Someone I Will Never Forget

Someone that I will never forget is Clayton. Although Clayton is six years younger than I am, he is my best friend. I met Clayton on the school bus when I lived in Alabama. I just moved to a new town, so I was the new student in fifth grade. I never liked sitting in the back of the bus because it was occupied by high school students; I sure didn’t belong back there. I sat with a student who was sleeping. When we got to his school, I woke him up; he forgot his sweater and I put it away in my book bag. I knew his name was Clayton because it was written on the inside of his sweater. That afternoon I sat with Clayton again and handed him his sweater. From that day forward, Clayton and I created a strong friendship. He was only in pre-k, but I am not ashamed to say that he is my best friend. Clayton always made me drawings that I would always cherish. Once he even gave me black eyed susans, wild flowers. I know what they are called because when he handed them to me he said “Alma, I got you black eyed susans.” One day it was very hot, and Clayton was all covered up; he was dressed like there was a blizzard outside. He was sweating so I removed his sweater and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. I was shocked when I saw all of the bruises covering his arms. I panicked and stopped what I was doing. When I rolled up his pants, he had bruises there as well. I was afraid to find out what happened. I finally worked up the nerve to question him when I saw that he had bruises on his stomach as well. When I asked, he told me that he fell while playing outside. I didn’t know what to do. The minute I got off the bus, I went straight to my guidance counselor, but she wasn’t in her office. I was extremely upset. By the time I arrived in fifth period, I asked my teacher if I could go talk to my counselor, but he told me no because I hadn’t finished my work. However, I just walked out and went straight to Ms. Price. She was upset that I walked out, but when I told her about Clayton,