I feel like I'm going to post my story here because it might be inspirational to someone. It's not as terrible as some of the other people's stories are.

I was born as the youngest child in a middle class family. We aren't rich, but we aren't poor either. I was born cross-eyed, and I've been very self-conscious about it. When I was about a year or maybe two years old, I had to go into surgery to correct my vision. Ever since then, I've been forced to wear very thick glasses that make me feel like a dork. I had problems with my vision in school and such, but no one seems to believe me. Their lame excuse is always: "You have glasses, you should be able to see perfectly fine!" I spent many nights crying over it. I believe this happened all throughout elementary school.

I've never really been bullied in school. I'm the outgoing person who always has a friend by their side, and I am really grateful for that. When I hit middle school, I lost more than half of my friends because they all went to a different school. I may have spent a few nights sulking. To be honest, I don't really remember.

I was really disappointed because the summer before I went into the sixth grade, I found out that the school was changing the curriculum, and they had developed this new program for students that could handle a more vigorous math class. My mom called the principal, and he told her that based on my test scores and all of that junk, I had missed the cutoff by two measly points. My mom got pissed off and told the guy I could handle it. He let me in, and at the end of the year, I passed with one of the highest grades in the class. Matter of fact, my grade never dropped below an A. It never even got to an A-.

I went into the sixth grade and met my current boyfriend of two months (I didn't fall in love with him until later...) and best friend for two years on the first day. We had lots of classes together, and we were pretty much inseparable. I had a few crushes and got rejected that year. I met some more of my best friends in the world. Life was good, I earned a medal for having the highest grade in science throughout the year.

I went into the seventh grade with a lot of pressure on me. My parents expected that I needed to outdo myself the year before and get at least two medals for their satisfaction. Also, there was a change in schedule, and I was scared to death that I would mess up and be made fun of. It was in the seventh grade that I realized how much my personality differed. When I was at home, I was a quiet, cynical, realist leaning on the pessimistic side. I was creative, and I had my humor. I was sorta lazy, but I could still work hard when I wanted to. When I was at school, I was outgoing, bold, funny, smart, etc. My parents thought I was this hard-working, compassionate, lovable person. I lost myself. I had no idea who I actually was. I never told anybody but my best friends. I figured my parents would reject me.

Later, I made myself proud when I made National Junior Honor Society. My parents were honored. I was proud. I then sat down with some of my teachers and discussed my schedule for the eighth grade. I decided I would be fine taking high school classes and earning the credit early. I passed that year earning three medals. One for having the highest grade in my social studies class, one for being helpful around the art classroom, (No idea how I got that one...) and one for having good attendance, good grades, and no office referrals. Later, my life science teacher (who was always honest) pulled me aside and told me that I actually achieved more medals, but the school only gave out a max of two-three to let others have a chance. I was a little pissed at their decision, but I guess everyone needs to have a chance.

It was around the time I was in sixth grade that my brother started beginning to get weird. I guess he was jealous that I was getting good grades and all of the attention. He would always verbally abuse me, constantly telling me that I was stupid, or a dunce. He would even tell me that the only reason I got the good grades was because that I had special needs and that the teachers felt bad for me. I remember at one point, he told me he wished I had never been born. It's funny how, my brother, who's a member of my family. treats me worse than anyone else I know. I cried myself to sleep; I let his words get to me. It got to a point where he would become violent and hit me in the head. What was worse, he would always apologize, and I forgave him for the incident. Then, the next day, he would do the same thing again. He would creep my friends out, tell them I was stupid and didn't understand anything, and more rude things. He makes me sick to this day, and I hate saying that.

If anything, he treats my mom worse. He'll call her pathetic, unbelievable. At one point, he said he hated her. They constantly argue, and I'm stuck in the middle of it. It drives me crazy, and lately, they've been expecting me to pick sides. I just want to stay out of it. However, they won't give me a chance to express my opinion. He's already seeing a counselor, but I don't think things are getting any better.

To add onto my troubles, I'm directionally-challenged. It's hard to explain. If someone wants me to get something, I have to have seen it out in the open or else I can't find it. For instance, if the teacher asks me to get a stapler off of their desk, I can't find it unless it's out in the open, and there's no clutter. I feel embarrassed every time someone asks me to get something for them. I hate admitting that I can't find it when it's there. I was also babied due to being the youngest child. Thus, I have trouble using whipped cream from a can or cutting food. (Seriously, I have trouble cutting waffles and pizza into pieces...)

I guess the moral of my story is try hard, and you'll be rewarded.