Have you ever been ridiculed at school like Harriet?

I didn't start toting a notebook around until after I saw this movie, haha. And I certainly never brought it to school, but I was bullied incessantly in the sixth grade like Harriet was.

It all boiled down to dressing and acting as I wanted, which made me stick out like a sore thumb. Not that I went out of my way to be some crazy free spirit, but if you don't conform during those years, God help you.

I also didn't have good friends around me and they would make it a point to spread rumors and talk trash so they wouldn't be bullied along with me. It sucked, to say the least. =|

I was bullied so much in middle school! Basically, I have spinal problems and I had to wear a thick plastic back brace that covered my entire torso, and because of that I couldn't dress in anything that wasn't oversized with an elastic waste. Combine that with being shy and thats some fun stuff hahahaha.

Yes, I remember I was in 5th or 6th grade, probably sixth and I used to draw pictures of the people in class. Usually I would draw the girls b/c I liked drawing different types of hair. Anyway, this guy who wasn't the nicest, he was when he wanted to be, he took my picture from me and ran around the room so I couldn't get it back. He told and was trying to show everyone what I drew. They probably thought I was some kind of freak. But I like drawing things and doodling when I get bored. I didn't think anyone would understand and everyone was sort of just looking at us. I remember the teacher had left the room and I was repeating, "Give it back" and "I was just doing it for the hair" I think it was a drama class and we were watching some kind of video-probably the helen keller movie. Anyway some details have escaped me like how it was resolved. It was so embarassing. I never did it again and I remember it being a little awkward for a while after that.

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Me and this one girl used to start rumors about each other and do mean things all the time. At one point I was even the president of the club that was against her. I guess that makes me more like Marion... But we're good friends now, it only took us 10 years.

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Ah, this movie. It's been a couple of years since I seen it, and I still own it on VHS in a box downstairs with all of my other VHS tapes that I want to keep safe. Was I teased like Harriet? Not quite, but I suppose what I experience was on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being the worst) a 9 1/2. It was pretty bad, though I suppose at the time it happened it seemed to be the 'end of the world.' It's still ironic how I loved those years of my life at the same time, due to how I was younger.

It all started one day, in 5th grade. I was a Pokemon fanatic. I collected the games, books, plushies, the clothes (I still own Pokemon stuff, but I don't obsess in clothing anymore. But I do own plushies and love the games. I'm a normal looking girl now) -- you name it. I would draw it in class, and I looked like a tomboy then. I had short hair to below my chin, or my shoulders, bangs, and I wore whatever I could grab out of the closet -- which didn't really match, but who cared then? I didn't shower as much as I did then, but I don't really remember exact details of when I did. I was 10 years old, and I remember when the teasing began.

First it was "Ew, she likes Pokemon." Then it became the other one, "Look, it's Freak-a-chu." And then I was teased, bullied, and kicked by students in the shins. I would get angry, and receive punishment for being the one bullied when they fully deserved it. When I had gotten someone in trouble, they had received the punishment (sometimes) as well, and then they made it their personal vendetta to get even with me. Time passed, and 7th grade came. It was time to change appearances, and I was still the same short-haired girl, with a fully developing body. I didn't want to change my clothes, which were then just Lands' End clothes. I decided to start changing to fit in, and started wearing Abercrombie, Aeropostale... You name it. I slowly began to be less of the bullied girl, until one day things changed again.

I liked a boy. And not a rather attractive boy, but a boy I thought was cute. I was 13 then, and I really liked him. So I flirted a bit, like a 13-year-old would cluelessly. "I'd do anything for you." The next time I saw him, he hated me. We had been friends, until he decided to join the other kids and tease me. I was no longer the girl who was trying to change her image. So then I devised a plan.

I had short hair then. I would grow it out longer, and have my bangs grow out. As soon as I went home, I parted my bangs and wetted them down, training them to grow out. Over time, I stopped getting it cut and I let it grow out to below my shoulders. I had my bangs longer then, and pretty soon when I was 16 it was past my waist. Between that time people had hated me, and tried to bring me down. I had been through the worst teasing, such as gum in my hair, "I'm gay. So you can't date me.", being nearly expelled by a bunch of kids who wanted me out and made up a lie that I had said I wanted to "kill a girl in my class." (I never said that, at all. I would KNOW if I said that. I'm not that type of person at all! :()

So over time, my teasing ended when I was 17. Though one day in art class, the boy who hated me ended up hearing from a group of boys that I was telling some kids in art class about it just to explain my past, and people who knew him heard me and told him and one the way out of art class the guy who hated me totally ended up being like, "So you still like me, huh?" and they were like, "Haha, you like him still..." And I said, "Shut up. You guys really need to stop. Give it up."

You know, it's one of those situations were I think if I met one of them years down the road it'd be like that 13 Going on 30 moment, where the guy is not so desirable anymore.

