Two Friends, One Change

Zenio Vesia

Age 10

Two Friends, One Change

Samson and Jeff have been friends since kindergarten. They met in Mr. Harrison’s class while they were both staring at Timmy McNare stuffing crayons up his nose! They looked at each other, burst out laughing, and from that point on, they were inseparable. All through elementary and middle school, they played together on the playground, ate together at lunch, worked on projects together, and walked to each other’s houses after school to hang out.

This started to change when Samson and Jeff started high school together. Jeff started to ignore the teachers and not do his work. He also did not walk or hang out with Samson after school. Not just because he did not want to but also because he had detention almost every day. The worst thing was he started to eat lunch and hang out with Timmy McNare and Doug Slopper III. These were the bullies of the school. Timmy & Doug were known for their signature wedgie, “THE YANKER DOODLE.” Yes, it sounds funny but one, it’s painful, two, it’s highly embarrassing, and three, it’s mean.

Samson was surprised and confused because Jeff was doing it too and looked like he was enjoying hanging out with them. Samson asked himself, “Why was Jeff hanging out with the meanies? Why isn’t he hanging out with me? What changed?”

The next day during PE class, Samson got on the same team as Jeff for volleyball. Sam tried to talk to Jeff. “Jeff, do you want to hang out after school?” Jeff ignored him, so Samson tried again. Yet again, Jeff ignored him.

Samson started to get annoyed and suddenly yelled, “Why are you ignoring me? Why are you not being my friend?”

Then, Mrs. Charleston, the PE teacher, turned around and said, “Both of you come to my office after school.”

At lunch, Jeff walked over to Samson with Timmy McNare and Doug Slopper III. Samson was a bit worried. “Why are those two and Jeff walking over to me? I can tell they don’t want to sit with me. They don’t even have their lunch.”

“Thanks a lot for getting me in trouble, you loser.” Samson was paralyzed. He couldn’t believe what Jeff just said to him.

Just then, Timmy McNare said, “Let’s give him THEYANKERDOODLE.” 192

Jeff answered, “Good idea.”

Jeff was just about to “yank” Samson when Peter and Parker walked over. Peter and Parker were the most “popular” kids in the school. Everyone thought they were the coolest because they had the most epic parties, they were athletic (part of every sports team), creative (part of every art, music and drama club), and really big-brained (they were part of debate club and always got an A+). Once, they even saved a baby squirrel trapped in a hole!!!

“Stop it! What are you trying to pull?” asked Peter.

“Funny you ask. We are trying to ‘pull’ his pants!” Doug Slopper III responded laughing.

“You need to stop bullying everyone. It’s cruel and painful,” Parker said. “Especially you Jeff. You used to be nice. Now you’re doing this to your best friend? You need to think about what you’re doing.” Everyone around them started closing in on Doug, Timmy and Jeff.

They too agreed and started saying things like, “You need to stop. Why are you being bullies? We’re tired of it.”

At this point Doug, Timmy, and Jeff were worried that the teachers would get suspicious at all this commotion and come over. They tried to run through the crowd, but the crowd wouldn’t budge. “If we see you bully anyone again, we will tell Principal Samantha.”

Sweat dripped down the boys’ faces and they said, “OK. OK. We’ll stop.” Finally, the crowd let them go, and the three ran away.

Samson was amazed that not only the most popular kids came over and stood up for him, but everyone else did too. “Thanks for doing that,” said Samson.

“No problem,” Peter and Parker said in sync.

Everyone else said, “No problem. Anytime.” Samson couldn’t believe what had happened. So many kids chose the upstander route instead of being bystanders.

The next day at lunch, Samson sat down for lunch alone. Just like he had every day after Jeff had abandoned him. Just then, Peter and Parker came over and asked if they could sit with him. Samson felt astonished and said, “Yes!” It wasn’t just the two of them. A group of Peter and Parker’s friends came over and sat with him too. Samson was never alone again and had good friends that he knew would always be there. As for Doug Slopper III, Timmy McNare and Jeff, they never tried the Yanker Doodle on anyone again.

THE END