6- Danielle TRANSCRIPTION (Because of Mr. Terupt)

Transcript
School wasn’t so great. My teacher seemed pretty nice, and he could be funny, too, but none of that matters when you don’t have friends. Lexie had done this stuff to me before. One day she’s my friend, the next she’s not. I don’t even know why. I’m not mean to her. This year was the worst, though.

Things started out fine. Then one day after recess, Lexie started ignoring me. Pretending I wasn’t there. She would talk about things right in front of me and leave me out of the conversation. She started telling her stupid fat jokes. It was horrible. I cried at home a lot.

I’m a little heavy—well, bigger, I guess. I don’t like saying I’m fat. I don’t know why I am. I watch what I eat and I don’t have any more than the other girls at lunch. Mom says I’ll grow into my body. She’s not fat. Neither is my brother Charlie, or Grandma, or Grandpa, or Dad. Grandma says, “You’ve got to have some meat on your bones, girl.” Yeah, Grandma, I think—so someone like Lexie can tell fat jokes about me. I don’t say anything, though. Grandma doesn’t get it. Only Mom understands, and I feel a little better when she reassures me that I’ll thin out as I grow. She also tells me that there must be a reason I’m having to deal with this. “It’s making you a better person,” she says, “and someday this experience will help you.” That’s all great, but I wish I could grow into my body now.

We live on a farm. My mom grew up here. My grandma and grandpa live in their own house next to ours. They help us run the farm. So my grandma’s around a lot, and she wanted to know what was wrong with me—why I was crying.

Any time I mentioned Lexie she’d get all mad: “I’m goin’ into that school and fix that girl,” she’d say.

“No, Grandma.”

“Why are you even still friends with her? She doesn’t know how to treat people well, specially a friend.”

“It’s not her fault, Grandma. It’s this new girl’s fault,” I said, sticking up for Lexie the way I always do. “A new girl that I can’t stand.”

“If you keep telling yourself that, it won’t ever get better,” Grandma said. She’s a tough woman.

The only time I’ve got friends is when I’m in Lexie’s group. Nobody wants to be friends with the fat kid. I don’t know what to do.

Grandma said a prayer with me that night. We knelt by my bed.

“Dear God, please give Danielle the strength to stand up to these mean girls in school, or do what you can to teach Alexia a lesson. If you made her fat, that would be all right by me.”

I elbowed Grandma. “Oh, okay,” she said. “I just ask that you provide Danielle with some comfort and direction during these tough times. We pray for the good weather to hold up, and for the farm. Amen.”

Present

 * Danielle
 * Alexia
 * Danielle's Grandma

Mentioned

 * Charlie
 * Danielle's Grandpa
 * Danielle's Mom
 * Danielle's Dad

Locations

 * Danielle's Farm

Related
Previous Chapter: 5- Jeffrey TRANSCRIPTION (Because of Mr. Terupt)

Next Chapter: 7- Anna TRANSCRIPTION (Because of Mr. Terupt)