There is always at least one time in your life where you have been bullied or teased. Whether it is physically, emotionally, or verbally. It’s just part of life. There will always be that one person who dislikes you and you don’t know why. For me it was the beginning of middle school.
   
   It began as soon as our teacher sat us next to each other. She had just passed out an assessment which I had quickly finished. It was only fifteen questions. I began rereading my favorite book that I had brought to school. I felt someone looking at me. When I turned I saw a boy with tousled brown hair who was about my age who was smirking at me.

“Can I help you or something?” I asked sort of creeped out.

“Why are you reading anyway? Only nerds read! Don’t you need to finish the test or something?” he said, slamming my book closed.
   

   I glared at the boy. Who did he think he was telling me what to do? And he closed my book! I didn’t even get to save my page or anything. I was already annoyed with him and we hadn’t even talked for five minutes.

“Are you serious?” I whispered, glancing at the teacher, “Don’t ever do that again”
   

   I quickly turned away from him as I heard snickers from his friends. My cheeks heated up as I ignored them. I later found out his name was Jonathan. Little did I know, this was just the beginning of a long year.
   

   The next day he greeted me with his friends, Allen and Kevin, in tow. Allen was a short boy with blond hair and brown eyes while Kevin had black hair and dull brown eyes. I sat at our shared desk with my shiny new pencil box that held assorted pencils and colors. A book lay in my hand but I made sure to keep it close to me. I didn’t want to have a repeat of yesterday. My thoughts were cut short by the sight of him reaching into the box and taking out three new lead pencils. I went to grab them from him but he pulled them out of reach.

“My friends and I are just going to borrow these.” He declared loudly before passing out the pencils to his two friends.
   

   I glared at him before closing the box and shoving it in my backpack. His friends had already sat down so there was nothing I could do. I tried to pay attention to what the teacher was saying but all I could notice was them throwing the pencils around and even chewing on them. I was dumbfounded. I only bought those pencils yesterday! Should I say anything? No, no that’s a bad idea. I thought to myself.
   

   As the months went by it only grew worse as his friends began to call me names. I didn’t say anything while they teased me but inside I was boiling.

“You’re such a nerd! Who likes to read anyway?” one of them would say as I read quietly.
   

   I once made the mistake of telling my teacher that they were teasing me. She simply told them to quiet down before continuing to ignore my pleading stares as always. How could she not hear what they called me day after day? One day she paused for a moment turning towards me before walking away again. But that one mistake of speaking up only made it worse.

”Julie is a snitch! Snitches get stitches Julie!” they called out to me.
   

   Another time as I was sitting up against the wall during lunch they came towards me. I kept my head down wishing they wouldn’t notice me. Please don’t come this way. Please don’t come this way.

“Hey Julie!” Allen said finally noticing me.

   Are you serious? I’m really not in the mood today. I groaned before looking up at the trio.

   “Aren’t you gonna say hi Julie?” Kevin said getting closer to me, is eyes narrowing. I shrunk down towards the large cement wall clutching my old binder closer to my chest. Why couldn’t they just go away? I just looked at them blankly before stepping to the side of them. Before I could walk away Kevin stopped me. His arm swung forward and his palm hit the flat of my binder. It clattered out of my hand and onto the floor spitting out papers. I quickly bent down and began shoving my papers into a pile my face burning. His friends clapped him on the back as they left laughing. Why me? What did I ever do to deserve this? How could they find this funny?
   

   But I did not say anything. Not when they took my pencils. Not when they called me names. Not when they poked me repeatedly. Not even when they copied off my work. But I snapped one day when I heard them call me a cow.

“Are you freaking kidding me? I cannot believe you have the nerve to call me that! I hate you so much! Why can’t you just leave me alone already? Don’t you have anything better to do with your sad, pathetic lives than bother me all day?” I yelled at them.

   They stopped walking behind me in shock. I was pinching my palms but it was no use. I was too lost in my anger. With my frustration towards these three people that would not leave me alone.

“I hate you! Don’t you ever talk to me like that! Just stop already!” I screamed at them. They stared at me weirdly before recovering.

“What do you mean moomoo?” Jonathan laughed.

   I lost it. I pushed him. And I kept pushing until he fell to the floor. I stood over him enraged. He stared at me before quickly picking up his fallen backpack. I realized what I had done and ran to the bathroom in tears.

   Later after lunch I was called to the office. The principal was disappointed. He told me that although they had been teasing me, I had no right to put my hands on him. That it made me wrong too. He had me suspended for a day, He didn’t understand. What was I supposed to do? I told a teacher but that didn’t help. I told them to stop but they didn’t listen. I just didn’t know what to do.
The next day at school I kept my eyes on the board. They stopped the teasing but it didn’t matter anymore. I just didn’t care anymore. I didn’t care what anyone said. Who cared what they said. From then on I had promised myself that I wouldn't care what others said. I should only care about what my loved ones think and no one else. They could try to bring me down but I would not let them anymore. This would be the last time.