Chapter 4: The Whale
Afterward, I lived with my aunt June and uncle Ray.
I walked with crutches for months. I stopped going out after school. I ate because chewing gave my sadness something to do.
The weight came fast.
So did the cruelty.
By the time I returned to school full-time, half the hallway no longer called me Tyler.
They called me “The Whale.”
They said it in the cafeteria.
Near the lockers.
At pep rallies.
When prom season arrived, it felt less like a celebration and more like another reminder that joy was meant for other people.
Then one afternoon, I was standing at my locker when three boys nearby started their usual comments.
One of them laughed and said, “Maybe somebody’ll take you if she’s blind.”
Before I could shrink into myself, another voice cut through the hallway. Continue Reading ⬇️
