LIFE WITH TOURETTES

Alex Chi

It was a Sunday morning. I woke up at the alarm clock that was so loud I thought my ears were bleeding I was kind of annoyed at the sound of the alarm clock but soon felt better after watching the beautiful view that was open in the window The morning seemed normal until I felt this urge to scream at the top of my lungs. I screamed so loud that even the birds sitting on the tree in front of the window got surprised and flew away. My mom ran to my room to see if I was okay I said,

“I felt this urge to scream and if I don’t do it, I feel uncomfortable.”

My mom seemed confused and worried at the same time I screamed again and again and again. My mom grabbed my hand and took me to the doctor's office I explained my symptoms to the doctor The doctor was looking at my face for a very long time and finally opened his mouth. The words coming out of his mouth were shocking. He said, “your daughter seems to have tourettes syndrome ”

My mom and I stared at each other and bursted into laughter. The doctor looked at us with eyes of concern I think it was because of the shock After laughing, we calmed down and listened to the doctor more. The doctor was talking like forever Finally he stopped talking and gave us medicine We walked out of the hospital. The way to school was very awkward. I dropped off the car and I screamed one more time. People started to stare at me and I felt social anxiety When I arrived at my classroom, I screamed again Everyone stared at me with disgust, thinking that I'm making these sounds on purpose. I walked past the front of the class, feeling the burning stares from my classmates I went to the teacher and told her I want to talk to her outside of the classroom. We walked out. I was a bit scared to talk about my tourettes I just got diagnosed with A few minutes passed with awkward silence Then I finally opened my mouth.

“I went to the doctors today because I couldn’t stop-” Then I screamed again. The teacher was shocked.

“Sorry As you can see, I just started developing tourettes They suddenly happened out of nowhere and I just won’t stop screaming.”

“Oh... Okay let me contact the principal to see what we should do Go ahead and sit in the classroom and wait until I come back.”

I went back to my class and sat down on my seat. I started screaming again.

“Hey!”

I turned around and found out who it was. It was Aiden. He is the biggest bully in our school, and obviously was mean to me because of my new condition

“Stop screaming, stupid. You're being very annoying.”

I stared at him with disbelief. I screamed it again.

“HEY CUT IT OFF”

“Sorry. But if I was able to stop it, I would have.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have tourettes, so I can’t help it.”

“You’re lying You didn’t tic yesterday.”

“Well, I just developed it today this-” I screamed again.

“This morning.”

“Lier”

“I'm not lying”.

“You are!”

“How many times do I have to tell you! I am NOT faking.Why would I even do such a thing?”

And then Jenna stood up. Just in case you don’t know who she is, I'll tell you in a very simple way. She is my crush.

“He isn’t a person who would fake a disability.”

And when she stood up for me, I felt like I owned the whole world.

“Well, four eyes, since when were you that close with him to stand up for him?”

“Maybe they’re dating!”

Now that was Jaden, Aiden’s friend He’s also a bully. I couldn’t stand them I finally said, “HEY”

And then the teacher came in “Hey Alex, what's wrong?”

I rolled my eyes and said, “nothing ”

She called me out of the classroom and I walked to the third floor to the counseling office. I went into the office and sat down on the sofa. Then after a while, the teacher called me in so I went into the room I had never been in the counseling office before, so I was very interested in what was there. There were fidget toys such as snappers, popits, fidget balls, and squishies I grabbed a blue fidget ball and sat on the chair in front of the principal. He stared at me with worried eyes It was a bit awkward so I looked away. It has been 3 minutes since i’ve been in this room and still no conversation. Then, he finally opened his mouth.

“So, I heard that you developed tourette's this morning. Is everything alright?”

“I don’t know. It just happened this morning and I’m just very scared.”

“I understand I know this might sound crazy, but I want other students to know about this disability and learn more about it. So I was wondering, would you like to make a presentation and present it during chore time in the auditorium?”

I was confused about his words, but I accepted his request. It was the following night I sat down in my chair getting ready to make my presentation. I made it for the whole night. I slept at 3AM, the latest time I slept so far. When I was done, I was so proud of myself. Now it’s time to present.

-Part two will come out soon!-