"Jocelyn?"
She looked over at him, glaring. "Stay right there."
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Fine," she said, standing up and dusting herself off. "Are you okay?"
"I...um..."
"Don't," she said. "Don't apologize. You didn't know. You wouldn't understand, so just don't."
He watched as she walked away. He followed her, running until he caught up. "Hey, I'm sorry I didn't listen when you said..."
"Zac, just stop it. Go home and play with your little friends who are all so much cooler than me." She said it in a mocking way that made him realize she felt about 2 inches tall.
"Are they always like that?" Zac asked, still keeping in step with her.
"Not always. Usually they just ignore me," Jocelyn said. "I'm not worth their time."
"No, they're not worth yours," he argued. Jocelyn looked at him through the corner of her eye.
"You haven't lived with it your entire life," she snapped.
"How would you know?"
"Do you know what it's like to have people hate you when they don't even know you? Do you know what it's like to step out the door every morning and know that there is no one out there who is willing to give you a chance? To walk through the halls at school and hear people call you names behind your back and throw spit wads at you in the cafeteria and hawk loogies in your food?"
"I..." Zac remembered how it felt the first time he ever saw a Hanson hater page, and the names they called him and his brothers. Why did they call them names and make fun of them? None of those people knew them, so who were they to judge them? They'd heard one song. ONE LOUSY SONG. "Have you ever been to an Anti-Hanson page, Jocelyn?"
Jocelyn stopped. "No."
"Maybe I should show you one of those," he said. "They do the exact same thing to me, and Isaac and Taylor, too. Just because of a song they heard on the radio and didn't like. Because our hair was too long and our voices too high."
"Because I was too chubby and my face wasn't as beautiful," Jocelyn echoed. Zac's eyes were full of tears, as were hers. He reached down and gave her a hug. She hugged him back.
"I guess we'll just be rejects together then, huh?" Zac asked. Jocelyn laughed and stepped back.
"It's kinda cold out here. Wanna go finish off our video game?"
"Sure..."
They walked home, as always, giggling and telling jokes. They played some more video games back at Zac's house. The day went on as usual...
