There is a kid at my school, his name here is changed. Let’s call him Jamie. You see, Jamie is bullied and kinda an outcast. He stutters when he talks, and is an introvert. He also is suicidal. He got moved to my science class last semester, and when that happened the school was rampant with rumors. The leading one was that he was switched from that class because he tried to drink some chemicals that were in the chemical closet (my science teacher doesn’t have the chemical closet in her room).

The teacher knew that I probably wouldn’t have these prejudes, so she put Jamie next to me. But still, I was wary of sitting next to a kid that was suicidal. Jamie didn’t really have any friends in that class, so he sat with his nose in his book the whole time, stopping only to fill out the worksheet that was assigned to us. I couldn’t help feel that there was some kinda God-sent plan that I was meant to fulfill, but I didn’t know what it was. I knew that God wanted me to be kind to this kid, despite the rumors about him. So I just did that.

Also, there is something else you need to know about our school- it lets you have chewing gum. They sell it in the school store and most people always have a pack on them. In addition to this, people would share their gum. It was not uncommon for someone to give a piece to their whole table in school.

Back to Jamie. I was sitting in science class when I realized that I didn’t have a piece of gum in my mouth. Pulling out my pack of gum, I thought, ‘Maybe I should offer a piece to Jamie.’ So that’s what I did.

“Th-th-thanks,” he stuttered, accepting it and pulling his nose back into his book.

Later on that class we were building cars out of popsicle sticks. His car would sputter out three feet from start because he was winding the rubber band propeller wrong. “Hey, Jamie, you’re winding it wrong. Wind it like this,” I said, helping him wind the propeller. He thanked me, and his car went a lot farther.

The next science class, I noticed that he was reading Princess Bride by William Goldberg, which is one of my favorites.

“I love that book,” I say, and he looks up.

“Yeah, a g-g-girl at my old school told m-m-me about it. She is a lot like you. You’re n-n-nice. Y-y-y-you’re the only one who really talks to me,” He says matter -of -factly.

So, now Jamie has a friend. Thanks to the power of piece of chewing gum.