The girl on the outside…

The girl was used to standing on the outside. She stood on the outside every single day. The cool kids hated her, and would mock her mercilessly. It was something she was used to.

Sometimes it was her clothes. Her so called father had disappeared years ago. It was as if she had never existed to him. That was one thing that made her happy. While he wasn’t around, he couldn’t hurt her anymore. However, her mother was struggling to keep them going. All the girl’s clothes were second hand, which was patently obvious. The bullies would call her “Jumble” a.k.a jumble sale. Every time she heard those words called in her direction, they caused a hot flush of shame to caress her cheeks. The jeers were like missiles that were fired at her ears and they found their way into her brain and buried themselves there, to replay themselves constantly without mercy.

If it wasn’t her clothing, it was her skin. She had rough, bumpy acne all over her forehead. There would be jibes of “spotted dick” when that was the target.

Every single night, the girl would break her heart, sobbing herself to sleep. Why her? Why could they not just leave her alone? Why wouldn’t just one of them get to know her and see that she was a nice person?

The next day, she crawled out of bed and got ready for school. On the way in, she braced herself for the day’s bullying.

When she arrived at school, she saw the bullies in a group. As they saw her, the main girl of the group waved and beckoned to her. The girl’s heart leapt. Could they really be changing their opinions of her? The girl beckoned her over again. Shyly, with hope in her heart, she inched her way over to them. The older girl held forth a can of cola and said, “Here, have a drink.” The girl reached out and took a hold of the can, before popping the tab. She screamed out as a large spray of the sticky liquid went all over her. The bullies burst out laughing and said, “There, stinky bitch, you’ve had an extra bath this week.” The girl tried to flee, but the bullies formed a ring around her, pointing and shoving her for at least twenty minutes before a teacher came to rescue her. The bullies were not punished for what they did.

How do I know this? That girl is me.