Being a writer at a young age can stink. Loving school can stink. And recess can easily become the in-between of blisfull and doom.

Yeah, being a little kid is wonderful. Recess is the time to run around and be silly not sit and wonder why you have no friends. But, if you've ever been to that version of school you know how it felt. To be done with all of your homework before anyone had even thought about it. To, sit near the teachers to avoid confrontation. You just knew that was the best way. To be hated because you somehow got the class more homework and had a blast doing it. To be told by a teacher you could be the next Shakespeare even though all you were doing was writing conversations you heard on the playground. That's what elementary school was for me. I was the weird kid that no one ever really needed to talk to. The one that mindlessly shouted the correct answers before the teacher could explain that it wasn't meant to be answered. The one whose classmates didn't quite understand what I was doing.

But, I gained something out of that. I learned how to hide what I felt when I didn't want it to be known. I learned how it felt to BE alone. And from that I learned to open my eyes to the hatred in the real world. And I don't mind anymore. Though, those seven years were hard to handle. Going to school every day to face the fact that I was simply a know-it-all and kind of a goofy child. I found a way to release it, through books and art and poetry. I found a voice even though I had no one to share it with. Which, maybe was why I was excited about middle school and later high school.

So, the first seven years of school were terrible, but I found a way to channel that anger into positive things. So, maybe that's the only thing I can thank my classmates for. And the only thing I have to say is, "You failed. You did not break me."