Not as bad as Harriet, but you be the judge.

I've been bullied at school a lot of times. It started back in 5th grade when lots of kids found out I was autistic (mild form, I mean). A lot of times they would walk away from me and tell me that autism "was a disease" and that I'm "contagious." I would try to tell them I wasn't, but still kids would just torment me by spreading rumours, talk sh*t behind my back, and pick on me. Around that time, I didn't really have friends. It felt like the whole class hated me. It was such a painful moment of my life! *tear*

ok i'm going to vent this here to people who get it (all you other picked-on kids). it's so stupid that i'm 25 and still scarred by middle school, but what can you do? it started around 5th grade, involving a younger boy, his older brother, and his older brother's friends. the younger boy "asked me out" on the bus, but i said no. well, this boy's brother didn't like that i said no, so he rallied all his friends to torture me as much as possible (ooh big 6th graders). they called me a whore and a bitch, threw things at me, threatened me, teased me, and NOBODY stood up for me or stood by my side. kids don't want the wrath on them too. i would come home crying every day, telling my mom everything. she finally went to the boys' parents, who didn't believe a word of it because "their little angels would never do something like that". the school (a small catholic k-8 school) wouldn't get involved and intervene (bullying? fine. untucked shirts? MORTAL SIN!)so I was on my own. finally my older sister took a stand and pretty much threatened the kid's life (as much as an 8th grade girl can), then tripped him on stage during a christmas pageant (stuck her foot out, SO FUNNY!) to show him that she meant business. thank god for older sisters. i can't say it ever completely stopped after that but it mostly died down. there was always that unspoken tension and dagger-eyes between us until i graduated to high school. oh i forgot the best part of that story: i was the girl who developed a chest first, so of course on top of the WHORE chants, i got comments like, boys only talk to you for what's under your shirt. nice.
BUT the fun doesn't stop there! throughout the duration of 7th and 8th grade, my "best friends" would periodically turn on me and decide that they weren't speaking to me. my "best best friend" was dating a boy who i had been pretty close to since kindergarden (neighbor) and every time i so much as looked in his direction they said i was flirting with him and trying to steal him from her. this spiraled to include any boy i spoke to (even to borrow a pencil) that i was a slut and a flirt. doesn't make it easier that i've always been the girl who got along better with boys BECAUSE girls are so f*king catty (case in point). so i would go weeks at a time eating lunch alone, sitting alone on the playground, not going anywhere on weekends, because they all rallied against me. then when i would confront them about it, they would say something like "oh YOU haven't been talking to US this whole time!" GAH! psychological abuse.
BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!! in 8th grade you weren't a girl if you weren't on the basketball cheerleading squad, so of course i joined. being a dancer, i always felt like i could be a good cheerleader too. well, in normal society i would have been, but not there. the other girls on the team were mostly gymnasts, so they had the characteristic extremely low weight and lack of development (think little leprechaun girls) who, at 14, weighed maybe only 75 pounds. i weighed a healthy, athletic, and beautiful 105 and was taller (but not tall! i'm only 5'1"! they were only maybe 4'10"!). these were the popular girls, though, so of course i was the "fat" one, made known by a conversation about how mortifying it is to weigh over 100 pounds, said very loudly in my presence. the team would take turns being "captain" every week, being allowed to call the cheers and lead, but i was told i wasn't allowed to be captain during my turn. this kept going on, so i quit the team. the only redeeming thing about quitting is that a bunch of other girls quit too because they couldn't stand how bitchy the gymnast popular girls were. i like to say i led the cheerleader revolution, throwing down my poms mid-game and leaving. i had a deep loathing of cheerleaders after that incident (i'm mostly recovered. i still can't stand ribbons). it never occurred to me to inform those skinny little elf bitches that i could break them in half and that they were the freaks who needed to eat a sandwich. nope, i was instead completely intimidated with deflated self-esteem and body issues. i can't believe i'm about to say thank god for public high school, but truly i mean it. i found a group of loyal friends with my same interests and had 4 good years. life's been alright since then, sans crazy college roommates, but that's typical drama, and i'm ok with it.
so to sum up, if you're still reading, my middle school years were absolutely terrible. no child should ever go through what i went through. i'm a music teacher now, and i see the mean streak in kids and do what i can to step in because i know what it's like to be the one picked on for truly no fathomable reason. but i pose a question now: is there anybody out there reading this forum who was the bully? the mean girl? (ps Mean Girls is SO relatable! lindsay lohan's only good role, love tina fey's writing) the twoface friend? if you were, why? i'm curious about your psyche. why did you purposely make others feel bad? and not just the sometimes insult or gossip that everybody, including me, participates in sometimes, but the deeply hurtful "whore, bitch, fat girl, slut". why?
i'm sorry this was a novel and all my therapist issues came spilling out. i couldn't help it.
^Lisa (ps Harriet the Spy was just on Starz)