Real Teens Speak Out

Hurt

It all started when i started going to a new school with a lot of preppy school kids and I wasnt exactly a prep at all i loved black and recently had my parents divorce along with my brothers getting taken away from my home. My first day of school everyone was so nice to me but later all of that changed. I was a few months into school when everyone started calling me names like really mean words and I had no idea where they where getting these names from I thought they liked me. I became very hurt and went home crying I told my mom and she talked to the principal and the principal didn’t do anything. The next day I got my head shoved through a wall by one of the kids. I had a concussion after this and the principal saw the hole in the wall but still didnt do anything for me. My mom started to think I was lying because every time she contacted the principal she always said she didnt see anything so I was stuck at that school for a year and a half and then I moved in with my aunt because I was hurt and terrified to go back to that school. So I started going to a different school and it soon got a lot better and I still go there now.

P.S Thats just a brief summary of everything

:'(

I am currently a sixteen years old girl, about to begin my junior year of high school.
In the beginning of my freshman year, my group of friends became known as “the popular group” I guess, because a lot of upperclassmen knew us and would invite us to parties. I definetly was not the most popular or the prettiest of my friends, but I would not consider my self ugly by any stretch. Some of my friends were also close with the boys in our grade, but I was never invited to parties/hangouts with them, only to parties with the older boys. When my sophomore year came around, my friends and the boys in our grade started hanging out more frequently. Soon there was a group chat made with my girl friends and the boys in our grade, and I was put into the chat. So now, I was included in all of the plans and I started to know the guys in my grade more. In December of my sophmore year, one of the boys had a Christmas Party (alcohol involved) and the boys were not treating me very nicely, but I played it off as a joke because it was the first time this had really happened. Later that night, one of the boys was literally trying to “RKO” me, and later punched me in the face, and got it on video. When I woke up the next morning (with a bruise on my cheek), and for a few weeks following the incident, I tried not to think about what happened, and I did not let it get to me. The boys began to talk and laugh about what had happened that night and made a meaningless nickname for me (which I am not going to share). The next few months, I grew increasingly upset over the event and was never diagnosed, but worried that I had been depressed. I had convinced myself that I was ugly, worthless, and that nothing good will ever happen to me.
During our lunch period one day at the end of my sophmore year, a few of them were texting in the group chat, and the same guy who punched me sent a text that referred to me as the nickname and made fun of me for a very personal insecurity about my life, and then continued to make fun of me for other stupid things. That day was the first day I had ever cried at school. After holding on my tears at lunch, I cried for over half a period in the bathroom, thankfully with a friend at my side. After school I gathered all my remaining strength and constructed a long text to the guy who punched and texted me and I sent it. . The bullying died down for a while after that, but by the time summer began, they were back in full swing, making me feel bad about myself every possible chance. You are probably wondering why I still hangout with them, and I guess it’s because although they can be mean to me, I enjoy hanging out with all of them because I have really great (girl) friends and I am hoping that one day it will end. Also, a lot of times it is hard to for others to recognize that someone is bullying me, but their words to me make me feel degraded as a person and lower my self esteem.

I was able to handle all this, and I am still able to handle all this until today in the group chat (which I rarely text in to avoid the degradation I feel when they acknowledge me), one of the boys asked me a question and called me by my last name, which he misspelled. Apparently everyone thought his misspell was so funny and they all kept spelling my last name in ridiculous variations even though the spelling is quite simple. One of them then copy and pasted a text that I had sent about a week ago, making fun of a perfectly normal, two word text that I sent. I then responsed with “:'(” meaning a crying face, because that guy had used the same “:,(” a few minutes ago. Another one of the boys (not the one who punched me) then asked in the group chat “is the apostrophe supposed to be a mole on your face”. This is the first time that anyone had directly made fun of my appearance, and although much worse things have been said, this was somewhat of the last straw.

I don’t know if I am doing something wrong. I don’t know how to stand up for myself. I don’t know what to do.

