Call Me Crazy

“We’re moving?” I shrieked at my parents in disbelief. I had been in Green Bay for two years now, and now we were moving. Again. And you’ll never guess where.

“Think on the bright side, honey, you’ll be able to see all of your old friends again,” my mom said in a desperate attempt to reassure me. We were moving back to the suburbs of Chicago. Oh, home sweet home, where the taunting began. I would be returning to the same death trap of a high school where I have come from.

“Mom, I like it here, no one bothers me, if I go back there, who knows what will happen?” I whined and I rarely whine. My mom knew all about the bullying that went on at my old school. I had admitted it to her once we moved to Green Bay.

“You’ll be fine,” my mom said, trying to warm me up to the idea.

“In case you can’t remember, I only had one friend there, that one friend, who I haven’t talked to in over a year,” I fumed, throwing my hands up in the air. “Ashleigh had other friends besides me, so she’s probably moved on. It’s not like she’s walking aimlessly around school, then going home and waiting for my return.”

“Nichole,” my mother said impatiently, using my full name that I haven’t used since I moved away.

“It’s Niki,” I mumbled under my breath before turning and leaving the living room. I took the stairs two at a time until I reached the top. I flipped open my phone as I entered my room and called Michelle.

“Hello?” a groggy sounding Michelle said as she picked up the phone.

“Hey, it’s Niki, were you still sleeping?” I asked

“Maybe,” she said, stifling a yawn.

“It’s one in the fucking afternoon!” I yelled into the phone.

“I’m up, I’m up,” she said defensively, “So what do you need. There is a very comfy looking bed two feet from where I am standing, and it’s calling to me.”

“Sorry to disturb your nap, but,” I paused, “I’m moving back.”

“To the shit hole!” Michelle screamed into the phone, suddenly awake.

“Yeah, I’m not to excited.” I said glumly.

“When are you leaving?” she asked cautiously.

“A week. I just found out this morning,” I pouted.

“And I was the first one you told? I’m touched,” she laughed a little.

“Yeah, because you know I love you,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. No such luck. There was a long pause.

“It’s going to be really different here without you. You were the one who brought our group together,” Michelle ended quietly.

“Yeah, I don’t know what I’ll do when I go back to my old school. All I remember about the cliques there were the preps, the jocks, and the nerds,” I said. It was true; there was no place for outcasts, for the people who defied labels. And that’s what I was now. A label couldn’t describe me, and all I could think of was how hard this was going to be.