Katies POV: The gym was packed that first day of grade nine. Among the crowd, i recognized our classmates from St. Anne's. Some looked different, others were trying to. As though new pants or a new hairstyle might help us believe we belonged here. But then I saw someone who was the same as ever. Will. "What's he doing?" Jenna asked, watching him creep along on his elbows and knees, nose to the floor and butt up in the air. I shrugged. "Leave it to Will to find the one bug in a room of a hundred people." Not surprising, though. Will would choose bugs over people any day. "For someone so smart, he sure acts stupid," Jenna said. I couldn't argue with her, really. Will always did weird things like shoving raisins up his nose just to see how many would fit, or catching lice so he could "study their gestation." Last winter he even tested the lick-the-metal- fence theory. I still remember the tiny tongue-skin flag waving from the chain link. But that was just Will. We'd just shake our heads and get on with it. Like Granny always says, everyone's "different in one way or another." She was right too. After all, Jenna had allergies, Erin saw a social worker, Paulo's sister ran away from home . . . and my Dad had cancer. Last year Mr. Donlan, our grade eight teacher, asked Jenna and me to be Will's partners at the science fair. We ended up doing ants. Actually, it was kind of neat. Our ant farm won first place. That's how I learned that even strange creatures I never knew anything about were pretty interesting after all. Strange creatures, like ants and Will. I watched him shuffle along on his knees and elbows, following whatever bug had found its way onto the gym floor. Jenna shook her head. "Sheesh! No wonder he doesn't have any friends." "He's got us." I said. "Whatever." She rolled her eyes and tugged my arm. "C'mon, let's go see if we're in the same homeroom." Maybe it was because he was so weird. Or maybe no one really cared. But Will usually kept to himself. He liked being ignored, like a bug on a wall. Sure, some kids liked to catch bugs and pull their legs off one by one just for fun. But luckily for Will, none of us were like that. Not yet. "Martina!" A shout echoed around the gym. The short guy beside me cringed as the crowd parted like the Red Sea for three guys. The entire gym went silent."M-my name's M-M-Martin, Shane," the short guy said, clutching his schoolbag. "Oh, excu-u-u-use me." Shane got right up in Martin's face. "Still a total loser, eh, Ma-ma-ma-martina? Some things never change." "Same dork, different day," the tallest of the three echoed. "Hey." Shane grabbed the leather schoolbag hanging on a long strap

across Martin's chest. "Nice purse, Martina. You don't mind if I do a little back-to- school shopping, do ya?" Shane pulled the strap until it tightened across Martin'schest. From the look of Shane, back-to-school shopping was not his thing. His ratty jeans and dingy T-shirt looked like they'd been worn all summer. Even his sneakers had holes. Martin shook his head, standing as far away as the strap would allow, his eyes full of tears. Shane rummaged in the bag, pocketing whatever he wanted. "So," he sniffed the brown paper bag. "What's for lunch today, Martina?" "T-t-tuna." "T-t-tuna?! You know I hate t-t-tuna!" Shane dumped the lunch on the floor and watched the apple roll to a stop by Will, still hunched in the corner. Shane's eyes lit up at the sight of Will. "What do we got here?" He nodded for his buddies to follow.my stomach sank {{user}} sat there not bothering to listen to shane and his bullying looking through their bag trying to look for their stuff Shane completely ignored them and continued to patronize martin