Stephanee--Mean

Words do hurt. They can hurt more than a punch or more than you falling face first on to
the concrete. At nine you don’t see anything wrong with yourself until someone shows you.
When I was nine my family and I moved to Bonneylake,Washington because of my dads job.
My dad’s job caused us to move a lot. No hes not in the military he works for a logistics
company and when a warehouse is in distress or needs a boost my dad is the man they call.
Washington was a beautiful place with a lot of beautiful people. When I moved there of course I
had to be enrolled in school sadly. I think I started school 2 days after we moved in. At the
school I went to CrestWood Elementary I was the only black kid kind of like “Everybody Hates
Chris”. Being the only black kid had pros and cons. Pros being that I was one the most popular
kid. Cons I felt different and was bullied. The first day of school was kind of weird because by
the end of the day everybody knew my name. I didn’t go anywhere without hearing “ hi
stephanee”. Literally everyone knew my name the teachers, the secretaries, and the students. And
for some strange reason some kids were scared of me. I knew this because a friend I made that
day told me that those kids were scared of me because they thought that all black people were
mean and liked to fight everyone. Not sure where that stereotype came from but its out there.
Then it became my goal to let everyone know nice I was. So for a week I smiled, said hi and
gave a blow pop to every person I came in contact with. I went through a lot of candy that week.
My goal was accomplished I became well known for being nice. By december of that school
year I was no longer the newest kid because ten new kids came to my grade which was fourth
grade. And of course me being a nice kid I gave them candy and greeted my self. One out of
those ten kids when I greeted him before I could even finish saying “ hi my name is Stephanee”
he said “You’re black” then I said “No I’m brown” then he replied “ but i bet your ancestors
were black” then he said “I don’t like black people”. And I still gave him candy because from
that day forward it was my mission to get him to like me, but I didn’t know that I would get hurt
trying to do it. Everyday when i seen him I would say “Hi Jacob” but he wouldn’t say anything
back he’d just ignore me. Then one day he came up to me. I thought he was finally going to say
hi back or something. But instead he asked “Why is your nose so big?” I didn’t respond. The
next morning while I was talking to my friends he came up to me and asked “Do you know I
don’t like you” i replied “yes” then he said “Because you’re ugly and black”. I guess it was Ruin
Stephanee’s Day day because later on that day he came up to me with a friends and asked “Why
are you so dark? Did you over tan or something?” I didn’t respond. But I was thinking of
something meaner to say. The day after that when we were in class my teacher asked a question
and I raised my hand then I heard him say “You don’t know they answer, Black people aren’t
smart”. I heard my friend that sat by him say shut up. I think out of all that rude things he said to
me that one hurt the most. Day after day Jacob kept on insulting me but I still never said
anything. One day on the playground while I was playing tether ball. He came up to me and said
“You should quit because thats black people do”. Jacob called me ugly, stupid, and belittled me
in all types of ways and i never did anything. But that day was different. I grabbed the tether ball
and swung it as hard as i could so it could hit his head. When the ball hit the back of his head he
fell face first into the concrete and his face started bleeding. He ran to a teacher to tell her what
happened then she came up to me and asked. Before I could say anything the group of kids
behind me said that he got in the way when i was serving the ball. Those kids knew I did it on
purpose but they knew about all the mean things he said about me and thats why they didn’t tell
the truth. I think I should of told an adult about Jacob bullying before I got got hurt emotionally
and he got hurt physically. I’m pretty sure an adult would’ve stopped it along time ago. But since
that day he started saying hi and never said anything cruel to me.