Sometimes the Bully can be your Best Friend ~ An article written by Jess

I remember escaping from my last class, every day, and running happily out to my mom's car. I remember, every day, having a ride always waiting for me outside of school, always right on time. I remember my mom asking my everything about my day at school, which most of her questions were ignored and not answered, but still. I could remember all those things, and he couldn't. That's right. He, as in, the school bully.
The kid who always pushed down the little kids and made it look like an accident. The kid who gave Jeremy a concussion by throwing one of the playground toys at him. The kid who had called every one of us a bad name or said something mean to us about a thousand times and never even said sorry. But that kid, was also the kid who had to ride his bike, which he hid in the bushes behind the school, home every day.
I had thought he deserved to have no one waiting for him, to guarantee him a safe ride home from school, to ask embarrassing questions...but I had thought that at the time. However, now I'm remembering more...much more. And it hurts to remember. That's all that memories from that school are for me...little slices of pain.
Anyways, back to the subject. The bully...Noah was his name...every single day he would insult my friends, my enemies, my teachers, my brother's, people I didn't even know went to my school, and of course...me. He would make fun of our clothes, push us down, spit on us, call us horrible, nasty names, throw dirt at us, spread rumors, and a few times he even got into a horrible fight with my classmate and friend, Leighton.
There was kicking, shoving, punching...in the end Leighton had a scratch all the way from his knee to his ankle, from the pocket knife that Noah carried; and many bruises on his arm. Noah had a bloody nose, a bruised lip, and multiple scars on his face and body. Had it not been for the teacher getting in the middle of it, I don't think Leighton would've made it out of there alive. Even through all these terrible things the bully did to us, we were forced to tolerate him; us and the teachers. It was in the middle of the 2nd semester, and school policy says that students cannot be expelled until the end of a semester.
It seemed as if there was not one good thing about Noah...but there was. You just had to care enough to look closer, and you could see it. This big, buff bully had a heart.
My good friend Katelyn and I were talking one day during recess, and we decided we should let Noah have at least two chances to make friends...that would be, with Katelyn and I. SO we were nice to him for a day, and as it turns out, Noah wasn't the only one that was in the wrong. Standing on the outside, instead of getting in the middle of all the drama like usual, I witnessed something very ugly.
Some of my really good friends there...Kevin, Hannah, Johnathan, and Andrew...they were standing at their little Popular People's hangout at the top of the kindergartener's playground. Noah, having absolutely 0 friends in our grade, had been making sorta-friends with the younger grades. So he was playing tag with them that day.
When he started running to catch one of the little kids, I overheard my friends...MY very own friends that on any normal day, I would be joining in on their fun and popularity status, saying whatever I felt like and joking around...they were saying these exact words, "Ha ha! Look at Noah chasing his little boyfriend (yes there had been a rumor that he was gay, but he truly wasn't.)!" Kevin shouted, "Ugh! I think we're having an earthquake!!!" And, timing Noah's steps with his words, Kevin shouted, "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!" and shaking the rickety playground set. My friends were joking around as if Noah was just an animal in a zoo that did not comprehend whatever it was they were saying. But believe me, he heard it...all of it.
Katelyn and I passed notes during class about what we witnessed during recess. I told her that I was going to try and get to know the Noah on the inside...not the Noah that had bullied everyone for months on end...I was going to get to know the real him. So, when we lined up for our next class, I lined up in front of Noah. I was very friendly to him and said hello and that he was really good with the younger grade kids.
Forget the way my popular friends stared in horror at my move, the way Hannah shook her perfectly complexioned face at me, the way Andrew and Kevin had already made up a new rumor about me liking Noah, the way Johnathan had already had a new "cute" nickname for me...it was all worth it. Just to see the one and only smile on Noah's face that school year. It was all 100% worth it.
When we escaped from our class for the half break, Noah and I talked a little. No, he was still no piece of artwork, and no. I would never give him my number so we could stay in touch over the summer. But yes, yes it changed him...at least for that day. Sure he was still a big bully, and sure he still called everyone names...including Katelyn and I...but his bullying seemed a bit softer. More like he was just kidding or teasing everyone instead of bullying them. In fact, he even shared some laughs with some of my classmates WHILE 'bullying' them.
Yet still, I wondered what made Noah act like this. I knew that the teasing from my classmates could be a reason...but then I remembered that they had tried to be nice to Noah on the first day, and that HE had started being mean to them in the first place. There was no other reason I could think of besides the thought that maybe his life at home was so crappy and bad...maybe the only way he knew how to act was crappy and bad. My thought was confirmed later that year.
On the last day of school, where the parents come to the class and look at all the work their kids have been doing, get to meet the teachers, get to meet their classmates, etc. I finally saw Noah's mom. She was mean looking, wrinkled, fat, smelly, and totally ugly. I guess her looks described her personality. Because the way she treated Noah was horrible...I never thought that ANY mom on Earth would treat their son the way she treated Noah. She called him names, hit him, said mean things about him.
So, as you can see, bullies aren't always mean because they want to be mean. Sometimes, that's the only way they know how to act. Sometimes, acting that way is so normal for them at home, that they think they're acting normal in public.
My intentions of writing this TRUE story was so that maybe, just maybe, you would all go back to school at the end of this summer and possibly act a bit differently towards the school bully, knowing that it's not their fault. But the truth is that bullies are hated. By teachers. By students. By themselves......so think. Just for a second next time.
Because what if that bully's life, was yours.


~Admin

This is uh.....a.....very long post you got here....

There's more?! It's so long already xD

Some advice:
Do use paragraphs, and separate the paragraphs by pressing 'Enter' on your keyboard. Without doing that it makes the story looks less-appealing and cluttered.

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None of the less, it seems to be an good story.