The Reason for Kendall Perkins

Contrary to popular belief, Kendall Perkins had hated school once, as well. She fought and argued with her parents on the first day of kindergarden, little tears running down her cheeks. Mr. and Mrs. Perkins looked at eachother and sent her off to school. They place her favorite teddy bear, her best friend, in her arms and off she went.

Thinking back on it now, she was glad she had listened and thankful for the bear.

Because if he hadn't been there,

she wouldn't have ended up the way she did.

After her first day of kindergarden, Kendall started to love school. She got up every morning before her parents, hopping on them like the child she still was until they slowly got up.

She ran to school with her teddy bear tucked beneath her arms tightly.

And for the entire school semester, she got A's.

But then round came the 2nd semester, and all of the little boys and girls in her class started to gossip. The rumors called her a nerd, a baby.

Her heart fluttered when there was one student who stould up and said she was nither of these things. He was the same student who was the reason she kept her grades up and why she had started to love school. He was her inspiration!

But then he called her a brat...

Ohhhhh, little Kendall got SO mad. She stomped right up to him and called him a meany face and he quickly retaliated by saying that the students were right- that she was a baby.

To prove to him how mature she was, she stopped taking her bear with her to school.

But he didn't notice, for he saw her everywhere else with the bear and thought that maybe she had him tucked in her backpack somewhere.

He still called her a baby.

She started to leave the bear at home for good.

We flash forward into a few years in the future. Kendall is now in the 2nd grade. She had the top grades in the school and was in the head of her class. Everybody no lounger gossiped about how she was a nerd or anything...

They just forgot she was there...

But there was one who noticed her clear as day, who walked into the classroom ready to argue with her.

He said her clothes were boring.

She started wearing the plad patterns.

He said she was a hot-headed nerd.

She told him his brain may not be screwed on all the way.

He told her she was a nobody...

and that hurt...

So she ran for class president, winning the election just because nobody really cared who their "class leader" was.

He didn't treat her any differently.

She was dissapointed.

We flash to the fith grade and everybody follows her.

Not because they like her,

but because they fear her...

Though there is still just him, him and his overweight friend who refuse to follow her, who has never feared her or thought anything of her as more than just a nuisance.

So she tried harder.

She gave her all on her projects and reports so that she could impress him with how smart she knew she was. (Hey, a little self-flattery is never wrong.)

She got better comebacks so he'd think she was awesome.

She got more bossy to show her leadership.

But still, come fith grade year, he hated her. He despised her with a purple passion.

There was nothing she could do, so she went to the place where they first met, on the kindergarden school's playground, and wept.

The school was run-down now, and nobody came here. In fact, they started to make up rumors about it being HAUNTED. (She had snorted and chuckled at the thought.)

She cried for five years of her life being wasted.

She cried for all of her empty effort.

She cried for all of her efforts.

and for the first time in many many years, she held on dearly and tightly to her first best friend- her trusty teddy bear. She hadn't even ever made any friends. He wasn't the only one to hate her! Everybody did.

If you didn't you didn't know her, they said.

The tears came harder and she buried her face in the light brown fake fur.

"Kendall?"

She glanced up suddenly, quickly ashamed because

she knew that voice...

He stood there with his skateboard tucked under his arm and his best buddy at his side. "Are you... crying?"

She straightened up and asked him what he was doing there, saying his name with spite and venom. HE was the reason she was crying! She should'nt feel bad! Besides, there was alwaysthat anger between them.

But this was a different mix of venom this time, he had noticed right away. He knew that was something seriously wrong this time. "What, did somebody decide to run against you for class president this year?"

"Man, I hope he's awesome!" His buddy chortled in.

He exchanged a high-five.

She got pissed quickly and stood up. She announced that school wasn't all she ever thought about as she fought back her tears.

"Oh really? Then what else DO you think about?"

She went down the list. "My money, my future, my family, the holidays, summer vacation, my weight, my hair, my clothes, my face, and how much time I've wasted!"

He just rose an eyebrow at her, skeptical look coming on. "So typical girly girl stuff?"

She bit her lip and stould up herself, clutching the teddy bear at her side. "No, not typical girly girl stuff. Typical girl who can never WIN stuff!"

"Win? Win what?"

"Friends, a good reputation, relaxation, and for god sakes YOU!"

All was silent as reality dawned upon her of what she just said. He and his buddy looked at her as though she had gone completly insane. "ME? You want, ME? For what reason?"

Well, no reason to stop now, she figured. "I've never actually liked school, you know. I've always liked seeing YOU. I've always been at the head of the class because I wanted to impress you! I dated Ronaldo to make you JEALOUS! I fight with you because you hate me and I can't figure out why!" She pulled up her bear. "You see this? THIS is the teddy bear I had back in kindergarden. The same one I gave up when you called me a baby? Well I shouldn't have EVER given it up because all of these years it's been my only friend! Or haven't you realized that?" He stared up at her, the information hitting. Uncertainty crossed his features. "Ah, well, uh... Kendall, I um... didn't know you... thought of me that way." He looked at his friend who nodded in understanding and left to go find his girlfriend. Wacky Jacky they called her?

Yeah... she couldn't stop crying.

She sat back down and clutched Mr. Bear Teddy tightly, shoving her face into his back.

"Uhhh, I'd be more gentle with that thing if I were you, or he might leave you, too?" It was ment as a joke but came out as a question.

"... I would understand that. I mean, I'm always whining and complaining to him, why should he stay?"

He stayed silent, no comeback ready.

Then he simply sat down, sighed, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Kendall, uhhh, listen... I've only hated you because you hated me."

"Nuh-uh! YOU started all of this!"

He pulled back with a puffed up face, signaling that things were nearly back to normal between them. "No, YOU started it by talking about how YUCKY I was to all the other girls!"

...

"The heck? I never did that. Where do you come uP with these things?"

He looked at her as though something had dawned on him. "You... didn't?"

"NO! I would have NEVER talked badly about you! You were the closest thing I had to a friend back then and..." She looked down. "...now. Why would I EVER say something like that?"

"Thinking about it now, that might have been the OTHER blonde in our class..."

Kendall glared at him.

"So you're telling me we've been fighting all these years because some chick who looks like me from behind talked smack about you?... Wow. That is- I don't know what that is." He laughed half-heartdly. "I still hate you."

She didn't respond. He elbowed her. "Oh come on, you hate me too and you know it!" His tone was playful now and she realized what he ment by that. Leaning over she pecked his cheek. "I love you, too."

From that day on, where Mr. Bear Teddy was carved in her heart, another name replced his.

Clarence "Kick" Buttowski,

and he signed it with a pen.