Dear friend,

I don’t know why I am writing this to you, I just need someone to listen.

One summer Ava Johnson threw a party for the new freshman class. In 5th grade, Ava and I were good friends but as we got older we drifted apart. We barely talk, she prefers to hang out with the popular crowd. The ones that play sports and date every girl in a five foot radius.

I did not want to go to this party but my mother answered the phone and signed me up. It was an evening pool party, I was stuck around girls in bikinis and boy that were so fit I thought that they were going to explode. I don’t fit in with this crowd. My type is treated like the nuisance of the social class.

At 8:34 pm, I dragged myself downstairs and announced that I was ready. Gray shorts, blue shirt, black converse. I am no fashion icon.

“Noah!” my mom called.

“Coming,” I called back.

My mother could have been a fashion icon. In high school, she was the stylish valedictorian and my father was the fit quarterback. It’s hard to believe I am so different.

“You look so handsome!” my mother remarked.

“Mom please.”

“I bet you are going to have a girlfriend by the end of the night!”

I looked out the window secretly hoping my mom was right. You know how parents say things to make you feel better about yourself, my mom does that a lot. As we drove I could not help but wish that I could just fit in. I started to think about what high school was going to be like, was it going to be like the movies? Or was I going to be the outcast, slowly being picked at mercilessly by my classmates? 

By the time that we got to Ava’s house, I felt like a deflated balloon. Ava lived three blocks away from Taco Bell, nachos and a coke sounded better than going to this party.

My mom pushed me out of the car and sped away.

“Have fun! Make friends!”  She yelled out the window.

I think she was happy that I was doing something out of the house. I went into the house and could hear screaming and splashing from the backyard. Boys splashing and girls screaming. I guess that’s when you could say I had a breakthrough. You know those times when you feel like you can do anything, like you could reach up and grab the stars? Feeling invincible, I spun around on my heels and left Ava Johnson’s house. I walked to Taco Bell and ordered the holy grail of nacho cheese. Because it was later in the evening it was just me and the nachos alone in the night. Half way through my nachos the door opened and in walk some of my classmates. I don’t really know their names but no one knows me either. They ordered and the looked for a place to sit. One of them pointed to me and they all walked over.

“It’s Noah, right?” One of them asked.

“Yeah,” I responded quietly.

“You mind if we sit here?”

“Sure,” I said sounding like a mouse in the jaws of a cat.

One by one they all slid into the booth. Three girls and three boys, Taylor, Mary, Charlotte, James, Mason, Will.

The boys asked me if I played sports and the girls asked me what kind of music I liked.

“I don’t play any sports and I really the song by Lana del Rey called Love.”

“So did you guys come from the party?” I asked them.                                                          

“Sadly,” Will laughed.

“Sadly?” I asked.

“We prefer to be with people that like us for who we are not who we pretend to be,” said Charlotte.

For the next two hours, we each had 3 cokes and asked each other questions.

“Hey, guys you know what we could do?” Mason said.

“What now?!” Taylor responded.

“Let's take my dad’s boat out!” he said.

No one protested so we piled into Mason’s truck and drove down to the dock.

“Okay everyone is quiet,” Mason whispered as we got out.

Mason pointed to the guard sitting smoking a cigarette. Silently we ran down the dock. One by one we followed Mason into the boat; I was last. Reaching I grabbed onto the ladder and pulled myself up when my foot slipped. My foot hit the water with a SPLASH! The guard sprung up so fast his cigarette fell out of his mouth. Will and James reached over to help me up while Mason started the boat.

“KIDS!! GET OFF THAT BOAT!!”

“Noah in?!” Mason yelled.

“Yeah!” Mary said.

Without even looking back Mason sped out of the dock.

“COME BACK!!” the guard yelled.

We all laughed. With the wind in our hair, we rode out into the open water. And I swear for a moment I thought I was flying under the stars. I looked over at the people that surrounded me. Well maybe that’s not the best way to say it, I looked over at my new friends. Three girls in bikinis and three boys so fit I thought they were going to explode.