I'm the Small One

I'm the Small One

I'm smaller than everyone else my age. In the halls at school, the bigger kids sometimes bump into me or step on my toes. “ Sorry, Sophie- I didn't see you, " they say.

At the playground, little kids always want to play with me. Some even try to boss me around. " Don't climb up that big slide, little girl, " one kindergartner warned me last week. “ You might fall and hurt yourself. "

" I think I'll be okay, " I said. She watched me slide down, her mouth gaping open.

My best friend, Casey, is one of the tallest kids in second grade. Her legs are so long that when she walks, I have to jog to keep up with her. Sometimes grown-ups ask her, “ Who's your little friend?" And one day while I was over at Casey's house, her grandma thought Casey was babysitting me!

I used to try to make myself taller. I hung from the tree in our backyard to stretch out my limbs. I even ate my vegetables-all of them-but I never seemed to grow.