Now, I wasn't always the bottom of the pecking order. Of course, it doesn't really count until you are.

In fourth or fifth grade, the order started. It wasn't gradual, it was sudden. And suddenly, I found myself at the bottom. Before that, there were groups, but not a defined social structure.

But when I got chickens, and began studying there pecking order, I realized something.

I could see the pecking order at school. Not physically, I couldn't see it. But I noticed who was on top and bottom. Other people couldn't seem to see it. I thought the pecking order was so stupid, so I didn't practice it. I didn't fight for popularity like many other people. I just let myself drift steadily lower, until I reached the very bottom. I pretended it didn't bother me, but it did.

I was in a Spanish immersion school, and when we hit middle school, I was still with the same students all the time, and I started to get bullied. People would say things about my chickens, or the weird things I did, and I hated it. I didn't care about the pecking order, but I didn't want to be at the bottom.

-Sparrow