I walk down the hallway of the high school, when a shove sends me face first to someone’s locker. See you later, dyke, I hear someone shout. There's an intense pain and my nose is dripping blood onto the floor so I run to the bathroom. Unfortunately, there were some girls in there already, so as I wash my bloody nose, they snort and murmur, What a loser. I flip them off when they close the door behind them, so they wouldn’t see me and tell the teacher. But shouldn't the teacher know about this? I sigh and stuff a paper towel up my nose and head back to class. You see, I was too shy and weak to stand up for myself. It was the first day of high school and I was already getting the crap bothered out of me. Earlier in the day, when people saw my short, black hair and my skinny jeans they already hated me. I really never figured out why, but I had an idea. I wasn't a cheerleader. I didn't own a miniskirt. I didn't have long, flowing, blonde hair. Maybe I did look like a boy. So what? Shouldn't you be able to express yourself? I get to class when my English teacher is in the middle of a sentence and she stops when she sees me. There's an empty seat in the back and as I walk towards it I feel everyone looking at me, their eyes following my every movement. I pretend to not care. Later in class, while Mrs. Osnow was blabbing about something I really give any bleep about, I felt a spitball hit my face. I turn around and there's a guy with messy hair and green eyes staring at me, with an evil smile. I get up and walk over to him. “What the hell is your problem?”, I shout. Nothing. It's just that you're so ugly, I wanted to add some decoration to your face, he said.  Everyone gets quiet and as I walk out of the classroom the teacher shouts Detention! Go to the principal's office!

A laughter erupts and I run toward the exit. I curse them out all in Polish and swear to myself to never come back to school. But I had to. My dad was excepting me to. So I went, and everyday I dealt with the shoving, name-calling, tripping, stealing of my stuff and even cyber-bullying at home. Facebook was a danger zone to me, and even today I hesitate to go on it. But for all I know, the bullying made me stronger. I realized that everyday teens go through it and I wanted to help the ones that can't stand up for themselves. Kids become bullies because they don't feel confident about themselves or they have their own issues they don't know how to deal with so they take it out on other kids. Bullying leads to many kids attempting suicide and unfortunately, killing themselves or becoming revengeful which can lead to for example a school-shooting. If you're being bullied, tell someone. An adult you trust, your parents, a teacher or staff. They will try to help you out. Remember, it's not going to be easy but don't take a permanent solution to a temporarily problem. I think school communities should raise an bullying-awareness meeting and offer an after-school program for kids who are having trouble with that. Stay strong, and thank you for listening to my story.