Face To Face With Bullying

There I was again, alone, no friends to help me. Jack had been bullying me now for three weeks and two days, not that I had been counting. I would often run into him outside English class and in the line of the canteen, but it was here, when I was alone, that he would attack. At first it started with name calling and humiliating me in front of others, but lately it has turned to threats of violence. “You’re going to get bashed nerd, watch out”. The taunts were like knives that cut out my confidence and slashed at my self-respect.

When I started high school I was warned that times could get tough, that some kids would be mean and that there would be bullies, but I had never anticipated the extent of the bullying and its ability to infiltrate my life. Sadly, the bullying has now gotten so bad that it even affects me at home, the place I’m meant to feel most safe. It feels as though there is nowhere I can go to escape it.

It’s getting to the point where I’m going to have to go it alone, sever all ties and forego all the friends I’ve made. It angers me that I’d have to do this and I must admit, on more than one occasion I have considered retaliation, but putting a bully like this in his place is tough. I’m not a weak person but my physical size wouldn’t get me far.

I read where a student had been bullied so badly by other students at his school that he took his own life. I don’t want to go down that road. So I pack my bag for school and I promise myself that today I will confront this bully and make it stop.

I travel to school on the bus and play in the playground before the bell rings without so much as a hint of harassment, I make it through maths class much the same, and then through to lunch all without bullying or any sign of the bully himself. I start to believe that maybe he’s over it, that he’s moved on to a new project, someone else to taunt. But my relief is short lived. In my final period of the day; computers, there he is staring over me, laughing and mocking me.

I snap. I’m not prone to aggression but I can’t take it anymore, I unload a barrage of abuse, I should have been restrained but no-one seemed to care, it was as though I was free to say whatever I wanted, so I did. I spared a quick glance to my teacher, sure that she would condemn my actions, but she didn’t. So I continued. I was surprised how easy it was to abuse people when there was no-one to keep you in check. I had constructed the perfect argument using all the right profanity, certain that I would finally put this bully in his place, but suddenly, as though struck by lightning I was overcome by my conscience. Saying these things would only make me as bad as the bully himself. So I closed my eyes, drew a deep breath and then deleted my facebook account. Now I was certain there could be no more bullying.

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