In the beginning...

My story starts out in the small town of Dover. "Where is that?" one might ask. In my opinion, it's just a tad north and to the right of Middle of Nowhere. One of my aunts made the comment that our cemetery was bigger than the population. Don't get me wrong! I love Dover, in some strange way, but it does have its setbacks. Small town means small school. Small school means that everybody knows everybody and one can't really hide in a crowd. It also means if one isn't a conformist, they better watch their backs.

The Dover High School isn't really a high school at all. One other town goes to my small school, and Kindergarten through 12th grade is all in one building. In total, there are less than 350 kids in the school, 105 to be the number of high school students. The biggest enrollment for a class would be the class of 2004, my class, at the gigantic number of 38!

So how do I fit in here? I don't. There are a wide variety of students at Dover. A lot of the families in the school have been around for decades. I've gone to this school since Kindergarten but my family wasn't originally from this small community. So there is one factor working against me. Most of these kids have grown up with each other or are related in some strange way. I have no family but my two siblings, Joanna and Ben.

Another factor going against me is that I am a twin. Little kids tend to stay away from things that they don't understand. My sister Jo and I were the "freaks" of the class ever since we started our school career.

"How come those two look the same?"

"They're twins."

"What's that?"

I could slap myself for every time that I've heard that conversation when I was little. Of course it wasn't the same teacher being asked every time, but that's just a minor detail. My classmates didn't understand how two people could look exactly the same and share the same birthday. I don't think they understood the concept until about 5th or 6th grade.

Another thing that gets old:

"Are you two sisters?"

"No. We're identical cousins."

People still ask me that in the hallway! I actually got some one to believe me. I guess it was the sarcastic tone that threw them off. They didn't know whether to believe me or not. Enough about the twin thing though, I could go on and on about it for pages!

One of my favorite past times during my late elementary years was playing football with the guys, another factor that separated me from the rest. I would rather beat them up than act all girly around them. My sister and I used to tear up the field, knocking all of the guys on their butts! I probably can't do that anymore, since they are all quite a bit taller than me (not to mention bigger).

Once I hit Junior High, I really had no friends except for Jo and my good friend Kristy. The guys didn't want to hang out with me anymore because I was a girl and I didn't dress like a slut. Some of the guys that once were my best friends were now and still my worst enemies. I tried to fit in for a while, but it just didn't work. The kids in my class were trying out all kinds of new things: smoking, drinking, and even sex! I wanted nothing to do with any of it. Another thing that separated me even more, I was now labeled a "goody goody."

At last high school came around and I was free to express myself a little more. I really started to get more serious into my writing but at the same time I was getting into art and animation. Yet again, the things that I loved led to more separation from the rest of my class and peers.

My love for art and my gift for drawing gave me quite a few problems in my high school career. For one, everybody hated me in art class because I could do anything that I wanted and use whatever medium I chose. They, on the other hand, were stuck doing the assignments that our art teacher assigned them. That didn't go over too well with some of the rebels in the class. It definitely gave them something to complain about. So after about a week of battles between the teacher and the students, I am now stuck doing everything at the Art I level. It still doesn't help their grades though. My assignments are still better.

My addiction to animation led to my discovery of Japanese animation, something that isn't looked highly on at school. I pretty much watch any kind of anime. Now when the kids in my school hear the word anime, they instantly think of Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, or Pokemon. I shake my heads at their lack of knowledge in other cultures. I absolutely hate DBZ and Sailor Moon with a passion and the creator of Pokemon is the devil in my book. I do watch some little kid animes every once in a while for a laugh but I much rather like the more grown-up animes like Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell, but my all time favorite anime has to be Trigun! I don't care what they think though. I still watch my cartoons and draw in the anime style all over my notebooks, just to piss the kids in my class off.

What I didn't get though was why I was being excluded for who I really was. Why was I such an alien to the rest of my peers? I was still the same person that some of them had become friends with in my earlier years. What was the big deal?

I guess I'll never really figure them out. Or maybe they are the ones who have yet to figure me out. Either way, my peers and I have a mutual understanding: if I'm quiet and do what they tell me to do, they won't pick on me as much. Now how can I refuse an offer like that! My end of the bargain isn't that hard to do. Sure! I'll sharpen your pencil. Not done with your homework? Oh, I can do that for ya. You need to get rid of some stress? Here! Hit me and stuff me in a locker! I do it all for you!

*snickers, rolls eyes* Yeah...right.

The accounts that are about to be told are as real as I am. From my experiences in life, maybe one can really see how the world of high school really is. My associations with the preps and jocks have been interesting, maybe even comical. The deadly encounters with rebels have been both frightening and hysterical. But with each meeting, I meet some very extraordinary people who have one quality that makes them different from the average rebels or preps: compassion towards the human race. Maybe there is hope for all nerd kind.