Smash!! “Get out of here!” yelled Roberto. “Leave me alone.” Here we go again. I don’t know if I can keep going on like this. Every day I come in and get pushed around. I wonder where the teachers are. “Nobody likes you.” He spits at me with so much venom in his words that they almost smack me in the face, all the way from across the classroom. I start crying and can’t stop. All the other people in the room start to laugh at my pain that only makes me feel darker inside. I’m Ashley and here is my everyday life. Living in East Hartford it not as great as my parents said it would be. I am in third grade and Roberto is “my bully”. He has been bullying me since I started school 5 weeks ago. At first I had a lot of friends, or at least I thought I did. Until Roberto decided he did not like me and he started spreading lies about me.

As much as I try to make friends the more they isolated from the rest of them. So by the time the trees turned colors I was depressed and alone.

One day I was on the bus sitting in the way back when all of a sudden I heard him say “you are just like your f****** sister.” I stop gazing out the window to see who he was talking to. Then I realized he was talking to my sister. Being the good older sister I am I got up while the bus was still moving and I went to my sister’s side. When I got over to her he said “what the h*** do you think you are doing over here.” I looked at him then at my sister who looked scared to the point where if I did not say something she might pass out. Then I said, “Don’t talk to her that way. Ever understood.” He looks at me like I just talked about his mother. I did not know what to do so I froze. He then looked at me with his deep and scaring eyes. As I looked into his eyes I feel a sudden stabbing pain in my rib. Then in my face. As his hand pulled away from the print now left on my face he laughed at me. At that point I noticed I was bleeding from my lower lip. The taste of the blood was so foul I had to think about why I was doing this. In my head I kept repeating this is for my sister. Then as I looked her way I felt another crashing pain in my side. And as I breathe in I feel a crushing pain in my ribs. I can’t breathe. It hurt so bad I started to hold my breath. As I stand there with my back to the ice cold window I feel a cold draft down my spine. It is raining outside, if I was not faced with odder destruction social and physically I would get lost in the pattern they draw on the window. Then before he could hit me again this girl who I know only as his best friend, comes over and grabs him by the back of his red t-shirt. As she holds him he tries to get away so she throws him into the middle of the dirty brown bus seats, and she hits him hard in the face. After that she looks at me with a sad, hurt and remorseful look in her eyes. She says “That went way too far.” “Jewls are you really on this chick’s side when I am your best friend.” Roberto says sounding mad. My head is throbbing but of course he doesn’t care. She says “Yes and you are getting of the bus NOW Roberto.” As she says that I see we are pulling up in front of the bank where she gets off. “NO IM NOT JEWLS TRY AGAIN.” “Yes you are you are done hurting her.” She sounds serous. But he only laughs at her. Like she won’t do anything to him but she might actually hit him if he keeps it up. “Whatever man I will just get you tomorrow.”

As I get off the bus I feel a little off, maybe it is because I know he will try to hurt me if I am not careful.

That night as I lied on my bed I feel the pain in my side again. As I drift off into an uneasy sleep I dream about him grabbing me by my dark curly brown hair and throwing me into the window of the bus, and him hitting me in the face repeatedly until I was unconscious and cut up. I woke up in a cold and sticky sweat. As I got ready for school, I kept on thinking ‘he is going to get me if I am not careful’. As I walk in to the school with my head low, I saw him. The monster in my nightmares, the reason I cry at night.

But as I looked around I saw her too. My angel sent from heaven. Jewls. I feel a sense of relief when she walks over to me and says “don’t worry he won’t hurt you with me right here O.K.” “Thank you” is the only words I can say. I want to hug her and tell her all the rude comments he made about me in these five weeks I been here. But before I could my name gets called over the P.A system. “Ashley Ayala please, come down to the main office.” No he told them something to get me in trouble with the school.

As I walk down the halls they seem to be growing. They feel like they would never end. Almost like the nightmare I have found myself in. I walk into the office and feel the mood change. From outside everyone looks happy but when you walk in you feel like you can cut the air with a butter knife. I feel like I am on trial. Like I will be judged if I say something to these people. I must have been there for 10 minutes before an older lady with square glasses came up to me and asked me for my name. When I told her she simply smiled and said “follow me.” While I followed her I saw all the people in the room staring at me.

When we get to her office she says “have a seat and tell me what happen to your face sweetie.” I shook my head no. only because I was scared to tell her. Or anyone. My heart was racing and I was shaking in the seat I was sitting in. “Ashley please I already know what happen with Roberto yesterday. So tell me why you did not tell anyone here.” She has a concerned look in her eyes that for some reason makes me feel the need to tell her everything. So I did and as I told her she looked heart broken. She did not say a word until I was done telling her everything about the five weeks I have been here.

After I told her she said “why didn’t you say anything while this was happening.” All I could do was shrug my shoulders at her. Then she said “Why don’t you go to Mrs. Smith?” that’s the ISS teacher. “Why if I did nothing wrong?” “I know that but you can stay with her today and still get the work done. I just don’t want to put you in class yet.” She replied to me with that look of concern in her deep blue eyes. When I left her office I see him coming down the hall. He looks mad. But instead of hitting me or even talking to me, he just walks by without a word. I wonder why he did not hit me when he had the chance. I was alone and completely defenseless.

After spending the whole day with Mrs. Smith I felt O.K about taking the bus. As I got on I went straight to the back. The only seat open was with Jewls. As soon as I sat down the bus pulled away.

He was not on it. “I wonder what happen Roberto.” I whispered in a timid voice. “He got expelled.” She said in a low voice. She sounded like she was sad about it. “What do you mean expelled Jewls?” “I mean he can’t go to our school anymore.”

YES finally they took care of my problem. My nights of uneasy sleep and cold and sticky sweats are over. This is the happiest I felt in my life. I am free. Anything is possible. I can be friends with people again. I can go to school with my head held high. I can do anything. HE CAN’T HURT ME ANYMORE!!!!! My face is so red at this point, but I don’t care. It feels good to smile and be joyful. I can’t be TRULY HAPPY!!! No more nightmares or being scared of ANYONE ANYMORE!!!