Siting in World of Business with 22 boys and one girl made it impossible to sneak out of “jokes” that the boys had. Their jokes are usually funny, but more likely stupid, and a few are mean. Because Alex and I are the only girls in the class, naturally we are the targets.

Day after day there are different jokes. And to Alex and I they were funny. It wasn’t long that all of them were our friends, and along with friendship comes nicknames. Mine was Shelbz. Shelbz wasn’t anything unusual. My parents called me Shelbz.

Until one day, “Shelbz sounds like an STD.” said someone from nowhere.

At first I didn’t process what this guy had said. At first I thought he meant to just talk to me about STD’s, not that my nickname sounded like one. An STD? To me it sounded nothing like an STD. But as soon as the other boys had heard what this one had said they all agreed.

Now according to 22 boys and 1 girl, I’m – Shelbz – the STD girl. Who would want to be referred to the girl whose name sounds like an STD? At first I didn’t mind, I let them call me Shelbz because it didn’t do me any harm. But as time went on and more people heard about it, the more annoying it became.

My name is Shelbz, was all I could think about when people would call me by my STD name. It wasn’t until later that year that I could finally tell people to shut up and call me by my real name. I am not an STD.