The rest of the class leaped with joy around me, smiles plastered across everyone's faces. Except for mine. What used to be a smile was now turned upside down. I sat there planted in my seat, listening to the murmurs of classmates around me discussing what to do for their nature project.    

A dark shadow towered over me making me feel smaller than I already felt.

    ¨Hey Chloe,” Teresa said with an evil grin on her face. A sickening ball of disgust formed in my gut. Ever since kindergarten Teresa had always had a hatred towards me.  

    “What do you wa-” I was cut off by the sound of her hissing voice. “Oh nothing, just wondering what you’re doing for your nature project?” My entire body felt paralyzed. 

    “I-I-I don’t know yet.” I barely stuttered out. At that moment I could feel my cheeks burning bright red. Part of me wanted to chuck Teresa to the moon. And the other half wanted to hide away in a pool of darkness. That part of me eventually took over. 

    “What a shame, I’m sure you’ll come up with something. Not that it’ll be good.” She cackled. As she spun around, as her long brown hair whacked me in the face. 

A figure about double my size motioned us over.

    “Don’t forget kiddos, you have today to think of ideas for your nature project, and we’ll present them at the end of this week” Mrs. Smith stated, as her voice bounced off the classroom walls.

    “Mrs. Smith, what if we’re already done brainstorming ideas?” Teresa said. Teresa had always tried so hard to go above and beyond, trying to become the teacher's favorite. Luckily I had Lindsay, who made putting up with Teresa’s attitude a little more bearable. 

Lindsay towered over me, peering down at my empty piece of paper. 

    “Hey Chloe, everything alright? Did Teresa say something again?” Her calm voice reassures me, and I feel silly for letting Teresa mess with my head in the first place. 

Bringgg.

   The class stampedes down the stairs outside. 

    “Alright class, let's try to be more resp-” Mrs. Smith can't finish her sentence before Teresa's hand shoots up in the air. 

    “Mrs. Smith, would you like to know what I'm doing for my project?” Teresa waits for a reply with a snarky grin on her face.

    “Teresa, I'm sure your idea is great but why don't you wait and share when you're presenting.”

    “Sounds great,” Teresa said through her fake grin. Me and Lindsay couldn’t help but giggle at this. 

The class split up into smaller groups spread out across the playground. I tilted my head in confusion. 

    “Where are you going, Lindsay?”

“Well, I'm gonna go collect some research for my project,”she said in her most calm voice. What am I gonna do? I thought to myself. I could feel the lump in my throat grow bigger as I swallowed.

    Lindsay had reassured me.

“It’ll be ok Chloe, you’ll come up with something great! I know it!” The butterflies flew away, and the feeling of warmth returned, as I slowly nodded my head up and down.

“What’cha doin?” Henry shouted, awakening me from my fantasy. I slowly opened my eyes to see a slimy, squiggly, tube-like creature dangling in front of me. 

    “Ahhhh. Henry!” I shouted. 

“Don't you wanna see what I’m doing for my nature project?” He chuckled. 

    “You already know what you're gonna do for your project?”

“Ya, I guess you could say that, do ya wanna know something about worms,” Henry asked excitedly. I wasn’t sure how much there could possibly be to learn about worms, other than they were slimy and gross but I let him continue on anyway. 

    Henry began his rant “Worms don’t have any eyes, legs or arms, worms hatch from cocoons, worms eat approximately their weight each day…” His list eventually comes to an end. Surprisingly I’m more educated about worms than before. Kasey bounces into Henry, sending the worm onto Lindsay’s face.

    “Ahhh. Ew. Ew. Ew. Get it off me!” she screeched. Henry stood there laughing. And even I have to admit it was pretty funny. Lindsay swats at the worm, launching it into the air for a second time, sending the worm to the ground. Henry scurries away. Most likely to go dig for another worm. 

    “See ya later!” 

“Oh, hey Chloe. Didn’t see ya there” Ryans eyes meet mine for a split second, before quickly looking away. He opens his hands to reveal a hairy creature looking straight at me. It's even worse than Oscars. 

“Well, aren’t ya gonna ask about my spider?” I bobbed my head up and down slowly as my eyes raced around the playground, desperately looking for a way to get out of talking to Ryan. 

“C’mon Chloe I’m trying to talk to ya, at least look at me.” he scoffed. It seemed as if he never stopped talking. 

“Did ya know, spider silk is actually liquid, some spiders can make up to seven different kinds of silk, Spiders don’t have teeth, spiders have eight eyes? I just love spiders don’t you?” I couldn't even get in a word before his mouth started running again. 

“Did you know there are over five million species spiders? Hello? Are ya even listening to me?” He waved his hands in front of my eyes, making me fall out of my gaze. 

“Eh… I’ll just go find someone else to talk to. Maybe someone who’ll actually listen.” I watched him as he glided off to annoy someone else. I could feel my cheeks burning bright red with humiliation. And to top it all off Teresa was walking over.