Jun 01 2008
Autism: Jr. High Bullies
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I was in a middle school 7th grade P.E. class and we were tossing a football back and forth. I was playing with a three-girl click that the teacher had placed me in after I was last standing to become part of a group.
The ball was over thrown and the girl I was paired with and I ran after it. We got to it at about the same time and I managed to end up with it while she writhed on the ground because somehow she was elbowed in the stomach.
I did not intentionally try to hurt her, just in my efforts to get the ball and her efforts to get it away from me, I turned sharply to pull the ball away from her hands, and my elbow got her in the stomach.
This would be the beginning of the worst four months of Jr. High for me.
The three girls were great friends. The girl I had accidentally elbowed was not much bigger than I was and the other two just towered over the both of us.
These two girls started an all out bully campaign against me. From walking on the back of my shoes, stealing my books, hitting me in the back of the head, taking my clothes out of my gym locker, and demolishing my lunch.
I became completely powerless to do anything about the situation as every complaint I made fell upon deaf ears. They were chalking it up to normal juvenile behavior and I could not prove that they stole or damaged any of my property.
My mom was working three jobs at the time and did little to reconcile the situation other than to tell me to let the teacher know.
I had had enough. Simple as that.
End of the semester came and the girl it all originally started with was getting her report card two doors down from me. I followed her to her locker and waited for her to finish putting her stuff away.
When she turned around, I was standing right there to confront her. I wanted it all to stop, she and I were going to settle this right there and then, and we did.
The most popular boy in the school came up to instigate a fight. He told her and I both to hit his hand and this would count as us hitting each other first.
I playfully tapped the back of his hand and she came across and punched me!
I had only wanted her to tell her two friends that I did not mean to hurt her and that I was sorry if she felt like I had been mean to her. In fact, that was exactly what I had just said prior to Mr. Popularity arriving on the scene.
However, once she had hit me all of the last four months came pouring out and I found myself in the principles office a few hours later with my mother at my side.
Finally, they listened to what I had to say. Someone actually believed me. Nevertheless, I was suspended for two weeks.
Those girls never picked on me again, my lunches remained sanitary, my books stayed in my locker, and I never had to wear my gym clothes outside of gym again.
This girl was in one of my 8th grade classes at the beginning of the next year; she sat as far away from me as she could and at the end of the class, I waited for her and apologized again for what had happened.
The next day she was no longer in the same class, and I am not even sure the same school for that matter because I have never seen her again.