The past is NOT the past

I was emotionally bullied. My story starts in 4th grade, and ends in 6th grade where I changed schools because of “my grades.” Growing up I had a severe overbite. Since I was born with it I prefer to think of it as a malformation or a facial deformity. It is fixed now with surgery but that is beside the point. This made a very poor social life, and as that innocent easily manipulated 4th grader who was naive about a lot of things back then, I was the perfect target. I went to a private school with a class size of 16 kids total. There was always an odd number of girls, and people liked to pair up. I don’t know why, it just happened. A girl, who I will call Sam, which is not her name, was the start of the whole experience. Some days were worse then others and it started with rejection. Sam was a girl I hung out with, but after 3rd grade, something changed. She shushed me when I tried to speak to her. She told me the conversation was “private.” Then, my other classmates started to take her lead. I would flee to the girls bathroom on the other end of campus, and hide and cry, because a different pair told me it was “none of my business.”. But it got worse. Soon, I was excluded from every single activity. It didn’t matter if they needed an extra hand with a fort, mine weren’t good enough anyway. This is around the time my grades started to slip. The next year, my reading level went down. I skipped school, faked headaches in class, hid in the bathroom (a lot), and did anything to get me out of school. I spent time in the art classroom. It was either this or picked dead last for a sport, excluded from things my classmates were doing, couldn’t join a “private” conversation or a conversation that was “none of my business,” which seemed to pop up rather often. I could barely read then. I was in 5th grade and my reading level was consistent with my 2nd grade sister, who was starting to read chapter books and I was stuck reading children’s books with lots of pictures. My self confidence went down – it’s still down to this day. I became angry at home. So I was hurt at school and angry at home. I took things out on my parents, I started to see a therapist, who dealt with kids like me. She suggested that I read at lunch. I tried to pick up a book, but each time I tried, I felt bad about myself, those big words didn’t make sense to me. Rumors were spreading around about me, and as a result, I became extremely paranoid. My mom said that a parent once asked her if I was “emotionally disturbed,” she had heard that from her daughter. After my grades started to slip, and my teacher developed this famous saying when I finally got up the courage to tell him I was having friend issues “not my problem!” My parents started to look at other schools. So I changed schools. My classmates were so sad to see me go. No they actually weren’t. My going just confirmed what they had already decided I was, “emotionally disturbed.”

In 7th grade at a new school, my self esteem started to go up. I didn’t have many friends, but people spoke to me, and let me speak as well, which made all the difference.
I continue to have a low self-esteem problem, but I have made friends who support me no matter what. So, happily ever after? Well, after I started at a public high school, and managed to get a 3.5 GPA, I would definitely say so! Still, even though this sounds mild compared to a lot of stories, repeated exclusion from activities, picked last at every single PE game, rejected when talked to, ignored and forgotten by people, rumors that I was “emotionally disturbed”, after 2 years of this, every single day, and lasted long after Sam left, it does take it’s toll on my emotional state, and still does. Emotional bullying has it’s permanent problems too.

Changing like Seasons

I had been brought up nicely by my parents and my family, they treat me well. You see… we could not expect everybody to treat us that way. It started when I was in 2nd grade,I was so silent that no one would have noticed me. Some of my classmates would give me intimidating stares, do mean gestures and such. I concluded then that not all people are good, I remembered an accident where I was accused for being involved in. I remembered seeing my classmate running around, she tripped right in front of me who was just standing and her nose had bled. I remembered being called out by her older brother, by her group of friends. I didn’t remember what they had told me, I was too naive but for sure I was hurt. The bad experience of being an outcast continued. After that… when I reached 3rd grade, my classmates would then call me names… tease me because of my dark complexion, my weird behavior… It continued till 8th grade. I knew most of my peers thought I was fine… that the words they throw to me didn’t hurt at all… the things they called ‘jokes’. The bullying never stopped. I had suicidal thoughts.. I thought so negatively of the world that I started to get numb of things. Gladly a friend of mine made me realize that I should not think so negatively.

I was being bullied for being silent, for being dark, for being weird… for being unlike them. But now, I ignore the bad things… I changed my perspective in life. I became an optimistic person. But negativities…stayed… I had stopped showing my so called skills… After some bad experiences and comments from my teachers and classmates. I did not stand up for what they had done… I let things like those pass.

To all people out there… Please do understand me.

Bullied for being a tomboy

My name is Valerie, but I go by Val. The bullying started in 3rd grade. I was picked on by other girls for being a tomboy. I liked sports, ate pizza, and collected action figures (WWE to be exact). It got worse in 4th grade. People started calling me “mud monkey” and “redneck”. In 5th grade, I was thrown in mud by a group of girls. I no longer trust anyone and I’m currently heading to 10th grade.

2 Real friends and Eminem

i don’t have 30 friends, but those that i have are real, they never betray me. On that final exam,in my country i had a low score, couse i don’t care about something that don’t help me, instead, make me feel pain, that’s why i didn’t care. I want to become a digital artist, so i focus on that. I entered high school, all classmates were smoking, something that i hate. I didn’t talked with anyone, they all asked me the same thing: ” Why you don’t talk with us?” , i didn’t ever responded to that question, in middle of the year i became paranoic, whole school knew my name somehow, 2 of my classmates took photos of me, i don’t know why. in the second semester i started watch anime, i really like it, i searched anime related to anxious people, i started to understand me and my situation very much, and i also realised that it wasn’t my fault, i don’t have to change to be accepted, they have to change to be accepted by people like me, because they are wrong. I started listen Eminem, he’s been in coma from bullying, so if he survived from a coma, i can survive too, i will get tough situations, i will fight for my ideals, i will show them, i already know what i believe, i am more powerful than anyone, and i will prove that, they can bully me, but i will stay up, for my ideals, for my friends, for my life.

