Tracey's Perfect Match

 
        It would seem that by now Tracey Sketchit
 would be immune to insults. But that was impossible.
 The more you were ridiculed, the more it hurt. You
 tried to build yourself up against it, but it made
you crumble.
        Tracey had been made fun of as long as he
could remember. His classmates called him "fairy boy"-he
 never played sports or roughoused with the other
boys; he spent most of his time drawing,and the few times
he wasn't he was reading. He was sweet and sensitive and
 altogether different from the other boys,but it
wasn't his fault.
       "Hey,fairy boy!" they would say. "Why don't you
 play basketball with us? You'd be a great dunker 'cuz
 fairies can fly!"
       "Hey, why don't we dress him up in a fairy
 princess tutu?"
       "Yeah, he's a girl anyway-TRACEY!"
      Why was it boys were teased for having unisex
 names but girls weren't?
        "Whoops,I forgot! Fairy boy can't fly because
 he's too fat!"
        "Yeah! THAT'S why he never plays with us-he's
 too fat to run!"
        Fat jokes. They were the bane of Tracey's
life, and for no good reason. He wasn't even fat,just a tad
 chubby, and how times had the doctor explained to a
 depressed Tracey that it was his natural build and
 he would never be thin unless he starved himself?
 Still, innumerable were the times he had left his
 dinner untouched.
        But however,the REAL problem was that Tracey
 was autistic. That was so shy and introverted. He
 couldn't socialize properly,so it was easier for him
 never to venture out of Tracey-land. He longed to
 have a friend and feel normal around other children,
 but no one ever talked to him. They didn't
understand.
 If someone tried to be his friend than he would be
 theirs,but they seemed to think that his being quiet
 meant he wanted to be left alone.
        He rarely talked to other children;mostly
 because of his condition, but also because he was
 afraid of being rejected. He had once been told that
 his friends "didn't like him and wanted him to stop
 following them around." Then they started behaving as
 though it were true. He had never gotten over that.
 Sometimes the pain of the memory kept him from
falling asleep at night.
        That was how Tracey spent his school days-
 being insulted,laughed at, and beaten,with no friends
 to back him up. Feeling like a freak. Sometimes he
 felt so lonely and helpless he thought he might as
 well kill himself and escape it all. When he told his
 mother this repeatedly she got so upset she took him
 to the hospital. They made him wait five hours for
the results of a blood test and concluded that was
nothing wrong with him.
        Of COURSE there was nothing wrong with him-
 besides the fact that he had autism. But that was to
 blame for everything-that was why he had no close
 friends,and felt like an outsider, and why people
 teased him. When he was diagnosed his parents told
him that autistic children sometimes seemed strange to
 other children and were often teased.
        Now THAT wasn't fair! He had never seen the
 point of making fun of people who were different, but
 that was beside the point. This was something he had
 no control over and it was ruining his life. The
world hated Tracey Sketchit. On the day he was born God was
on vacation and the constellations were backwards.
        When he met Ash and Misty he began to think
 differently. He had SOME guts which he couldn't keep
 from showing in a bad situation. If the Lapras hadn't
 been mistreated, chances are he never would have
 talked to them. But he did, and he got what he had
 always wanted-friends.
        But now,as Professor Oak's assistant,he was
 feeling lonely again. What he REALLY wanted was to
 meet a girl. He had never had a decent relationship,
 and he longed for one.
         One afternoon, he was sitting in the park
 drawing when he noticed a girl reading on one of the
 benches. His eyes stopped fast. She was very pretty-
 tall, and slender but curvy, with dark brown hair
 falling over her shoulders. She wore a pink ribbon in
 it.
         The girl's name was Maria Gonzalez. She recog
 nized Tracey as the cute kid who always came there to
 draw. He looked sweet. He was so plump that she
wanted to hug him.
         Tracey was absorbed in his sketches when he
 heard a voice.
        "Hi there."
         He turned around and saw Maria leaning over
 his sketchpad.
         "Wow,you're really good." she sat down next
 to him. "I've seen you around."
         "Really? Funny, I've never seen you." He
 wondered how he could have missed her. "Do you draw,
 too?"
       "Yup. I wanna be an artist." She pulled a
sketch book out of the totebag she carried.
        Tracey looked it over. "Hey, you're good,too!
