“No, I do not believe that I deserve the poor treatment I face daily.”
“So, why do you allow your own classmates to act in such a manner?”
“It’s not that I allow them, Ms. Jakole. They just do it.”
“Yes, well, you have to understand, Mr. Hallows, you can’t report their behavior until you do ‘P.R.W.’.”
“But-”
“Ah-ah-ah. Do you know what ‘P.R.W.’ is, Mr. Hallows?”
I know all too well what ‘P.R.W.’ is. It’s supposed to be a list of things to do before you report bullying to the school staff. Personally, I think it’s ridiculous how the victims of bullying are expected to put in so much work just to report the bullying itself.
“I’ll take that as a no. ‘P.R.W.’ stands for: Politely ask if they could stop; Run away from them to ‘send a message’; Warn them that if they continue they will be reported to school staff.”
The thing about ‘P.R.W.’ is that it’s not really supposed to help the victim settle it themself. It’s actually just used as an excuse so the staff don’t have to deal with it. Like, if you were to do ‘P.R.W.’ then come and report it to staff they’d say, “You have to do ‘P.R.W.’ before you report bullying; You have no proof of actually doing it.”–Even if you come with proof of you doing ‘P.R.W.’. So in reality, you can’t actually report bullying–and I know this, I’ve experienced it multiple times; Yet I try and report how these jerks treat me, everyday. It’s sad that I continue to hope that one day they will be reported and no one will have to deal with them again. I mean I doubt I’m the only one hoping but yet it is true that anyone who hopes is as foolish as me. The chance of them getting caught is lower than the chance of dinosaurs coming back to life. Now you’re probably wondering who’s “them”. It’s simple really; “Them” is Tirina, Cherry, Sophie, Katherine, Jake, Nino, Hannah, Eli, Polina, Zach, Lucy, Aiden, Kristie, Alexandra, and everyone else in my class except for Mackenzie. Mackenzie is the only friend I’ve ever had. She has blonde hair, blue eyes, and usually wears trendy clothes; She’s what I call ‘pretty’. Mackenzie is a massive girly-girl, she loves fashion and everything I don’t understand. She’s as basic as basic can be. The mean-girl clique was just about to let her join as their new leader til they found out she was friends with me; They told her to pick them or me, she said, “Why don’t we all just be friends?”. Till this day they beg her to unfriend me and become their leader. I wish people begged to have me in their cliques.
“Yeah, I’m still hoping, Mackenzie.”
“Why even bother? Like–they clearly won’t even–like–change, Roddie.”
“We don’t know that and don’t call me Roddie; Call me Rodriek, my name.”
“Yuh, we–like–totally do. The system is–like–corrupt or whatever, IDEK, Roddie.”
“Stop calling me Roddie! It’s embarrassing!”
“Nah, I think Roddie is–like–wack or whatever, Roddie.”
I don’t know why I did it; but I did it.
I punched Mackenzie.
“Lucky for you that–like–even if I–like–reported you to the staff they wouldn’t–like– even care. I have to–like–go or whatever, the–like–‘mean girl clique’ needs a new leader or whatever.”
Then Mackenzine just walked away like nothing happened. I don’t know how I should feel; Mad that Mackenzine couldn’t show a speck of respect towards me? Sad that I lost the only friend I’ve ever had? Happy that I finally got it out of my system? Well no matter how I should feel I just felt blank–Well I felt blank until I saw Mackenzie strutting down the school halls with Tirina, Cherry, and Katherine (the mean girl clique!). When I saw them I immediately felt a color of emotions. How dare she abandon me for my own bullies? I mean if she punched me, I wouldn’t have gone strutting off with her bullies! I would’ve just asked for an apology then move on. Mackenzie is not only so dramatic but also terribly vicious. I don’t know how people can stand being around her. My heart ached seeing Mackenzie walking away with her bullies; I didn’t want to see her happy at all. But unfortunately, I had to since I needed to go to my next class. As I walked through the halls, I heard whispers from the mean girls.
“Poor Mackenzine, he got punched in the face by Roddie!”
“I wonder if he hit her hard enough to knock her teeth out?”
“That boy is so stupid. Why doesn’t he just die already?”
“He better be careful–he might get expelled!”
“Roddie–you–like–are–a–disgusting–little–boy.”
“I can’t wait till I find him and beat him up!”
“Oh yeah–that–like–would be funny–to watch–wouldn’t–it?”
After hearing that I started crying. Not because of the words but because they were talking about me. In fact, I didn’t even care if they saw me cry, I was just plain upset that Mackenzie wasn’t there to comfort me. I thought that was odd; she always comes when something happens to me–not today though. Maybe she just left without saying anything so I wouldn’t feel guilty. Well I didn’t need to worry about it anymore because I saw her on my way to gym. She sat down right beside the mean girl clique, which made me sick. At least, I hoped it was her, I wanted to get away from Mackenzie.
“Hi, Mackenzine.”
She turned around and looked at me with a grin.
“Hey, Roddie!”
I was disgusted with myself for having to speak to Mackenzie. I turned my attention to my gym teacher, Mr. Burt, who was just standing there doing nothing. He’s always just sitting in his chair, staring at us, waiting for us to start exercising.
When we were all done stretching and warming up, Mr. Burt called out, “Okay everyone, let’s warm up for our game of soccer. For those of you who haven’t played soccer before, I’m going to teach you the basics now. First, we’re going to run around the field for five minutes. After we’re tired, we’ll take a short break then we’ll play a small match. Okay?”
