Hello my name is bailey and this is my true story of courage. First off what is courage? Well courage is a noun meaning the ability to do something that frightens one. And that, I baily, had and shown in my middle school years; 6,7,and 8th grade. I was constantly bullied, called names like gay, idiot, a girl; even though I was straight, smart, and a boy. All of these names made me sad, annoyed, angry, furious , and even depressed. They made me hate myself because I did not fit in with them. I was not them, but that was fine. I did not need to fit in. I needed to be myself, to be who I truly am, the person that my friends are friends with. I don't care what others think about me. I am who I am. I'm not gay, i’m not a idiot, and i'm not a girl. These people just wanted to get to me, they wanted to hurt me. I don't know why though. I don't know if someone was bullying them, someone was telling them to do it. If their parents just went through a divorce. All I knew was that it was not ok, and I was not going to allow it.

Chapter one ( inocedent 1) (6th grade)

First off this kid from high school, we will call him billy; he called me gay boy every day and he even got three other kids involved. They were jack, john, and joel. Joel and John were two kids smaller than me in elementary school, and jack who was in my grade. They all called me gay boy. All I knew was that I needed to be strong and I told pupil services, middle schools guidance. I always told Mrs.Stephen. She was always so nice, and always helped me deal with my stress and anger. She told me to tell her every time something happens. That’s what i did one morning. I was riding the bus to school. I was strong and stood up for myself. I said “I’m not gay, so stop.” They just laughed and called me a little girl. “I'm not a girl,” I said. They then laughed again, and threw one of those crinkly plastic water bottles at me. It hit my forehead, and gave me a goose egg. I immediately told Mrs.Stephen. She then immediately told the principles. They were Mr. Stew, the vice principal, and Mr.Bitz, the principal. They both told them to stop, and it did. I never got an apology, but it stopped, and that was all that mattered.

Chapter two (incident 2,3, and 4) (7th grade)

This was now seventh grade. Sixth grade was good for the rest of the year, but this was seventh grade. A kid, we will call jeff, was in my math class. He called me gay almost every day. I talked to Mrs.Stephen and she talked to him. He said he was sorry to me, and I accepted his apologie. I believe he was going through some hard times, maybe he was even getting bullied. Then, there was this girl. We will call her miranda. She called me gay a few times, but I told Mrs.Stephen and that stopped, but whenever I rose my hand and got the answer wrong she would call me a idiot. I told Mrs. Stephen and it stopped; no apologie.  It started again and I told Mrs.Stephen. She moved me to a different math class so that it did not happen again. Soon, there was this new kid who moved from madison to monroe. we will call him samuel i went to try to become friends with him then he called me gay so i told mrs.stephen and it stopped no apologize through and then the rest of the year was great.

Chapter 3 (incident 3) (8th grade)

I sat by this kid named jeff in math again remember jeff he called me a gay a few times before. But this time he did not call me gay in fact he did not call me anything he just moved his things to block my face to not look at me. I asked why he was doing that he said “because i don't want to look at your ugly face”. i told mrs.stephen and she talked to him he didn't even know what was going on between us after that he said he was sorry and then we became friends not best friends but math class friends.

Epilogue

This story was 100% true i was bailey all of the name were replaced with false names to protect the people.

Sometimes all you need to say is sorry

-fisher k.

I would like to thank all of my friends for supporting me through this and making me feel good about myself. I would like to thank all the teachers who helped me. I would like to thank youth frontiers for coming to my school and putting on the courage retreat and teaching me to stand up for myself. Go the opposite way the crowd goes. find good friends who like you for who you are not for who you can be. Just be yourself and love yourself for who you are.

Hopefully not coming soon the high school version