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I coreed with him about Joby "Joby picks on who

"If he thinks I’uys?" Sa ht me one on one?"

"I didn’t mean physically weak," I protested "You’re different, so you’re an easy target Other kids don’t know you, so it’s easier for him to talk trash and turn them on you He was embarrassed when you pushed hi his ti to be expelled It’ll be just like the reservation school I got the half-breed comments there too, only at the reservation I was too white" His voice was bitter, his roith all the kids you went to school with on the reservation?"

He dipped his head in a slight nod

"So as the big deal with being half white…I mean, was your skin color really an issue after all that time?"

"For ly "I had friends, a girlfriend" His eyes shifted to me briefly

"I think et to know you," I volunteered

"It’s not my job to make sure people know me or like me," Samuel said proudly

"Well that’s naïve," I huffed

Samuel’s eyes flashed and he clenched his jaw

"I’," I continued "I kind of prefer being by et to know me if I purposely keep myself separated" I paused as his face remained stony "Mrs Grimaldi says you can’t build walls and then be mad when no one wants to climb over them"

"That’s easy for you to say," Samuel sneered as his eyes flew over lower

"Oh, please Samuel!" I huffed "I may not have brown skin, but I am plenty peculiar," I rebutted "And don’t pretend you haven’t noticed it"

Saust and pulled his hand froathered the bloody towlettes and wrapped them in several paper towels

"How many other kids have you talked to since you came here?" I asked Samuel quietly, "besides me?"

Samuel didn’t respond, and I didn’t really expect him to

"People can be jerks - Joby is a creep, and he probably had that broken nose co to him," I soothed, "But don’t just assume that people don’t like you because you look different I, for one, like the way you look"

I blushed furiously and grabbed the first aid box and escaped to the front of the bus to return it to the velcro straps, throwing the bloody wipes ahile I was at it