I have never been bullied, but I do know someone who has been. For the sake of writing this, I will call him/her "Subject."

Subject and I used to go to the same public elementary school and ride the same bus home from school. It was, for the most part, an okay school to attend, however, our bus driver was, quite frankly, a complete idiot. He/She did not pay much attention to any of the students on his/her bus and was very irritable. Whenever something troubling went on, he/she would simply shout, "Knock it off!" and fully ignore the severity of the situation.

Now, Subject decided to befriend a boy/girl who was one year older than him, and really wasn't a great friend. We will call him "Bully."

Bully and Subject sat together on the bus every day. I, at first, turned a blind eye to this because I was not aware that Bully was... well, a bully. Over time, however, I began to notice that Subject's "friend" wasn't being terribly nice. In fact, he/she began to be downright mean.

One day, Subject brought a possession to school that was very important to him/her. He showed it to Bully, who asked to hold it. Subject obliged, but Bully then proceeded to throw it out of the bus window. (Luckily, it was not fragile and a teacher was able to return it to him.)

Subject insisted that it was an accident and that Bully was simply joking around, but that certainly wasn't true. In addition to this, Bully started to physically hurt Subject by punching and kicking, etc. Again, Subject insisted that it was a joke.

Many of the students on the bus told the bus driver what was happening, but he/she ignored everything as usual. Subject's parental guardian actually found out what was going on when Subject returned home with a black eye and reported the issue to the bus driver him/herself. Yet AGAIN the bus driver ignored the problem.

At this point, Subject was no longer under the delusion that Bully was in any way his/her friend. He/She would catch the bus in the morning at the very last minute, so as not to run into Bully at the bus stop. The two no longer sat together. Unfortunately, the problems didn't fully stop.

Subject's parent then prevented him/her from riding the bus at all. He/She was driven to school in the morning and walked home in the afternoon. To this day, Subject has not had to deal with Bully any more.

My advice on bullying is this:

VERBAL

If someone makes fun of you because of how you look or act, just ignore them! Why should you care what all the idiots around you think? Just remember to be yourself. Remember that YOU ARE AWESOME, no matter what anyone tells you. Seriously.

PHYSICAL

If you are being seriously hurt by people, tell a trusted adult RIGHT AWAY. Don't be nervous or feel like you should just tough it out, because that is serious stuff that needs to stop.