Loser

What’s up? My name is Ricky Ring and I’m a big, fat, loser. That’s right. I’m a big, fat, LOSER. I could spell it out for you, but that would take too much time. Anyways, I’ll tell you why I’m calling myself a loser. It’s because from preschool, to seventh grade, I’ve been nothing but dorky. Let me give you some examples of the following: Number one: I wear dorky clothes. I always wear a plaid shirt tucked in and pants that come to my ankles. I also have glasses, which makes me look even dorkier. Second, I have a dorky name. I can’t give any examples for that because Ricky Ring is a flat out dorky name. And third, I say dorky things such as “Yo” whenever someone says hi to me, which is pretty rare because everybody treats me like wallpaper most of the time. And to top it all off, I’m a geek. That’s the only thing that is actually good about me. I’m really smart. But that doesn’t do anything in the popularity world. It just makes you a geek. But something happened in my life that made my life turn upside down. And in my case, that’s a good thing. Here’s how my story goes:

I was at my locker, getting my math stuff, and I was getting late for class. I kept dropping stuff (I’m very clumsy) and picking it up and dropping it again. By the time I got to class, with my glasses crooked and my math books practically already fallen out of my hands, I was fifteen minutes late. My teacher, Mr. Saxon, glared at me angrily.
“Mr. Ring, this is the sixth time you’ve been late to class. It’s time I called your parents and had a little chat with them,” he said.
Great, another parent-teacher “chat” about how I was always so late. I groaned inwardly, and setting my books on my desk, I turned and groaned again. Sitting next to me was Brad Shift, the most popular football player at Pinetree Middle School. But he is also my biggest enemy. Ever since first grade, all he’s done is bully me and steal my crayons and—oh, never mind. My main point is that he is the biggest, meanest bully in the history of big mean bullies.
As he looked at me with that evil smile, I gulped. I knew that smile. I’ve seen it too many times before. That smile meant that he was going to do something to me after class. I was definitely NOT looking forward to the end of class at all. I tried to focus on the problems Mr. Saxon was teaching us, but I couldn’t help wanting to know what Brad was going to me.
After class, Mr. Saxon kept me in his office and gave me a letter to give to my parents, arranging the time and date they were to met him to talk about my “on time” problems. I opened the door of his office and closed it behind me. There, in front of me, was Brad, staring at me and smiling. “What are you-you going to-to do to m-me-me?” I stammered.
Brad’s smile vanished and he had an embarrassed tone to his voice. “My friend dared me to dare you to try out for the football team. Tryouts are next Wednesday,” he said.
I was totally beyond totally stunned. BRAD SHIFT was daring me to try out for the FOOTBALL team! I mean, the FOOTBALL team! I could spell that out for you, but as I said, that would take too much time.
“What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I screamed. “The FOOTBALL TEAM!!?!?” They’ll kill me out there! People tackle you, and you have to wear this five pound padding and run around with a ball while trying to dodge big tough guys who are trying to jump on you and murder you!!! Are you NUTS????????? How dare you dare me to do that?
Brad looked shocked. I instantly regretted what I had said because half a second later, Brad had pinned me to one of the lockers and said, “If you value your life and want to stay in one piece, I suggest you try out for the football team on Wednesday.”
With that, he gave me a cheesy grin and walked away, leaving me slammed against the locker, sweating ferociously. I was SO not looking forward to Wednesday.

But Wednesday came anyway, and football tryouts were at 4:00. When I went out onto the field, everyone except Brad, who was the captain, were laughing at me. I mean, I’m not exactly the Barry Bonds type. I was more like the scrawny-seventh-grade-geek type. But I didn’t care. I listened to all the rules and went out onto the field to play football for the first time in my entire dorky life. The coach blew the whistle and we were off. Some guy threw the ball to me probably as a joke, and to my complete surprise, I caught it. Lots of tough looking guys ran after me and tried to tackle me, but I was so thin that I fit right through their legs. I ran all the way to the other end of the field and scored the touchdown. I was dumbstruck. So was the rest of the team, especially Brad. I was actually good at a cool thing. A sport. Football, of all things. That sooooo did NOT fit my personality.
I made the team, and from that day on, I was the most popular guy in school. Brad Shift especially respected me from then. I had turned from a totally lame loser/geek to a popular football playing cool dude in just an hour. And that was how my life totally turned upside down and made a difference in me. Now, I’m very glad to say, I love my life.