Heidi and Todd couldn’t be more proud of their three daughters. Madeline was in nursing school. Chloe was serious with her nose often buried in a book, and Claire with a heart of gold and a little mischievous.

Chloe and Claire did everything together. Claire looked up to her big sister.

“Are you done reading, yet?” Claire asked her sister who had been reading for what seemed like forever.

“Let me finish this chapter,” Chloe said not looking away from the page.

“But it’s so nice outside. I’ve been waiting forever,” Claire said flopping on the bed.

“Okay, let’s go.” Chloe put her bookmark in her book and together they went outside.

Claire adored her sister and she also loved cats. She was so excited to get her first kitten.

Chloe loved the kitten too, but she was glad to get a few more pages in her book while Claire was playing with the kitten.

Unfortunately, as the girls grew older, things began to change. For the first time, Chloe and Claire would be going to different schools. Chloe was know a teenager. Claire had a harder time getting her to play outside with her or go along with one of her made up games.

Chloe, also, had new friends. They would hang out after school or talk on the phone.

Chloe found her sister a bit annoying at times. She would shoo her away when her friends were over telling her that they were too old to play those kid games.

So Claire began spending more time alone.

Chloe began high school. She was a serious student and had joined a few after school clubs. She had even less time for Claire. They still would watch a movie or play a board game sometimes, but it wasn’t like it used to be.

Claire was struggling with fitting in at middle school. It was larger than her grade school and she hardly knew anyone in her classes. They didn’t seem to want to know her either.

Heidi was worried about her youngest child. She had noticed a change in her. She was no longer the silly, happy, go lucky girl she had once been. She was serious and quieter.

Heidi was now a kindergarten teacher. She wondered if maybe she had gone back to school and to work too soon. She had been home full time with the older two.

“Heidi, you are a wonderful mother,” Todd reassured her,”Claire is growing up. She’s trying to find her place.”

But Claire never seemed to adjust to middle school. Claire kept it to herself that she had been targeted by a group of girls and picked on. She seemed to always be doing something wrong. Her hair was the wrong style, her clothes were uncool, she was weird, no one liked her. They were popular and so when they told the other girls not to talk to Claire, they listened.

She only had one friend, but that friend had moved away over the summer.

Claire hoped that high school would be different. She was nervous about going. She wrote her fears in her journal.

High school proved to be just as difficult. Claire continued to be teased. They made fun of her weight, her clothes, anything she said.

Claire would come home and cry.

She began to be bullied on social media. It seemed no one wanted to be her friend. She was ashamed to tell her family. What if they realized something was wrong with her, too?

Luckily, Claire had a supportive family. Sure, Chloe had less time for Claire, but they still hung out some. Heidi and Todd would spend extra one on one time with Claire. They hoped that she would open up, but she didn’t.