The authors understanding of life and people changed the next day at school when he had to enter gym class. People kept telling him to hurry up and when he entered the gym he saw a big table set up with all kinds of stuff on it, just for him. They had taken up a collection and bought him school supplies, notebooks, all kinds of different clothes, jeans, tops and sweatsuits. It was like Christmas. He was overcome by emotion.
People who had never spoken to him before were coming up to him to introduce themselves. He got all kinds of invitations to their houses. Their genuine outpouring of concern touched him, he breathed a sigh of relief and for the first time, he felt that things would be okay and he made friends that day. It took a fire for him to stop focusing on his feelings of insecurity and open up to all the wonderful people around him.
