This book is dedicated to my friend Brianna. Brianna is my inspiration for Mark.

Thump, thump, thump, everyone hurried to class. RING! RING! Clink! Everyone was starting to settle in. As soon as they sat down, the smell of Sharpies filled the air. Cling! Bang! 

    "How was the weekend for everyone?" Mrs. Belle asked the class. 

    “Fantastic!” 

    "Very boring."

     "I'm not sure." 

    While there were a variety of answers, it was "Fu-JA-n!" that stuck out to all of them. 

Everybody produced a loud laughter, except for Mark, the person who first stated it. Mark's eyes began to seem like rain, and his face began to resemble a plump tomato. SLAM! Mark lowered his head while the class continued to giggle uncontrollably.

    Calling names, Mrs. Belle started to check if everyone was there. “June?”

     "Here!"

     "Leslie?"

     "Here!"

     "Mark?"

     "He-here." Soft chuckles began to flow. "Enough class, it's out of his control." Ms. Belle stood up for Mark.

     "Holly?"

     "Present!"

     "Jack?"

     "Here."

     "Lucas?" Lucas answered in a mocking tone, "He-here." The students broke out in floods of laughter. “Hahaha!” Mark began to tremble his lips as if the temperature had dropped to the floor. "Everyone, please stop!" Mrs. Belle yelled. 

    RING! "I'm sick of Lucas, thankfully it's time for lunch." With a loud thump, everyone skedaddled to grab their pizza for lunch today. "Mmm, I'm so excited to eat pizza!" Mark thought in his mind.

“Hey, Mark. Could you please stay for a moment?”

“Sure.”

"Is everything okay? You’ve had a couple of tics today.”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? I have a great medicine recommendation to help to reduce the symptoms of tourettes.”
“I don’t think my family could aff-JA-ord it, I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, you may be excused.”

Mark sprinted to get the pizza. "Hey, you!" There was a lot of stillness. "Freak, I'm talking to you!" When Mark turned back, Lucas was there waiting for him. “What's up with you? Why are you acting so weird?"