Girl who bullied me and my friends for five years isn’t coming back for a semester
long. (tl;dr at the end)
When I was in third grade, a started going to a private school. I had just moved to Atlanta two years before, and was going to a public school, which I hated. I had never made any friends on my own before, so it took a while to adjust, but I loved my new school.
In late august, my mother told me about someone she met at a party whose daughter had invited me to go swimming with her at a nearby country club. I was super excited, and her daughter was in my class, so I talked to her the next day. (I’ll call her Z) During recess, she introduced me to her two best friends, both of which became mine. (I’m still friends with one today, but I’m not sure where the other is now.)
When we went swimming, I met her two little brothers. They were as annoying as litter brothers can be, and splashed us endlessly. I didn’t really mind, but Z was screaming and hitting them for messing with us. I didn’t think much of it, and I proposed we all play a game so they would be included. She stormed off to get something to eat, so I, not knowing my way around the club, stated in the pool to talk to her brothers. Out of nowhere, she jumped in the water behind me and pushed me under. When I came up, she jumped on me and did it again. I didn’t think much of this either, because my little sisters did the same thing, but she was so much heavier than me.
I stayed friends with her, but the abuse didn’t stop there. For the next two years, out of nowhere, she would punch me, kick me, scratch me, and on a few occasions even head butt me. Every time I said stop, she’d stop, and go back to how she was before. She was almost bipolar. Since she’d always stop, I didn’t tell any teachers. I didn’t want to bother them.
In fourth grade, she came over to my house. We were playing on the wii, and my youngest sister (5) asked if she could play. I said she couldn’t, because we only had two remotes, but when she said please, Z started screaming and chasing her. I hid under my covers. I had no idea what to do. I stayed there for a while, and didn’t hear anything but the sound of a hard slap and my sister screaming. My mom heard the screaming and ran upstairs. Z was calmly playing the wii by herself. My sister told my mom what happened, and she started yelling at Z. I was still under my covers, but I could hear it. Z started crying, and my mom apologized for yelling and told her it was only because she thought of her as one of her own children. I don’t remember what happened after that. I guess I wanted to forget so much, I did.
In fifth grade, I came done with scratches on my arm, and my mom asked me where I got them from. I casually told her it was Z, and that she did this all the time, but she wasn’t mad at me. My mom told me to tell a teacher if it ever happened again.
I told the coordinator about it, and we had a meeting with her, and it was agony. Z was crying. She said she didn’t know she was hurting me, and I immediately forgave her.
I learned later that she did the same thing to other kids in my grade.
In seventh grade, we were both at a new school, the best one in the state. It was easy for her to get in because her parent went and were benefactors. Not to mention her grandparent wrote a bunch of letters. My parents didn’t go to school in Atlanta, so I was all on my own (I sound bitter, and I am, but it’s true).
When school started, I decided we were going to have a fresh start. I was super nice to her, introduced her to new friends, and went to and from PE with her. She hated PE. She would cry almost every class. She was also furious that her teachers wouldn’t let her knit in class (???) and that she wasn’t allowed to wear hats. But I was still nice to her. I knew she wouldn’t treat me like she did at our old school.
I was wrong again.
In October, it started again. She was hitting me. She was kicking me under the table. I’m my birthday, she shoved one of our friends into me so I’d hit my head on the door frame. In November, I was standing at the bottom of a steep hill, talking to someone who went to public school with me. She was at the top, and was sliding down to knock over people walking up. My back was turned. She slid down really fast, kicked my legs out from under me, and I fell back and hit my head on something hard. I had a concussion. I was out for a week, and almost missed exams. I had terrible headaches for the next two months.
When I was in the nurses’ office, the dean of girls came in and started asking me what happened. I couldn’t really remember, but I knew it was Z. I told her over and over again that it was an accident, but I don’t know if she believed me.
There was more and more abuse. When I finally told my grade chair in April, she told me to tell her to stop. (This was by far everyone’s least favorite grade chair. I hated her.) I came back and told her everything Z had done to me. The grade chair brought me to my second least favorite person, who was 4’10 and had a voice higher than Snoop. They brought Z in and I had to confront her. They kept saying that “we don’t want anybody to get in trouble.” I was telling them about some of the times she hurt me, and Z tried to blame it on ME. “I didn’t want to give her a concussion. I just wanted to knock her over, but she wasn’t paying attention.”
They didn’t do anything. They made me apologize to her, and sent me to class. I was furious.
Eighth grade comes and I have new friends. I chose to be nice to everyone this year and to avoid Z at all costs. Little do I know she has another punching bag. One of my best friends was not only being beaten, but Z was threatening her, following us around, and watching her. She was terrified. This time, it was my friend’s dad that came forward, and Z was no longer allowed to speak to her. Z still followed me around, but I ignored her.
At our winter dance, I was talking to a boy the entire time, so Z was following my friend again. She started threatening her again, and was suspended
For the rest of the semester.
In February, she left. Z is coming back next year, but my friend is going to a different school.
I sometimes see Z. Her house is on my way to mine from school. She has her hair cut a little past her ears and covered by a knit beret in a gross color of grayish-green. She always wears a cardigan with a skull on the back. Super edgy, I know. All of her social media accounts are called something cringey and emo too. She still talks to me online, and I don’t really mind, as long as she can’t touch me.
TL;DR:
A girl who beat me on and off for five and a half years has been suspended twice and isn’t coming back until freshman year. Boy, has she downgraded.