In My Shoes Read Free Page B

and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt
me.” In the end, that’s not really true. Well, sticks and stones
may break my bones, but names hurt, too. More specifically, names
hurt when cast by people you care about, in one way or another. I
don’t really know Nicole that well, but I obviously care enough
that her words hurt.
    Tomorrow I will need to get over this, but
tonight I couldn’t help dwelling on it a little more. I guess
that’s my way of getting over things. I like to really think about
something, go over all of the scenarios, try to resolve it in my
mind and then move on. That’s where I am right now. Trying to
resolve it in my mind.
    If Mike hadn’t made me jump, and if he hadn’t
tripped me, would the result have been different with Nicole?
Maybe. Well, probably. At the very least, she wouldn’t have called
me a class clown. Nothing has happened prior to today, in any of
our classes, that would have given her reason to think I’m a
goof-off.
    Would that really have made a difference,
though? Probably not. She said she had already been asked out twice
today, and she seemed pretty bothered by the way those
conversations had gone. I don’t really get it. I would be flattered
to have anyone ask me out. To have three people ask me out in the
same day…wow!
    Anyway, she obviously was bothered by it. If
Mike hadn’t tripped me, she probably would have said no, but maybe
she would have been nicer about it. Then again, maybe not.
    Sometimes, I wish I were more like Mike.
Maybe I should rephrase that. I wish, sometimes, that I actually
had the confidence that Mike projects. He does not have a lot of
confidence. On the surface, he looks like he has confidence coming
out his ears. He does that more as a defense mechanism. If he acts
cocky, maybe nobody will notice that he is insecure.
    Mike comes from a home life somewhat similar
to mine. I wouldn’t change places with him any day, though. We both
are only children living with single moms. The main difference
between our lives is because of our moms. Don’t get me wrong, I
love his mom. She is always nice to me, and I feel like I am part
of their family.
    Mike’s mom, Diana, is the party mom. When
Mike wants to have a party, Diana always lets him have them at her
house. She would rather have the kids get a little out of control
where she can see them. I think she likes being the cool mom who
relates to the kids.
    She lets Mike do whatever he wants, though.
Mike knows his dad, but he’s not a big part of his life. His mom
tries to overcompensate by being his friend. He isn’t abusive
toward his mom, but he pushes her buttons to get what he wants. He
knows how to work her, and she just goes along with it.
    It’s not like I think parents shouldn’t be
friends with their kids, but really, they need to be parents most
of the time. As much as I like Diana, I wouldn’t want her to be my
mother. Maybe I realize this because I see the difference between
Diana and my mother.
    My mother and I get along very well. You
could say that we are friends, but when she needs to be a parent,
she is. I don’t really ever get into trouble, so my mother doesn’t
usually have to play the ‘parent’ role too often. Don’t think for a
minute that she wouldn’t put me in my place if I got out of line,
though. My mother usually tells me that I act older than my years
show, and that I need to remember to enjoy my high school years. I
feel like she has prepared me, the best she knows how, for the real
world. I think I’ve turned out pretty good.
    You know, I guess that’s what really bothered
me about Nicole calling me a clown. She hurt my pride. I am proud
of the fact that I am responsible. It’s like, her calling me a
clown has taken something away from who I am. I’m not going to let
her change that for me. If I were her, I would never treat someone
like that. If Nicole were a guy, then maybe she could see how hard
it was asking girls out. She doesn’t have