Kids at school had been teasing Natasha about her weight for years. If they weren’t teasing her for that, then they’d tease her for always having her nose in a book, especially if it was a book about Egypt. Why they insisted on being so cruel, she really had no idea. She couldn’t win, and even though she pretended it didn’t bother her, of course it did.
She was lucky she had Mr. Norton and some of the other teachers who had supported her over the years. They had always encouraged her, told her to ignore the snide remarks. It had been hard, but now it had paid off. She was doing something none of the others would ever do. She’d show them. Finally she was important, by far the most important person at school for a change.
* * * *
She spent the next few weeks concentrating on studying for
