I have always felt like fifth grade through to seventh grade were some of the worst years of my life. I had always been a relatively shy but happy child and I never thought that I'd get bullied but boy was I wrong. It started in fifth grade when two new students moved to our school and were put into my class. I never thought much of this, I mean new kids always came to our school, and I didn't think there would be any problems. I just wanted to be friends with the new kids. I have always been the type of person who wants to be friends with everyone, but I have since learnt that that is not always going to happen. That not everyone wants to be your friend. Anyways my best friend befriended one of the girls, and I befriended the other. The one who I became friends with, my best friend also became friends with. The other girl, well we didn't get along at all. She took a disliking to me, and no matter how hard I tried to be friends with her, it just didn't happen. She excluded me, she talked about me behind my back (and also right in front of me) and I was miserable. I had always loved going to school, but I quickly started to hate going to school. My best friend, and the new girl, who was also one of my close friends, were both close with this girl who were bullying me, and they both thought I was being overly sensitive to the whole situation. We went to school camp mid-year, and during the camp I came down with the chicken pox. I think I only spent one night at the camp, and no-one was very nice to me that first night, except maybe one of my friends. I was sent home from camp, and couldn't go back to school for quite a while. Upon returning to school, things just got worse and I was still being bullied. I became so upset and was worrying so much about going to school that I became quite sick, and missed a lot of school. My parents ended up taking me to the doctor because they were concerned, and the doctor said it was fear. I wasn't sick, I was afraid of going to school and having to face this girl. Eventually I managed to go back to school, and for a while things calmed down. Then came my eleventh birthday, and I had a party with my closest friends. I didn't invite the girl who had been bullying me, but she found out about the party and told my best friend that she was going to call my house, and invite herself to my party. My best friend passed the message on, and that scared me. I mean firstly how did she even get my number? Secondly, how did she know where I lived? Nevertheless I spent the day worrying that she was going to call my house, and I felt like it kind of ruined the mood of my party. I wish I hadn't let it ruined the mood, but I was so worried over the fact that she might show up. Nevertheless she never did, and I was relieved but then at school the next week, she shared some lollies around with my friends. I was sitting there, and I got rather jealous and annoyed because she didn't share with me but she gave everyone else (I know - that was rather childish). Anyways, I confronted her about it, and she said that I didn't invite her to my party so she wasn't going to share anything with me. That hit me hard, and I was so upset. None of my friends said anything much, but I was crying by this point. Everything had reached boiling point, and there was no hope of us being friends. She left the school soon after that, and things got better for a while. I was happy again, and I was relieved that the bullying had stopped at least for a while.

Things started up again in sixth grade. My best friend, the same girl who had moved to our school the previous year ditched me as a friend, and that hurt me a lot. It didn't happen until mid-year after the second bullying episode. There was this girl in my class, and she loved acting -- but she was rather dramatic. We had a new teacher this year too, and she was only starting to get to know us. Anyways this girl started hanging out with us, and I didn't mind. At eleven years old we loved playing down in the gardens, but one day we were playing there and this girl said to me "you are not allowed to cross this line." That hurt me a lot. Not only was she stopping me from crossing a line, I was not allowed anywhere near my friends. They never stopped her from doing it, and I went and explained to the teacher what had happened. That was a big mistake because this girl made my year a misery. She would make remarks whenever she saw me, she excluded me, and she made sure all of my friends stopped talking to me. At this point my parents found out what had happened and they went to the school about it. Well let's just say not much happened, and I was still being bullied and excluded. I felt lonely and spent everyday in the library. It was a good thing I had always loved reading, because that was what I basically spent all of my time doing. I felt very left out all of the time, and my best friend stopped talking to me which hurt a lot. I don't remember exactly what happened but somehow this girl and I became friends, not close friends or best friends but we ended up talking, and we were okay with each other. Needless to say I missed my best friend a lot, but she had new friends and never talked to me.

Seventh grade was interesting. We had two new students join our class, and one of them, well she was interesting. There was this girl in our class who became friends with the new students, and I became friends with them too. For a while everything was fine, but then one of the new girls turned on me. She did everything to make sure I got into trouble with the teacher. She told the teacher I was writing in pen? Like we had to have pen licenses to write with pen and I had one, but I still got into trouble for writing in pen. Then the girl who had become friends with the new girl basically asked me if I hated the other girl. She told me to pass the message on, and being the stupid twelve year old I was at the time, I passed the message on. This girl went to the teacher, and I basically lied to get myself out of trouble. I was so angry, and then these girls stopped being my friend. I thought things would get better, but at school camp one guy was dared to ask me out. At the time I didn't know it was a dare, and I said yes. I was happy that someone wanted to go out with me. We came back from camp, and after the long weekend I found out it was a practical joke and that the whole grade was laughing at me behind my back because of how stupid I was for falling for it. I was hurt, and angry. How was I supposed to know it was all a dare? People stopped being my friend, and I just spent more time in the library. During class no-one really talked to me, and I started to keep to myself. In term 2, we had a substitute teacher as our teacher went away, and this boy cut a chunk of my hair out one day while I was busy working. I didn't realize straight away, but as soon as I did, well let's just say all hell broke loose. My mum was so angry, she came to the school, but he basically got off freely. I was devastated. I tried to make friends, and I managed to find this group of girls, who were happy with me for a while, but then they said that they just wanted it to be them because it was our last year at primary school, and I was hurt yet again. Once again I was basically friendless. One of the new girls, and her two friends ended up becoming my friends, until the end of the year when something happened between us, and I spent the last few weeks of school with basically no friends. I was glad to be going to a high school that was away from those kids. High school turned out to be great, and although there were a few incidents along the way I was happy again, and glad to be free from the people who bullied me.

It's never fun being bullied, and I love the idea of this book. Please, if you see someone who is being bullied stand up for them. Don't just stand aside, and watch them being bullied. Also, if you are being bullied always tell someone. I know it may not always work, but it is better that someone knows than to suffer. You're not alone, and there is always someone out there who can help you.