A young male walked down the streets of a small town. He was alone; he was always alone. Except for one person, he had no friends. It had been that way for him ever since his first day of kindergarten. Everyone saw him as a geek. They seemed to make fun of him about what he wears and what he does. He hated it with a passion but he knew that there was nothing that he could do to stop it.

He was an average height for a male; his hair was messy and fell down to his neck. He had the very big misfortune to have to where the large glasses to help him see. He didn't have to wear them all the time but he still decided to wear them a lot. He tended to be a bit shy but that never really bothered him.

There were things in life that he wanted but would never have because of the people that he was forced to go to school with. The way that the people treated him made him feel bad like he didn't deserve to have what he wanted most.

Out of all the days of the year, he liked this one the most. It was the final day of school meaning that after that day he would have a few good months of not being insulted by his classmates. He didn't know why he never tried to fight back. 'It is because I would lose,' he thought bitterly. He wasn't exactly the strongest of people which was why they always like to use him as their favorite punching bag.

"Hey Van, wait up!" yelled his friend Irvine as Irvine ran to catch up with van. Irvine was one of the popular people. He was Van's friend when everyone hated him. No one seemed to bother Irvine about it because Irvine was a very tough person. He was treated with great respect with everyone. There were those that thought badly of him at times because he hung out with Van. It didn't seem to mind though. The two of them had been friends since they were kids, and Irvine didn't seem intent on ending that.

"Hey Irvine," said Van in a quiet tone staring at the ground where he had been kicking a rock. If he had a choice then he wouldn't have gone to school that day. He had this feeling that something bad was going to happen and usually his bad feeling always end up coming true. At least as far as he was concerned it always did. He had no wish to find out what it was that would end up going bad. Not that things couldn't get worse than they already were. Then again, he didn't really want to tempt his fate for the day because he knew things would get worse that way.

It was always the same anyways so he never paid any attention to his troubles too much but he wished more than anything that for once things might actually shape up a little and that life would actually give him a break instead of having people break his stuff, like his glasses.

"Hey Van, why is it that you always act like that?" asked Irvine when he had caught up to Van but Van didn't respond. "That is the type of stuff that I mean, you are too quiet. You need to be a little more aggressive and assertive if you ever want to change," said Irvine with a sigh.

"What good will it do me exactly? Even if I try to change then things will always remain the same. It never matters how hard I try because it doesn't matter to anyone else. I am just sometime to tease, taunt, pick on, and use as a punching bag," Van muttered staring at the ground.

"And it is going to remain like that unless you try and get your act together a little. I mean if a person like Thomas can actually start hanging out with some of the cool people than I am sure that you should be able to. The guy is a total retard. I don't think that anyone really likes him though," said Irvine getting seriously annoyed with how Van was acting at that moment.

"Whatever," muttered Van as he sped up his speed and started to walk even faster towards the school. All he wanted was the day to end so he could go on with a few miserable free months of summer vacation. That was the only solace that he had for the day that could help him get through it.

------

It was the same everywhere he went, the stares, the laughs, and the constant shoving from all of the students around him as he walked through the school. He always ignored it but that seemed to make it worse at times.

Van was suddenly hit very hard in the back, which sent him flying straight towards the floor. His school supplies scattered everywhere and he was pretty sure that he might end up getting a bump because he might have hit his head on the floor. He gave off a low groan as he picked himself off of the floor to look up into the eyes of who had hit him. It turned out to be the jocks of the school. Some of which included Raven, his girlfriend Reese, and tagging along with them like was usual was Thomas wearing a smirk on his face. There were also many other people in the group that took the same pleasure in hurting Van.

"Oh, soooo sorry Van. I guess that I didn't see you there," said Thomas with a smug smirk on his face. He just laughed at Van as if it didn't matter. He didn't even care that at one point he was just like Van. He seemed to like to rub it in how he was capable of getting in with the in-crowd.

Van merely ignored him as he got up and grabbed his stuff. He was about to walk away when he was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and pulled back forcefully by Raven. "You know that it is very rude for you to just walk off when people are talking to you, don't you?" asked Raven as he threw Van against a wall.

Van struggled but he wasn't very strong so he wasn't able to get loose. Van then felt the force pulled away from him and he ended up falling towards the ground. He looked up to see Moonbay had come and had pulled Raven off of him. "Hey! Why don't you pick on someone else?" yelled Moonbay tossing Raven off to the side.

"What's the matter Flyheight? Are you now having a woman fight your battles for you?" asked Thomas smirking as Van pulled himself off of the ground. He walked up to Van and punched him hard making him land in a trashcan.

