Zac sat on his bed, tears streaming down his face. Ever since he had been little, the kids from their church and their neighborhood had teased him about being chubby. His sisters and brothers didn't, their Mom had sternly talked to them and told them that it was something Zac was touchy about, and that if they loved him they wouldn't bring up the subject. Now that he, Tay, and Ike were a popular band he didn't get teased about it much, but today everything was brought back. It had happened this morning when he got his e-mail. How he wished now that he had just stayed in bed! He had stumbled into the family room, and sat at the computer, half drooling, while waiting for AOL to log on. When he got on the little mailbox had had its flag up. "You've got mail!" "Oooh, maybe I got a letter from those cool kids I met yesterday!" He thought happily. But when he clicked on the icon the message that came up was a mean hate letter, saying that Zac had always been a fat, oafy, butterball and that soon Zac was gonna be sorry, he'd probably die of a heart attack or high blood pressure! He had run to his room sobbing. The message was from an old friend of his who had always been nice to him. His Mom had come to his door and asked him if he would like to talk about it. "No!" Zac yelled angrily. Tay and Ike had come to the door, too. Ike said "I saw the letter, Zac, but y'know, he hasn't talked to you for ages. Maybe he made a mistake. Maybe he didn't mean to write that!" Zac wouldn't answer. He knew. Oh yes, he knew the truth. Your family lie to make you feel better, but it's never the truth. He sat in his room for hours. Jess and Avery had come to the door and brought him his favorite~hot chocolate chip cookies and milk. He wouldn't even talk to them. They just left the cookies and milk at his door. He decided that he would never come out. Never! They would have to break the door down. He had a huge stash of Twinkies and Dr. Peppers, he could hide out! His thoughts were broken by the sound of small grunts and then a small childish cry coming from outside his window. "Oh, no!" Zac thought. "It's Mackie! He climbed up the tree outside my window, and now he's gonna fall!" Zac ran towards the window, then paused, torn between wanting to get his brother out of the tree, and wanting to stay in his room forever. He just knew that if he took Mackie in he would have to come out of hiding. It took him less than two seconds to make up his mind. He dashed to the window and pried it open, pulling Mackenzie in. "Mackie, why did you do that? You could have fallen and killed yourself!" Mackie burst into tears "But Zackie I only wanted to help you!" (SNIFF, SNIFF) "You aren't fat! I love you! Please don't be mad!" (SNIFF, SNIFF) "Zackie?" Zac sighed. "It's OK Mackie. I love you, too." He felt good inside now. WOW, he thought, Mackie's one brave kid! "Thanks Mackie. You did help me." He was feeling better about the letter already. "C'mon, let's go tell Mom about how brave you were!"
THE END