Everyone nodded in agreement except for the mean girls; they didn’t even look at Mr. Burt. They were busy whispering to each other.
“Are you sure Roddie isn’t in here with you? He almost looks like him–you know–the loser.”
“Yeah, right. You guys are so dumb, he’s not in here.”
Once everyone started running around the field, I headed straight for Mackenzie. I didn’t want to sit next to her any more than I needed to. Once I reached her I felt my heart skip a beat. Her hair was messy and her make-up smudged. I don’t know what came over me but I grabbed her arm and turned her around.
“Mackenzie, I want you to tell Tirina, Cherry, and Katherine to leave me alone.”
“What? Why?”
“Because it’s annoying and it hurts. And it stops now!”
“No, it’s fine–you’re–like–boring anyway. Just ignore them and they’ll stop.”
“I’ve tried ignoring them and they keep harassing me. And it’s not okay to hurt someone just because they annoy you!”
I quickly turned around and ran away from Mackenzie, heading towards the bathrooms. I knew she’d never listen to me. Besides, if I tried to explain to her that she was bullying people, she would just say it’s not true. Then again, Mackenzie would probably just punch me and walk away. I went into the boys’ bathroom so no one could hear us arguing. I stepped inside the boy’s bathroom, and walked to the stall where I locked myself in.
“Mackenzie, please be quiet.”
“Why? Because you’re so stupid that you can’t shut up?”
“I’m not stupid. And I can shut up whenever I want to.”
“Your voice is so annoying. Did your parents have to give birth to you twice? I would’ve been dead if I were you. You’re so gross; you’re disgusting, ugly, and pathetic.”
“It’s not nice to talk about yourself that way.”
“Why? Because it’s true?”
“Yes, because it’s true.”
“I am not disgusting. I may be weird but at least I’m not disgusting.”
“But you are. You’re such a mess. No one likes you. All you do is walk around with your head lowered and you have the most ridiculous fashion sense. You’re too skinny and you wear too much make-up. Your hair is so frizzy; you should use some conditioner to tame it. And your skin is so pale; you should tan once a week! You’re so annoying, I can’t stand you!”
“I’m not annoying! I’m normal! I’m not crazy or anything like that.”
“You’re just a little kid. You act just like a little kid! You’re stupid, you’re boring, and you’re a freak. You’re ugly and fat; you’re so lazy and stupid, you can’t even tie your shoes properly.”
“I’m not ugly!”
“You’re so dumb! You have no brain in your head. Even if you were a baby, I wouldn’t want to be near you. You’re gross, you smell bad, your breath is horrible, and you have a bad personality. Do you even know how to talk? Everyone hates you, everyone despises you, and everyone wants to kill you. You’re so stupid that you have to ask other people if you’re pretty! Don’t you know what beauty is?”
“It’s not easy to be beautiful.”
“Of course it’s not easy to be beautiful! Being pretty requires a lot of effort. If you want to be pretty–you have to work for it and be patient.”
“Ugh–this is getting boring. I’m leaving.”
“See you later, idiot.”
I waited a few minutes before exiting the stall. I was surprised to see Mackenzie, Cherry, and Katherine all waiting for me outside the stall. I slowly approached them.
“Look, you three–leave me alone! I already told you to stop bothering me, so stop it!”
The girls giggled and Mackenzie said, “Oh, Roddie, don’t worry. We won’t bother you anymore.”
“Really? That’s great!”
Mackenzie smiled and nodded. I guess I was being naive. I figured that Mackenzie would finally understand after I explained to her all the things that she was doing to me. Well, I was wrong.
As I walked past Mackenzie, Cherry took my hand and pulled me closer. Mackenzie stood behind me.
“Hey, you, what are you doing?” I said, pulling my hand away from Cherry and looking at Mackenzie.
“Nothing. Just letting her know that she has no friends.”
Tirina laughed loudly. Cherry grabbed my wrist again and tried to pull me closer. I glared at Tirina and Katherine. Both of them smirked at me. Mackenzie held my shoulders.
“Don’t be afraid, Roddie,” she whispered. “We won’t hurt you. Please don’t be frightened.”
I glared at her again.
“Please, Roddie. Come to our table during lunch. Tirina will bring you food.”
I knew that this was a complete lie now and they just wanted to pick on me even more.
Before I could respond, Mackenzie pushed me forward. I fell onto the floor. Before I could get up, I could hear a muffled Mr. Burt calling everyone for the end of gym and the start of lunch. The girls ran away as fast as they could. I got up and shook off the dust. I noticed that Mackenzie had left her book bag on the ground. I picked it up and opened it. Inside were several notebooks and a few books. I found Mackenzie’s diary and opened it. It was a notebook filled with cute poems and stories.
I closed the book and put it back in Mackenzie’s bag. I walked down the hall with the bag in my hands. After that whole ordeal, I just needed to go to bed. But I still had another hour until i was home. So for now, I’ll go to lunch.
As I walked through the gray doors, i saw mackenzie waiting for my entrance. I ignored her and Went straight to the lunch line. After sitting down, i wondered if I could fix the P.R.W. But that was obvious. I couldn’t. There was a never-in-a-lifetime chance I could ever. Before I knew it, lunch was over. I didn’t even touch my food.
I remembered that it was time to go home. I was ecstatic as I ran as quickly to the front doors and burst out them. I saw my mom waiting to pick me up, and I hopped straight into her car.