Victim of a Bully

Going through puberty and being in school was complicated. The level of teasing increased and there was one person who would not stop bugging me. It was difficult to stand up for myself for the fear of getting in trouble with the bully. I knew that snitching on the bully would make things worse. I did not know other alternatives so I kept getting bullied. I had to come up with a plan to stop this bully from bugging me; it was not easy but I was glad in the end that I was able to stop the bullying.

I was thirteen years old when I began getting bullied. Puberty really hit me hard. I started to get pimples all over my face. My mother, at that time, had passed away and I had only my father to depend on. Not having a female present in my life was complicated because I did not know what puberty was and I did not understand the changes that I was going through. It was strange to ask my father to buy my personal stuff but I had no other choice, he was my only caretaker. My father would buy me products to clear my face, but nothing seemed to work. I started to get depressed because now I was getting obsessed with the way that I looked. I felt ugly and unwanted. I felt the need to find a way to get rid of all my pimples. Having a face full of pimples was hard as a teenager because I started to get more recognition in a negative way.

Going to school was the worse. My classmates would not leave me alone. They would call me pizza face, once they noticed that I was changing. Going to a Catholic school we were all taught to love each other and not judge each other by the way we looked. I was always confused because I did not know why we were being taught one thing and yet my own classmates would do the opposite.

This one person in particular by the name of Cedric, one of my classmates, would always pick on me. He started to call me pepperoni pizza every time I passed by him. At first, I did not think anything of it until this one day he went over the top with the teasing. Once I was chosen to pass out my classmate’s graded papers. I did not want to do it because I knew that people were going to make fun of me. Nonetheless, I had to get up and pass the papers whether I liked it or not. In passing the graded papers back to my classmates I felt depressed. I got to where Cedric was and I gave him his graded paper. He looked at me and told me that he did not want the paper if I was the one giving it to him. He hurt my feelings so I just walked away, as I was walking away he tripped me and said “Look I dropped the pizza!” Everyone started to laugh at that moment I started to built up anger towards him. I got up and kept passing the students graded papers around with such anger. The teacher was not in the classroom she had stepped out so she did not see what happened to me. I sat down flushed with embarrassment and anger. It ruined my whole day. For the reminder of that day I was just quiet and thinking about how I should of stood up for myself and how I could just get Cedric to stop bullying me. Snitching on him would not solve anything I knew it would only make it worse. Knowing that everyone was Cedric’s friend, if I told, everyone would make him seem like he did not do anything wrong and he would not get in trouble. I was in a dilemma that I knew I had to fix right away because it was really bugging me and I would go home crying mostly every day.

It was difficult for me to stand up for myself because going to a Catholic school the rules were strictly enforced such as fighting, for example, caused a student to get expelled. Knowing that my father was paying money to keep me in a Catholic institution I did not want to get into trouble thus; I always tried my best to keep my cool with those who would hurt my feelings. When Cedric tripped me the fear of getting in trouble was slowly decreasing. I felt like the anger that I was starting to have towards Cedric was taking over thus; fear was being defeated.
One night, I was in my room thinking and crying just thinking of ways to get Cedric off my back. Through my crying and thinking I came up with a solution. I knew what I wanted to say, when I was going to say it and how I was going to approach him. It was all planned out in my head. I was first going to get him alone where I knew he would not be around his friends. Secondly, I was going to talk to him about his behavior towards me. Lastly, I was going to physically hurt him for the hurt that he has caused me. In thinking about this plan, I was feeling better already and I wanted to do it at the moment. I fell asleep anxious and ready for the following school day.

The next day arrived and I was ready to go forward with my plan. It was morning and he asked to go to the bathroom. I asked to go the bathroom as well. As he was walking, I stopped him. I started off asking him why he picks on me all the time and how it had to stop. I ended up kicking him hard in the family jules. He fell to the floor out of breath. I ran to the teacher and I told her what I did to Cedric. She was furious and worried at the same time. I told her my motives for kicking him. She immediately conducted a parent conference. I felt relieved at that moment and I did not care what the consequences were going to be. All I knew was, I was content with my actions, even though it was wrong.


At the conference, my father, Cedric’s parents, the principle and my 7th grade teacher were all present to discuss the issue that had been going on for months now. I finally expressed myself .Cedric’s face looked shocked as if he did not know how badly he was hurting me. Cedric apologized in the end for everything that he had put me through. Although his apology did not seem like he was sincere I still forgave him. Being in a Catholic school, I was taught that forgiving was the key to moving forward to a better life. I started to feel happy once the situation with Cedric was resolved.


The next day my classmates were different with me. Everyone started to talk to me. The teacher that day started to talk about the changes that our bodies start to go through once you reach a certain age. I felt like everyone now understood why I had a lot off pimples on my face.
Seventh grade eventually came to an end and I was pleased that I had friends and the teasing stopped. During the summer my father took me to go get facials. At the place where I got my facials they gave me creams that would help clear my face. Once 8th grade came Cedric came back from summer vacation with his face full of acne, with braces and a squeaky voice. Thankfully my face was clear. I did not approach him to make fun of him like he had done to me on the other hand my other classmates made fun of him. In the end, I felt like I was finally understood and I felt my last year of being in middle school was going to be great.

I work at the Santa Fe Dam, in the city of Irwindale. Coincidently, I saw Cedric again after six years. He was so surprised to see me and I just kept having flashbacks of the day he tripped me and the day that I kicked him nonetheless I was surprised to see him too. We did not talk about what happened six years ago but to be funny I told him, “Look my face cleared up!,” and we both laughed. We talked about how it was nice seeing each other after six years. Now that we are both older and mature we talked about important matters and not the past; plus we were kids.
In conclusion, in life I learned that when people bug me I have to just start to let things go and forgive people because if I do not then it is only going to affect me and the other people could care less. In life we are going to be bullied the solution is to just strive for the best, forgive and move forward in order to grow healthy, not only physically but, spiritually and mentally.