Everyone was laughing at Van now as he pulled himself out of the can and throw a banana peel off to the side. He kept a calm look on his face but for people like Irvine and Moonbay, they knew that he was about to snap. Then again, Van was too passive and wouldn't be able to let himself loose like that no matter how many times that two of them had thought it would be a good idea for him to finally fight back instead of allowing others to hurt him.

"What's going on here?" came a soft voice from off to the side. Every head seemed to turn in that direction to look at Fiona. Fiona was by far the most popular woman in the school. She was also the woman that every man wanted to be with since she was single and didn't seem to want to change that at the moment.

"Ah, Fiona. It is so good to see you," said Thomas standing up very happily and in the process shoved Van hard off to the side. He didn't even bother to look as Van hit his head on the wall. Thomas immediately rushed over to Fiona side where he tried to show off to her. Thomas had the biggest crush on Fiona ever since the moment that he first saw her. The things that he did to get her attention were hilarious and also it was pretty pathetic even for Van.

Fiona was a woman that was usually concerned about everyone's well being even if it was someone that was a geek. Fiona ignored Thomas and walked by him to Van's side. She tired to help him up but he just swatted her hand away. "Hey! I was only trying to help!" yelled Fiona out of anger.

"I don't want any help, I don't need any help!" Van yelled out because he was not in a very good mood at that moment. "Just leave me alone!" yelled Van standing up quickly running off to escape the large crowds that were starting to form around the area. He wanted to get away from it all. He hated it at this school and he wished there was something that he could do to change that.

Van ran out of the school until he reached a tree that was planted on the boarder of the school grounds. He really had no idea why he had lost his temper with her. He had been waiting for any opportunity to be able to talk to her for a while and he had just ruined any chance with her by doing that.

He seemed to run not even caring that school was about to start and that he would be ditching class. He didn't even want to be there in the first place. If he went back then he would have to face his tormentors and that would just send him into more trouble than he wanted.

He came to a stop when he was sure that he was at least a few blocks away from the school. He sat down underneath this large tree that he usually came to when he wasn't feeling too good about his life. It was a comfort to him because his grandmother used to play with him here when he was younger before she died.

"Why is it that everyone has to do that to me?" Van asked removing the glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose. He set the glasses off to the side with a sigh and leaned against the tree.

"It is because you seem you let them by not fighting back Van," Irvine's voice came making Van sit up and put his glasses back on. "You know, those huge glasses of yours really make you look funny. Why don't you get a smaller pair? Or maybe start wearing contacts?" Irvine asked sitting down next to him.

Van didn't answer him. He really didn't know why he didn't do any of that. His family had plenty of money, so he could definitely afford it. Everyone at his school didn't know anything about it his family's money though. He didn't want their friendship just because they knew that his family was actually very rich.

"Why did you come here Irvine? I am sure that school has started by now," Van said to one of his two only friends. The other one happened to be Moonbay but she didn't seem to be around at that moment.

"Had to make sure you would be alright. You didn't look too good back there. Moonbay told me to go after you while she tried to smooth things out with the teachers since you left school," Irvine said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Why did you act like that to Fiona? She was only trying to help you," Irvine pointed out but he could see the sadness in his friends' eyes.

"I don't know why I acted that way. I should have been happy that she was concerned about me. I wasn't in the best of moods though. I guess I was looking for a way to vent my anger. I didn't mean for it to be on her though," Van said. He happened to have a crush on Fiona like everyone in school but he never had the courage to talk to her.

"Under normal circumstances, I am sure that you would have been ecstatic about it. Thomas was being a really big ass though like always," Irvine said shaking his head in frustration. An idea suddenly came to Irvine something that he could do to help Van. "I can help you Van," Irvine said simply.

Van sat up and looked at Irvine with a confused look on his face. "I don't think that there is a things that you could possibly do to help me with my problem," Van said turning his attention back in front of him before leaning against the tree once again.

"You are being a little too pessimistic. That is one of your first problems. If you want, I can help you change the image that people see you as," Irvine said turning his head to look at his friend.

Van didn't know what to say. Irvine was offering him a way to make people maybe think differently of him. He somehow didn't think that things would work as well as Irvine put it. Some people just wouldn't change opinions of a person very easily. He thought that maybe it would be worth a try. 'Maybe it can make Fiona notice me,' Van thought. "Sure," he said with a sigh.

"Good! Starting tomorrow, I will be your personal trainer. I am sure that Moonbay will help. She could possibly give you a whole new look that could drive women wild," Irvine said with a smirk before standing up. "We had better head back before we get in more trouble than we are already in. Moonbay can only do so much," he said and watched as Van slowly nodded and stood up before they walked back to the school.

'I just have to finish today and then I won't have to put up with those people for the rest of the summer. Maybe if what Irvine is doing actually helps, then I won't have to put up with as much taunting from now on,' he thought with a small smile as he followed Irvine back.