Laughter rang throughout the halls, throughout the playground, taunting, haunting laughter pounding on her inner ear as Keele stood silent, her face a stone wall.

Being three and a three quarters under five feet, Keele stood proud and tall as she fended off their verbal attacks, but her innards were a crumbling mass of walls and emotions. She could feel her façade falling.

"Wench! Just look at her socks! What a dork!" The taunts continued, her precocious classmates oh-so-kind comments. "Where did you get those socks from?" Laughter.

Socks. Keele walked away, the torments still echoing in her head. All she could feel is pain, a constant gnawing chipping slowly away, and embarrassment. Today it's socks, tomorrow, what next?

"Choir geek!" Keele endures her tormentors once more. Yesterday it was socks, today it's choir. What next?

Small in stature, not in mind, Keel stood, her thick mass of brown hair tied in an ugly and unceremonious ponytail. This time, the tormentor, an old friend, someone who backstabbed her for "coolness." A turning point in her life, though it would take her another year to reap its effects.

The words cut through her walls like no other. This was supposed to be a friend. Keele opened her mouth to reply, hoping for some witty, sarcastic comeback to equal her rivals, but instead out came some vague attempt complete with stuttering and pauses. Laughter. The haunting laughter as the friend turned her back and walked away, laughing.

A phoenix rising from the ashes, Keele made a vow to herself from them on. She wouldn't ever be in this position again.

A year later, laughter rings throughout the halls, throughout the campus. Keele, an outcast in a group of exiles, playing her part of the stupid one with relish. In this world, naïve equals stupid. Keele took her role.

Laughter. The tormentors. This time, Keele was the one turning her back, walking away, laughing.