My Son Was Treated Poorly Because of His Looks Throughout His Freshman Year – After Summer Break, Not Even the Kids Who Used to Tease Him Recognized Him, so He Did What He Had Been Planning for Months

I smiled at the fridge so he wouldn’t see me smile at him.

He spent one whole Saturday evening at the kitchen table with a shopping tab open, agonizing over a small gift. A keychain shaped like a fox, because she’d said once she liked foxes.

“Is this stupid?” he asked.

“It’s sweet.”

“That’s a yes on stupid.”

I remember telling my sister Renee about it on the phone that night, whispering like I was reporting a discovery. I told her every detail. I told Karen, whose son was one of Lucas’s classmates. I told the woman at the salon.