School Daze: Seventh Grade
| August 2, 2022I feel bad for Rivky. She doesn’t have social skills — so she doesn’t have friends
As told to Perel Stone
Monday, December 2
T
amar asked me if I would work with her on a Chanukah activity for the class. I remember when Mrs. Rokach sat us next to each other in third grade and Tamar didn’t even notice me when I said hello.
She was only eight years old then, so I wouldn’t hold it against her anyway, and now that we’re close friends, I know she’s a nice girl. But I think the reason that she didn’t notice me then, is because I didn’t believe I was worth noticing. I acted like I wasn’t important, so no one saw me.
I can’t get over how much has changed since I was that little kid with no friends. The more I feel good about myself, the more people want to be my friend.
Monday, March 3
I spent the afternoon at Rivky’s house and actually had a good time. I feel bad for Rivky. She doesn’t have social skills — so she doesn’t have friends. She follows around the popular girls, trying way too hard to get them to notice her. Usually, they ignore her. I don’t know if they don’t see her, or they pretend not to.
Now that I’m one of the popular girls, she follows me around too. But I remember what it’s like not to have friends, so I never ignore her. I always listen when she talks to me — even though it’s hard.
She spits when she talks and stands too close so she’s actually spitting on you, and she touches you a lot. She picks her nose, so it grosses me out when she touches me, but I try not to jump away from her. I don’t want to hurt her feelings. Also, once Rivky starts talking, she doesn’t stop — she just keeps talking and talking and talking without noticing if you’re listening or interested in what she’s saying.
Maybe it’s because no one ever listens to her, so if you let her talk, she wants to say every single thing she ever thought to say. She may even start with an interesting fact or story, but then she gives you so many details, it stops being interesting. Like, there could be something interesting about going to the dentist, but I really don’t need to hear that she went from this street to that street and then to the other street to get there. But I feel so sad for her that no one listens that I keep listening no matter how long she talks.
She invites me to her house sometimes and I try to say yes, since I know what it feels like when no one comes over. Today, instead of feeling like I was doing a chesed, it was fun.
Batya lives next door to Rivky. The same time I was at Rivky’s house, Ruti was at Batya’s. We strung a rope between Rivky’s yard and Batya’s yard and put notes in a bucket that we sent back and forth. I hope Rivky feels like she has three friends instead of only one.
When we went inside, Rivky gave me the best snacks, and she has some really great games that we played together.
Monday, June 1
Every year at graduation, one girl in the entire grade is asked to stand up and say a perek of Tehillim aloud. It’s considered a big honor. They try to pick a girl who works hard to do well on her schoolwork, and also treats everyone nicely.
They picked me.
I can’t believe it.
I said no, though. I think if I had to get up in front of all four classes and all the teachers and mothers, I would faint or throw up, or both. Still, it makes me feel special and proud that they asked me.
Atara
(Originally featured in Mishpacha Jr., Issue 922)
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