It wasn’t until I was lying there, tears staining my now colorless face that I finally realized my friends weren’t there for me. Standing up to myself was probably the bravest thing I had ever done and when no one even attempted to support my decision, my heart sank. It was honestly the most mortifying moment of my life, especially considering the fact that everyone felt the same way I did. I was now on my own.

Crying myself to sleep now became my nightly ritual. At school I felt trapped in a prison, my home my safe haven. Feeling like you have zero friends can really make a school day a nightmare. My so-called friends began to throw it in my face that they were having fun and I wasn’t. Constant trips to cities, while I was sitting at home, became a continuous reminder they hated me. Not once did they invite me to hangout or even talk about what had happened earlier that month. It was the only time I felt truly alone in the world. I wanted to confide in my mom and tell her my feelings, but my fear was that parent interference with the situation would make matters worse, so I sat in my room and hid from the world. Pretty soon I’d be able to avoid these people for the next few months, but when I realized my summer would be filled with sitting at home, my heart sank. I prepared for the most mind-numbing next few months of my teenage life.

Things became even worse after the week of finals. Throughout the whole ordeal of being socially exiled from my group of friends, I was able to maintain one friend, partially because we had every class together. She and all of my “close friends” went to their beach house without me. What surprised me most was the fact that they invited the one person so many secretly hated. She was whom I stood up to during the spring, the plan that backfired. To make matters worse, the one person I had maintained a friendship with was telling me how great a time she had with her. To hear those words come from her mouth made me fall into complete hysteria. There was no turning back. All of my friends had picked her over me. I was completely friendless.

In reality, many other teenagers go through the same ordeals I had to everyday. Standing up against a bully was the bravest thing I had ever done, but when I was no one was there for me, I knew my friends became bystanders and took the bully’s side Bystanders are as responsible as the bully because their inaction makes the victim emotionally disconnected in the world, as it did to me. If anyone always seems to be alone at lunch or walking the halls, talk to him or her. It will make a huge difference in their life.