Juan sat down, stiffening when he heard familiar, heavy footsteps. It was Tristan Gallo, the class bully. "Heard you were buddy to the new kid. Did you know he's autistic? Ha, have fun!" his sneering voice said. Wait, what? Autistic? So, he was crazy? His heart sank. Why couldn't he be any other normal kid? ----------------------------------------------------------------- "We have a new kid in class, his buddy will be Juan Carlos Ruiz ... would you like to introduce yourself?" Mr. Verdugo asked the kid, who was short, thin, and light brown. His blonde hair was spiked, which gave him a mischievous look. He wore a pink shirt. Blue pants. No glasses. Seemed like a normal guy. He avoided Mr. Verdugo's eyes. "I'm Adrian Miguel Diaz," he said in a soft voice. "Hey, speak up, we can't hear you!" Tristan shouted with a smirk. Mr. Verdugo glared at him. "Be quiet, Tristan. Such comments will not be tolerated. Especially from you." Juan watched as Adrian looked up, his blue eyes shining with a fierce light. "Yeah, don't talk to me like that," he hissed. "Alright, sorry for Tristan. He's ... unpleasant. Now, you may go sit at Henry Cruz's seat. He sits beside your buddy, Juan." Juan looked at Henry, who shrugged and moved away, and then at Adrian, who sat beside him. "Hey," he said, trying to sound non-threatening. The boy gave him a wary look. "Hey," he replied. "You're autistic, right?" Juan asked carefully, trying to see if that bothered Adrian. "So what? It means we're weird and crazy? No, that's not true. It just means we're different, it means we're quiet, rarely meet others' eyes, have social awkwardness. It's not that we want to be like that. We were born like that. And I'm proud of it. What's there to be ashamed of? We can't change the way we are. Autism makes me the way I am." When Adrian finished, Juan was moved. Perhaps, autistic people weren't crazy. Everyone just got it wrong.
Pic from Cr@!y0n Story by me Characters by me Characters: Juan Carlos Ruiz - 12-year-old boy who wears a green shirt
