The Bullied Anthologies: Stories of Success by Bhavya Kaushik & Ann Jamieson & Reading Harbor

Author:Bhavya Kaushik & Ann Jamieson & Reading Harbor [Kaushik, Bhavya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Reading Harbor
Published: 2015-06-30T04:00:00+00:00

About the Author

In a world where almost everyone is striving to stand out by outdoing others, Shruti Fatehpuria aims at merely finding her own place in the crowd. A software engineer by education, she made the choice to quit the suffocating clutches of the corporate world and embrace the comfort of pen and paper.

Alone

By Camille B.

“Friendship is born at that moment when one man says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought that no one but myself …’” – C. S. Lewis, Author

“Look, I think I found your classroom. Is this the correct classroom?” asked my mother.

I stepped up to the door and looked up at the nameplate above the window. There, clear as day, was written “7A”. The same room assignment printed on my student permit. Correct, then.

Right then and there, my emotions assaulted me, as they would assault anyone who had just transferred to both a new school and a new home. Change is daunting to anyone, and perhaps it would be especially so for a shy twelve-year-old who had just had both her daily environments changed drastically.

Fear. Curiosity. Excitement.

“I see that a lot of your classmates are there already. Why don’t you go in?” my mother encouraged.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be here for a while if ever you need us,” my father chimed in.

So I opened the door, and twenty or so other adolescent heads turned toward me. Their eyes spoke their recognition at what I was. New student.

I quickly found a place near the back of the room and kept quiet.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, as did the entire next month or so. It was the usual classroom: the veterans used this time to catch up with their peers, while the new kids used the time to prove themselves worthy of attention and friendship.

And, much faster than I thought anyone could, they did. Left and right, my fellow new kids were making friends rapidly, becoming part of their own cliques and groups. They began to become indistinguishable from the old-timers as they lost the “new kid” vibe.

As for me, I stayed friendless. For many weeks, I had no one to hang out with at recess, and no one to talk to but the library books at lunch. To some extent, I was content with this arrangement. I have never been a very social person, and I valued silence. I would have been completely okay with the solitude had not the whispers been gaining traction and my classmates’ treatment of me been growing fouler day by day.

To this day, I don’t know how it started. I don’t know what they saw in me that was so undesirable or disgusting, but they made it evident to me, every day, that they did. No one would touch anything I had touched, and people would refuse to sit next to me at gatherings or even in the classroom. The hallway to my classroom would clear of people whenever I passed, and when they couldn’t clear out, they would stick to the walls as though I were a walking epidemic.

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