grade, that’s raising the problem level even higher. If you started sixth grade with a tube coming out of your nose to feed you because there’s something wrong with your stomach, that right there is strike three. It’s game over if you know all the answers to the teacher’s questions and usurp Natasha’s position as the “smartest kid in class.”

The year before, I finished sixth grade early because the teasing and bullying got too brutal for me. I was way ahead academically (despite a developmental delay in other areas) and could have easily skipped a grade or two … Find Out What Happens Next