It was the first day of school and the sun was beating down on Layla's back as she and her siblings walked to school. Feeling a little embarrassed Layla was hoping no one would notice she had to wear her brother's old clothes. 

Her mom didn't have money to take them shopping for school clothes that year, and all Layla had was her brother's old clothes. So, Layla wore them and hoped the clothes looked new enough to the other kids in her class. 

You see, Layla came from a family of eight; she had four sisters and two brothers. They all lived together in a two-bedroom home with their mom, and their mom struggled to pay their bills and make ends meet. Layla was the second oldest, so she did her best to make her younger sisters look nice on their first day of school. She tried to be happy and excited on the outside, although on the inside, she was embarrassed and nervous someone was going to make fun of her old worn-out clothes. 

Layla didn't feel comfortable in school, there was not a lot of students who looked like Layla. There weren't any teachers that looked like Layla either. Layla dreaded coming to school not just because of her clothes but because she felt like an outsider in the building and in her classrooms. 

Layla had to look tough and act tough on the outside because she felt this was her way of not getting picked on for not having good clothes or shoes. Layla was often in trouble for arguing back with her teachers. Layla didn't have a lot of friends either, Layla kept to herself to avoid getting into fights with other students. 

Layla! SIT DOWN AND SHUT IT! 

"DON'T TELL ME TO SHUT UP! YOU SHUT UP!"

Layla always seemed to have her walls up when she was in school. She knew a few of her teachers would talk down to her in front of the class. The only way for Layla to defend herself was to argue back.

During Layla's eighth grade year, after Layla was talking in class, Mr. Allen became upset and said, "Layla! SIT DOWN AND SHUT IT!" Layla immediately got defensive and replied, "Don't tell me to SHUT UP! You SHUT UP!" Layla and Mr. Allen started to argue in which Mr. Allen said, "Keep up with your behavior and I can keep you from doing anything in high school!" Layla replied in defense " TRY IT! You can't stop me from doing anything in high school after this year." In front of the class Mr. Allen finished this argument with Layla by saying, 

 you will grow up and be NOTHING, nothing like other Indians on the streets!" 

Mr. Allen's words only made Layla angrier; his threat of denying her participation in high school activities didn't scare or hurt Layla. It only made Layla promise to work hard and prove to Mr. Allen how wrong he was about her. Layla felt she had no one to turn to, but she knew she had to change her life somehow. She refused to give up and fail in front of her teacher.

"He is wrong!

Layla felt alone and hurt as she sat in her small home the following day, she knew she didn't come from much, but she knew if she worked hard, she could make her mom proud of her. 

Feeling more determined to do better in school after the argument with Mr. Allen, Layla changed how she handled herself; in her brother's clothes, she got up every day and tried hard in her classes. Now, she had new goals, she was going get better grades and she was going to graduate from high school in four years.  

I can do this!