*I found this story on some site and thought i would share it...if you know the author's name please inform me so i can give them the credit they deserve* Sam nibbled on an animal cracker as she watched the other fourth-graders play at recess. From her vantage point against the wall, she could see almost all of the playground. Everyone else was laughing and playing and carrying on with their friends. Samantha didn't have any friends because no one liked her. That was fine with her, though, because she didn't like any of the other kids either. She was perfectly content watching them play while she snacked on her animal crackers. Sam loved animal crackers. Every day at recess, she would bring her little circus box outside and sit against the wall, devouring the crackers one by one. She was very methodical about the way she ate them. First, she would choose a perfectly shaped cracker from the box. If it was missing so much as a leg, she wouldn't eat it. Once she had found that flawless elephant or that impeccable rhinocerous, she would eat it one leg at a time. Then she would nibble on the body of it until only the head was left, which she would put aside for later. In the end she'd be left with a morbid ring of animal heads in her lap, and at last she would eat them. "Body first, then the head," she would mutter with each one. "Body first, then the head." Other fourth-graders would occasionally walk past Sam to use the bathroom, and they would stare at her. Sam enjoyed the attention. "Body first, then the head," she'd repeat louder. One day, as she walked home from school, she was pushed over from behind. After she brushed herself off, she turned around to find three notoriously mean classmates standing behind her. "Look, it's the stupid Animal Cracker Girl!" one laughed. "Yeah, you're so weird," jeered the second boy. The third just shoved Sam again. "Stop that," she said quietly. The boys were puzzled. Why didn't she cry and run away like all the other kids they bullied? "Animal Cracker Girl," taunted the first bully again, unable to think of anything more original. "Yeah, you're STUPID," said the second. The third boy shoved Sam once more. Sam caught her balance. "You're not very nice," she said in her quiet, strange tone of voice. The boys were now thoroughly confused. Maybe they weren't doing it right " they had better try again. The first once challenged Sam, "So what are you gonna do about it, huh?" "Yeah, STUPID," the second one said. The third was about to push Sam again when she suddenly grabbed his arm with unexpected power. The four children could hear the bone crack. "Holy cow," the first boy gasped. The second boy was frozen in shock, and the third boy twisted in pain and started bawling. Sam's eyes fairly glowed with animosity. She took a step toward the other two, and they stepped backwards. Sam took another step, and they turned and ran. Sam easily caught up to them and clocked them on the head, knocking them out cold. She dragged them back over to the third bully, who had started shrieking. "Oh, bother," Sam grumbled, and she hit him on the head. The boy immediately fell to the ground, unconscious. Sam looked at the three bullies, now passed out. And then she smiled. She knew that in a few minutes there would be no evidence whatsoever that the bullies had ever been there. "Body first, then the head," she whispered, and she started nibbling on a foot.