I entered the school as an afraid little kid. actually re-entered. after leaving the public school i decided to go to the charter school. It didnt work out there. So i came back with a hopeful attitude, thinking that i would be given a chance. I found i was wrong. I was Mercilesly Teased and made fun of. i was different than the other kids by the way that i dressed the way i talked, and the opinions i lived by. My parents were more on the democratic side so i was branded "treehugger". it was hard being me because i was more sensitive than the other students. i found myself slipping in between the cliques. i finaly found my niche. basketball. all teh kids on the team were my tormentors, except for 2. one was in my position and the other was just to cool to be that mean.i soon found that when you join a sport you are usually encouraged by your team. we were all clean cut kids, except for me and my former bully erik. we would swear and speak obsenely and watch Unrated videos. the other kids were still kids. they were at the sixth grade level, while we were two years ahead of them. we would talk about girls and make cartoons that didnt exactly flatter some of our teachers. we listened to music that we both liked, and really we were just jerks. but we had the most fun i have ever had in my whole life. then i went to youth group. just ounce. with my other friend (michael), who was a born again christian. odd match. that day i went back because i had plans with my best friend erik (we were neighbors) we were sitting on the couch watching family guy when i brought up youth group. after coaxing him to go with me next week, he finally gave in. I honestly believe if i hadnt invited him to come to youth group things would have been completely different. at first he loved it. and everyone welcomed him (or at least seemed to). i was psyched about being with my two closest friends. then, one day my friend mike said that he didnt like erik. i cant remember for the life of me what the whole thing was about, but it must have been stupid. that day, for some reason, i sold out. i went against my little morals and decided to go with my other friend mike, who had tormented me for 3 excruciating years. that day i ignored erik. mike was slipping poison in my ear. he convinced me that erik had said things about my mom, my little sister, and me. when erik would give me a note to say sorry for whatever he didnt do, mike would urge me to throw it away. i only read one of those notes. i took it out of the garbage and it said he loved my family and that he would never say anything bad about us. That night i cried my eyes out. its not a very manly thing to do but i did. i couldnt live with myself. and i became micheals gunman. i was worse than he was, because i felt this need to fit in. it went on like that for about a month. erik was hated by everyone. one particular day erik and mike and I (who coincidentally were in the same gym class) were playing baseball. we were chosen to be on different teams. i was with erik, but mike was on the other team. i felt angry that the teacher would put me on the team of my obvios enemy. i made a big deal ot of it. and then mike, with an evil smile on his face, said that it wasnt cool. that i was the one to blame and i should stop. i did go overboard, but inside i was fighting the urge not to smack micheal in the face. i realized even though what he said was true, he was playing us both. using both of us as stepping stools. he wanted to crush erik, without getting his hands dirty. then when he thought erik was damaged enough, he decided to play the big man and stop me. i had played myself out of the game. nobody talked to me for at least a week. finally i gained the forgiveness of erik. our friendship is not the same. he got a lot stronger after the fight. i never have forgiven mike for what he did to erik, and forced me to partake in. if i would have been smart i would have told him to be a man and deal with it himself that day at youth group. but i didnt, and for that, i will always be regretful

this will certify that the aboce work is completely original- christopher carl hoglund