 So you carry sketchbooks around like me?"
       "Yeah. I carry some regular books,too. I read a
 lot."
       "Me too!"
   Maria laughed.
       "I might be an artist, too," Tracey said. "But
 I'd also like to be a poke'mon researcher,like my
hero professor Oak. I'm his lab assistant."
      "Really? How'd you pull that off?"
     "Well, I had these friends I went on a poke'mon
 journey with. They knew Professor Oak, and after we
 finished traveling they took me to meet him." He
stood up and stretched. "Hey, what's your name?"
      "Maria."
      "I'm Tracey."
      "How old are you?"
       "Sixteen."
      "Fifteen."
     They sat in the grass and talked for a while-about
 poke'mon,books,drawing, what it was like to work with
 Professor Oak. It turned out they had a lot in
common.
 They felt unusually confident and at ease with each
 other. Besides that,they sensed that there was
 something the same about them. Something other than
 their interests, like they shared a common secret.
     "So...do you come here often, Maria?"
     "Not really. I don't have anyone to go with."
      Tracey smiled. "Now you've got me...I'll see you
 tomorrow?"
      "Why not?"
      They said goodbye and parted ways,each thinking
 happy thoughts.
      "He's such a nice guy," Maria thought. "He's
 smart, too, and he draws."
       She was glad he was shy. That made it easy for
 her to talk to him. She felt he would welcome the
 attention and not be nasty to her.
      "And I finally found a nice one. Most of the
guys who pay attention to me are goofy ones. I'ts like
they think they can hit on me just because I'm pretty!"
       She hated guys like that-guys who were too
 confident or came on too strong-that always scared
her off. But Tracey was a gentleman. And he was so cute!
 He was pretty much her ideal match. She had never
 dreamed of meeting someone like him.
       Tracey never dreamed of meeting someone like
 Maria, either. "She's beautiful," he thought. "Brock
 will be so jealous!" (In fact,the next time the group
 called Professor Oak he told them all about her.
Brock was grumpy the rest of the day.)
       "Stop being such a grouch!" Misty said.
       "How can I when I know Tracey's picking up hot
 Spanish chicks?"
        Tracey and Maria became an official couple.
 The more time he spent he spent with her, the happier
 he became. She made him feel better about himself. He
 got over his shyness and forgot his past problems.
 Little did he know that he was helping Maria, too.
        One afternoon, Tracey and Maria were sitting
 by the river. Tracey was painfully aware that he had
 told Maria nothing of his sad past. He wondered if he
 should mention it or not. But he couldn't get it off
 his mind. As he sat staring into the water and
 reminiscing, tears began rolling down his cheeks.
       "Trace, what's the matter?" Maria asked.
        He sniffled. "Well...there's a lot of things I
 haven't told you. I've had a rough life."
       Pain struck Maria's heart. "You can tell me
 anything."
       "Alright. I'm not sure you'll understand, but
 here goes." He took a deep breath and confessed his
 story. When he finished he burst into tears on
Maria's shoulder.
       "And that's it. That's the whole story. I
didn't trust anyone for a long time. I was so shy...so
lonely ..I thought there was no point in living. you changed
 all that, Maria. I..I love you. Even if I don't marry
 you, I'll always love you. You changed my life...
 you've been the answer to all my prayers..." his
voice trailed off. He forgot the rest of the world as he
 held Maria in his arms.
       "You know something, Tracey?" Maria said
softly.
 "I've got something to tell you,too. My life has been
 the same way. I've got the same condition as you. I
 still take medicine for being paranoid. I became
 cynical. I thought everyone was cruel and hateful
 because I had been hurt by so many people. YOU were
 the answer to MY prayers, Tracey. You taught me to
 trust people again-more importantly,you're my friend.
 The kind of close friend I always wanted and never
 had. I never dreamed I'd meet someone exactly like me
 who would understand."
       Tracey's mouth dropped open and the two kindred
 spirits embraced.
 
       He walked Maria home that night. When they got
 to her door she kissed him and then stayed hugging
 him. "Goodnight. I love you just the way you are."
 She squeezed him tighter. "And don't you dare lose
 weight or I'll smack you in the head! You're not fat
 and besides that you're so huggable!"
      Tracey had never been so happy in his life. All
 he had ever wanted was to be loved-just the way he
 was. He would never again feel guilty about eating
 oreos.
      "I love you just the way you are,too."

            THE END