In the fall of '05 I started school in a little one room parochial school near the little town of Opdyke IL. I remember how scary my first day was... Of course my brother went to the same school and that did help but I was still a six year old kid, and to a kid of that age anyone older then a fourth grader looked scary. But I adjusted well. I loved school and I was a fast learner. I was a straight A student for most of my school years. In my third year I was introduced to bullying. As you can imagine adoption among the Amish is quite rare. And being the only adopted child most of these children had ever seen put me in a prime position for bullying. I was the type that would shrug it off and go on with whatever I was doing, but deep down a little wound was created. And with every little mocking word or jest that was flung my way that wound became deeper. My teacher turned a blind eye to anything that happened. She was too near the type that believed I didn't belong there. That I was an outsider. This was the first that this concept had even become a possibility in my mind. I began to think that maybe I really didn't belong. Maybe I really was just a nobody. And that was where the pretending started. I'd come home from school and say everything was fine. I'd had a great day! All was good in the world. If only people could see what a smile can hide...