Bullied for Hearing Loss

I hated middle school it was the worst. I am supposed to wear hearing aids but don’t because I got bullied. I read lips and was and still am very good at reading lips. I know sign language and can read braille. I got bullied for wearing my hearing aids, so I didn’t wear them. I got called Helen Keller and a ton of mean things and got smart remarks from peers. Other students would make hand movements and move their lips and ask what they were saying. They told me that if I were to die no one would care. I would get called annoying because I would ask WHAT a lot because I would not be able to see their lips and I wouldn’t be able to hear them. I wanted to just die. I felt like no one cared and no one did. My mother just told me I had thin skin and need to thicken it and would smile trying to make me feel better, but instead I felt worse a lot worse. My boyfriend was supportive and he helped me through it all. My one friend that was in high school tried to tell me she would beat them up and made me feel worse. I knew she was trying to help but didn’t. I still don’t wear my hearing aids because I’m a coward and I am scared to wear them. I could really use them though because this August I will be a Freshman in high school.

Nightmare came true

It all started when I was in 9standard. I had to change my school as we moved into different city. I have always been a topper for my whole life and I was pretty good in making friends too. When I came to school first time some students in my class asked me to objectionable dares for which I refused then from that day they started bullying me. They asked everyone to not talk to me and isolated me in my new class. They passed explicit comments, snatched my things, pushed me, teased me for my disease. I always thought that this was ‘their’ way of friendship.
Even one day a guy of my class threatened to tear my clothes. I couldn’t tolerate all this. when I complained to higher authority I was asked to be strong enough to tolerate all this!
I was told that I’ll get worst people in my life. I was shattered to the core but didn’t had courage to share with anyone. I tolerated this hell for whole one year and then I asked my parents to change my school because till then I was already into depression and I knew I cannot tolerate anymore . Changing my school did help me save from bullying and bullies but their memories still haunts me to give sleepless nights. I want to tell everyone to not take this thing casually and take action against it.

It isn’t easy being smart

Most kids at my school love sports, which is a terrible thing if you hate sports and are terrible at it like me. After a mistake I made involving the most popular girl in school she started spreading rumors and talking behind my back. My best friend and I were both victims of this, we went to the teachers seeking help but the situation remains unresolved.

This is my story

My story may seem pretty mild but it still affected me and hurt me. During Primary School from the ages 7-12 i was the target of bullying. It wasn’t majorly bad but I dreaded it when a certain person came near me. She was the leader of the girls in our class and controlled what everyone did and what they were allowed to do during break and lunch. we were only young and naive but i really hated the way she controlled everything. the other girls didn’t mind but i was an independent person and wanted to do what i wanted to do so i did and wasp really hated that. she wanted to lead the girls. she was also jealous of me, of what i dont know. anyway we had these events that we all got together with, all the people in the school and their parents and did a kind of market day in the school. I really hated these days because she would follow me around when i was on my own and call me names and laugh at me. she would sometimes do this to me at school. any way i did tell my parents and they helped me put up with this. all she wanted was a reaction and i didnt give her that so she soon stopped. the thing that really bugged me was that she would pretend to be my friend. as i go to a private school we go on buses to the school as it is about 40-50 mins away. the girls on my bus really hated me and gave me problems all journey long. they didnt as much say things but when i tried to join in they cut me off and made sarcastic comments to me all the time. it took ages to build up a relationship with them and the relationship is very fragile and one word wrong and they would be at me again. they still talk about me behind my back now but it isn’t as bad…it’s just catty jealousy, i dont bother about them anymore. it was terribly hard those first few months with them. my parents really helped and we invited those girls round together to build up a relationship. there were 3 girls, 2 were sisters and the other one was a first cousin to them. they were fine when i was with just the sisters but when they got together with the other girl they were horrid!!! then when i was 12 and just started senior years the 2 class bullies, lets call them “1 and 2” decided that i was going out with half the boys in my class. this was not true as i didn’t even have a boyfriend!! they pestered me all day long and in the end i told my class teacher. they really hurt me. my class teacher was really good and i haven’t had hassle from them since i told the teacher. if i get it now i just laugh it off with a joke. it doesnt hurt much now. IF YOU ARE BEING BULLIED TELL SOMEONE!!! ITS THE BEST THING TO DO! STAY STRONG DONT BREAK DOWN THATS WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO DO. TAKE COURAGE…..AND BE HAPPY! SMILE, HOLD YOUR HEAD HIGH, BE CONFIDENT!!