When I was a little kid I used to be a little on the chunky side. I wasn’t fat or anything like that I was just a little husky. Well, at least that’s what my new school pants said I was. I didn’t know what husky meant all I knew was that my mom would say that she had to buy me husky jeans. I was a kid, for all I knew Husky meant “smart, good looking, and charming.”

I guess being husky was part of my charm. At the time I didn’t really think that I was chunky and the funny thing is that looking back on pictures from that time I didn’t look chunky. At the time I used to play with my cousins and none of us seemed to stand out as being chunky. I guess we were all chunky and didn’t know it because we didn’t have anyone else to compare ourselves with…well, except for my cousin “junior”. He was a little older than us so he was the tall skinny one. Since he was older he didn’t really play with us much. When I think about it, I don’t think he even counted as a cousin because he knew what puberty was when the rest of us were still scared to touch girls because of the disease you could get from them.

I didn’t even know I was a fat kid until I went to school. I’ve heard people say that kids can be cruel when you’re young, especially when you’re different from everyone else. If you’re the tall kid, they’re going to make fun of you. If you’re the short kid, they’re going to make fun of you. If you’re the skinny kid, they’re going to make fun of you and if you’re the fat kid, they’re going to make fun of you. The thing is that in my class no one made fun of me or even referred to me as “the fat kid” I was just Tony and I was friends with everyone. I guess it’s from living the military life - you learn to make friends no matter what and you don’t let little things get to you because you know that sooner or later you’re going to move anyway.

One day, during lunch, I was walking to my seat. We used to have to walk around the outer perimeter of the lunch tables with our tray of food until we got to our table and then we’d sit side by side with our elbows in eating quietly. Well, one day as I was walking to my table I pass the girl sitting at the most corner seat of the most corner table and I hear her say, “Hey fatso”

I look around to see who she’s talking to and then I realize that she’s talking to me. I look back at her and she just starts laughing as she points at me. I remember that the girl was wearing a black overall type of dress with a red shirt underneath. I also remember thinking that she’s not that bad looking. My friend, James who sat beside me so he was always behind me in the lunch lineup asked me if I had heard her. I told him that I did but didn’t know why she would say that. It was at that moment when she said those two words that I realized I was a little chunky…maybe even fat and I hated her for making me feel like that.

For the next month every time I passed the girl sitting at the most corner seat of the most corner table I would hear her say, “Hey Fatso” It got to where I hated walking by her. I would hope that someone was absent so that she would be in a different seat and I would try to pass when she wasn’t looking, but no matter when I passed I would hear, “Hey Fatso”

One day as I passed her, I asked her why she called me that. I couldn’t stop for an answer but as I walked by the next table I heard her voice. She yelled as loud as she could, “because you’re fat!”

“I hate that girl” I said to James as we sat down for lunch.

The next day we were getting ready for lunch and I was dreading it. I really hated hearing that girl’s voice. “hey fatso. Hey fatso. Hey fatso. Hey fatso….“ over and over everyday. I had to do something or say something but I didn’t know what to do or say.

“Tony,” My teacher said as she walked by me getting ready to lead the lunch line to the cafeteria, “you need to tie your shoes or you‘re going to trip”

“I walk better when my shoes are untied,” I said to James after my teacher walked by. We both laughed at that because we both knew it was true.

“Well, at least today is pizza day” James said excitedly. Hey, we were kids. It didn’t take much more than pizza for lunch to get us excited.

We went through the lunch line. I surprised James when I ordered, Hamburger Helper, mashed potatoes, and chocolate pudding for lunch. “Hamburger helper is so nasty. It’s all slimy and gross” James said looking at my tray. “I thought you liked pizza? I thought you loved pizza and that you could eat every day for the rest of your life if your mom let you. What about your brownie? Why would you get pudding when we can have a brownie?”

“I don’t know.” I said. “I guess I want something different today.”

As we walked closer to the most corner chair at the most corner table I could feel my heart beat faster. I really did hate that girl or at least hated that she would call me “Fatso” every day. I had to do something to make her stop because I wasn’t going to go through the whole year hearing her call me “fatso” I could almost hear my heart beating through my chest, pounding harder and harder. I almost felt like I was going to fall over and die of a heart attack. With each step that I took I felt as if my body was getting heavier and would soon explode. I looked down at my feet watching as the lose shoe laces slapped against the floor, then just like every other day as I was walking by the mean girl who sat on the most corner chair at the most corner table she opened her mouth and said, “Hey …”

That’s all she got to say before I accidentally tripped on my lose shoelace. I tried to keep from falling but all I did was throw my tray of food all over her. I grabbed her chair and tried to hold on to her to keep from slipping to the floor, but all I managed to do was grind pudding and hamburger helper into her hair and face and pull her down to the floor with me. I landed on my carton of milk and squashed it. Milk sprayed from under my butt all over her. She started to scream and was crying by the time the lunch room monitors got there.

“I told you to tie your shoe or you were going to fall” My teacher said, helping me to my feet. “Now go get cleaned up and get another tray of food.” I looked down at the glop of chocolate pudding on my shirt and was happy that was all the damage I had suffered except for a milk wet butt. I looked at the girl as some of the other teachers helped her up. She had hamburger helper, chocolate pudding, and mashed potatoes in her hair, face and all over her dress.

Some of the kids sitting at the corner table would later tell the teacher that as I walked by the girl, I stopped and dumped my tray of food over her head before pretending to fall to the floor, but my friend James would back me up and say that he accidentally stepped on my lose shoelaces and that’s what made me trip spilling my tray on the girl in the most corner seat of the most corner table.

I got cleaned up and went back through the lunch line. I ordered pizza and a brownie - why would anyone order hamburger helper and pudding when you can have pizza and a brownie?

The girl never said anything to me again.