In 5th grade, I was bullied. I never thought it could happen to me. I was kind, I was open-minded, I was helpful. It turns out, no matter who you are, no matter how kind you are, it can happen to you. It all started when I came to school with Blonde highlights in my hair. The popular girl in my grade also had Blonde highlights in her hair. I didn't even know that she had them. As soon as I found out that she had them I knew there would be trouble. She told her friends that I copied her. She told them not to like me. I tried to explain to people that I didn't copy her, and that I didn't know she had them. Every time I tried explain myself I felt like I was just making things worse. It turns out that I was. I figured that I should just let things go and that it would all just blow over. That didn't happen. I was at my aunts house with my mom and some other family members. We were baking pies for Thanksgiving. I got a call. I answered only to hear the girl that I had "copied" and one of her friends voices. Her friend asked me why I had copied her. I tried once again to tell her that I hadn't. She didn't listen. I hung up the phone. I got another call, and another, and another. I finally picked up and told her to please stop calling me. She didn't listen. They kept calling, and calling, and calling. Finally my aunt asked me what was going on. She told me that this was harassment and that if I wanted her to she would call the cops. So she called the cops. The girl and her friend ended up both getting grounded. This made things worse. School became unbearable. I was followed on the playground at recess. They would follow me shouting at me. I lost friends. I had a couple friends left that understood what was going on. They were friends with me and with the girl. Every time the girl would see me with my friends she would come over and start talking to them. I was uncomfortable so I left and sat by myself. I was at recess one day, and was followed again. I decided to tell the principal. When I told the principal she was surprised that this was happening and said that she would take care of it. I felt better, until I was bullied even more. I finally broke down during class, and my teacher asked me what was going on. So I told the teacher. My teacher said that she would talk to the girls teacher. Even with teachers on my side, I was still bullied. I finally told my mother. She told me that I just had to ignore them. I tried to make her understand that I couldn't just pretend not to hear them. She told me that I couldn't just not go to school. Of course I had to go to school so I continued dealing with the bullying. I was going on a vacation to Florida with my aunt and her family in a couple weeks, so I figured I would just tough out these next few weeks and I'd get a break. The last day that I was at school before my vacation, the girl sat at my lunch table. She saw that I was sitting there, and her and her friends kept saying that I was gross, and that I shouldn't be sitting there. They called me fat, gross, ugly. I told the teacher that this was happening. The teacher went up to the girl and asked her about the things she had said to me, the girl looked at me and said, "Are you serious?". I didn't even know how to reply. I sat down at the table and tried to just ignore them. Another teacher came up to me and asked me if I was okay. I told her that I didn't feel good so she told me to go see the nurse. I went into the nurses office. The nurse asked me what was wrong and I just broke down. I bawled my eyes out. I told her everything. She told me to go to the guidance counselor. The guidance counselor didn't help. It was a never ending game, and all I wanted was an escape. I was all alone. Nobody would listen to me, nobody would help me. When I went on vacation I left it all behind me. When I came back to school my friends were so happy to see me. I felt better, and I felt even better when I was told that the girl was going to another school. I felt amazing. I no longer had to worry about going to school. I didn't wake up in the morning and wish that I just wasn't alive. A year later the girl visited my school. I was afraid that things would be bad for me again. To my surprise, the girl told me that she didn't hate me and that we were friends. It wasn't exactly the apology I was expecting but she did say that all of the things she did were dumb. She had changed, and I felt better. I was so happy that it was all finally over. That same year the girl sent me a message on Facebook giving me her number, and basically saying that she'd like to be good friends with me. We talked once in a while via text message. We don't really talk now, but we're not mean to each other. We civil. I don't tell much people about what happened between her and I because I felt alone then, and I feel like if I tell someone I'll feel alone again. So I'm letting it out. I've kept it inside for almost 3 years now, and it needed to be let out. Being bullied is the worst thing in the world, and nobody should have to experience it.