Remedy #freeyourbody

[11]

GERRY FELT BETTER BY SAYING WHAT HE HAD BEEN MULLING OVER ALL WEEKEND.

Addy had stuck by him at lunch telling him he did the right thing. His good mood carried when a couple of people said they liked his new look.

Wow, I can't believe how much of a dork I must've looked like before, Gerry thought. He frowned. Somehow, it didn't feel right.

Although it seemed that everyone liked him more this way, he didn't know if he liked himself. He thought about Dena's words for a moment- 'there was never anything to change'- and decided that Addy was right. Addy was the real friend. Addy helped him be a better person.

Not his so-called friends who didn't try and change him, who lied about his appearance again and again.

Gerry felt anger bubbling up inside him. He planned to do what Gerry does best. Avoid people.

During English, Dena tried to toss notes to Gerry. None of which actually made it to his desk, but as she whisper shouted to him, he ignored her.

In Chemistry, Carlos, his lab partner, kept attempting to initiate conversation. Something he was not particularly adept at.

Carlos gave up when the bell finally rang and Gerry hadn't spoken a word. He stalked out of the class moodily, finding Dena with a similarly disgruntled look on her face.

"We can't get through to Gerry," Carlos groaned. "We're losing our best friend!"

"The problem is Addy," Dena replied, a grimace on her face. "You and I both know from the hamster incident of '09 that Gerry isn't the most...assertive person around." They both grinned, remembering when at Gerry's eleventh birthday party he got a hamster. Promptly after seeing the cute furry pet, he passed out from sheer shock; he was terrified of hamsters, something that his father hadn't known.

Their smiles were wiped off as quickly as they came, as Addy and Gerry boarded the bus, laughing and talking like they were best friends.

"That should be us," Dena said quietly.

"Eh," Carlos shrugged and turned, hands shoved deep in pockets. "I'll see you later." He started to walk away when Dena called out.

"Why do you always push people away just when you start to show emotion towards them?"

Carlos stopped midstep. She'd hit the nail on the head, but he didn't want to allude to that fact. He simply shrugged once again and kept walking.

Dena's face contorted into sadness. She felt like she was losing her only friends in the whole world, and there was nothing she could do to get them back.