It Used To be That Way

Believe it or not, but I was bullied when I was in middle school.

Let's jump back about 4 to 6 years ago. I lived in Ozone Park, Queens. My middle school's name was Ms. 226, Virgil M. Grissom. He was some kind of astronaut. But enough about him. I started there in 6th grade and came out of there in the 8th. It was somewhere around that point, I'm not sure. There was this kid names Jaaron Clark. I real pain in the ass. And I don't know how it happened, but he decided to target me.

At first, I thought he was just playing around. But as the weeks progressed, he started to really berate me. He called me dirty names like O.D.B (some rapper that had nasty braids). He called me a donkey because of my teeth, he said that I needed to take showers. It was just horrible. I tried my best to ignore him, but his actions just rubbed me the wrong way.

The one thing that really pushed me to my mental limit was when I was in the lunchroom. Now, I was sitting at the table, I just received my lunch and was ready to full myself. Until I felt this strong push at my back. Before I knew it, he and a couple of his "goons" were wrapping duct tape around my mouth and body. I mean, they literally made me into a mummy. I tried with all my might to break out of it, but the only thing that was breaking out was the great amounts of tears flowing from my eyes. People were laughing and pointing and I hobbled out of the lunchroom and into the bathroom.

It was horrific. Amazingly, my favorite security guard, Sgt. Evans, cut me lose and told me some valuable stuff. He said this:

"Listen here. You can't appear weak to kids like him. They will take advantage of you. Trust me, you have to stay and look strong in a school like this."

I sat there, nodding. I really didn't know how to look tough and I certainly wasn't tough to begin with. But I did know how to speak my mind in writing. So in class, I basically wrote a poem with was targeted at him, but it was so indirect, I'm not even sure if that's the word, but he had no idea that I was talking about him. After I read it, I felt so relieved.

As I'm writing this, I'm staring to get the anger that I felt back then. The loneliness that I felt that day I was gift wrapped. But at the end, I feel stronger. I feel confident enough to post this so that everyone can see this!