The Variety Princess Blog

Part 2 of the unnecessary bullying I had to endure in school has arrived. For those of you that missed part 1, be sure to click here to read it so you can catch up.

This part is going to focus specifically on what I went through in middle school. This part is going to be a bit different than the first part though.

In part 1, I told you guys about various occasions in which I was singled out by multiple people throughout my time in preschool/elementary school.

Middle school was different.

I went through little moments here and there where people may have said rude things to me or tried to get a rise out of the class by singling me out, but it was nowhere near how it was in elementary school. I had a lot more real friends in middle school, friends that I had formed bonds with that I never had in elementary school - and quite a few people, I'm still friends with even today.

I actually thoroughly enjoyed going to middle school. I remember there was one moment in particular where I had the opportunity to not go to school one day in 7th grade (I forget why) and I went anyways, because I really wanted to be there. And I'll never forget how shocking it felt to actually want to go to school, because I remember hating going for such a long time.

There was really one main time where I truly remember feeling the way I did in elementary school all over again, but I'll talk about that a little later.

Anyways, you guys remember Kelsie from part 1, right? So she ends up transferring to my middle school in the middle of 6th grade, unfortunately. I had became best friends with this girl in sixth grade (we'll call her Marie). When Kelsie showed up at my middle school, I told Marie how rude and hateful Kelsie had been towards me in elementary school, and surprisingly, one day - Marie ran into Kelsie in the bathroom and made a very offensive comment towards her after hearing about how mean she had been to me. I'm not going to repeat what she said, but I was outside of the bathroom and I heard it. Kelsie responded "excuse me?" and Marie repeated what she said. Kelsie rushed out of the bathroom and didn't say anything to defend herself. And I wasn't upset with Marie at all. I believe karma is a real thing, and after how horrible Kelsie was in elementary school, I couldn't bring myself to feel bad for her. I was just excited I had a friend that felt the need to defend me. I had never experienced that before, and it felt great!

I think that's why loyalty and surrounding myself with people who don't hesitate to defend me and have my back is so important to me now that I'm older. I don't need anyone to defend me anymore, but having people in my life who I know will do it anyways is a huge deal for me, and I think it stems back to being bullied by people as a child and not really having anyone that would step in for me when I was powerless.

It's truly amusing how people choose their battles. Kelsie was so tough in elementary school and loved singling me out and making me feel horrible - someone that did nothing to her and was defenseless, but she didn't say one word to Marie when she said what she said to her.

In 7th grade, Marie and I had made two more friends. The four of us were a little group. Kelsie was in my homeroom class, and her and I were in one of those phases where we were "friends", but I wasn't as pressed to be her friend as I was in elementary school, because I had a whole new group of actual friends and I didn't have to deal with Kelsie's crap anymore - we barely had any classes together so I rarely ever saw her. One morning in homeroom, she told me about something her and her friend would do at the middle school she went to before she transferred to ours. Apparently, her and her friend had a notebook and one of them would write in it during class about what was going on in their life, what was happening in class, etc. and then pass it off to the other in the hallway during period changes.

I don't remember exactly what happened, but I believe that I told her that we could do that with me, her, Marie, and me and Marie's other two friends. But then when push came to shove, the four of us decided that we were going to do it without her and Kelsie was hella salty. It felt so good being an A-hole to someone that had been terrible to me for so long. Other than those few incidents and Kelsie saying slick things towards me in art class later in the year, I didn't really have to deal with her anymore. I mean, she did something pretty weird in highschool where she subtweeted me on twitter right before this party her and I were both going to (not together, but it was the party of a mutual friend, and we both knew each other was going to be there). So she subbed me on twitter and then at the party, all of us girls were dancing in groups, and she was all up on me??????????????????????? I dunno. To me, it seems like she had some weird obsession with me, honestly. Maybe she had a crush on me all those years, because I didn't understand what that was all about. You hate me, but you're riding my backside at a party when you were just talking crap about me on twitter only a few hours earlier? Make it make sense.

That's really all there is to say about Kelsie. I wanted to give you all the finale about what happened with her since she was such a huge part of part 1. She didn't go to my high school (thankfully) and I told you guys that she ended up going to my university, but I never had any classes with her. And even if I did, I had changed so much when it came to defending myself by that time that if she tried any of the things she used to with me, she'd be in for a very rude awakening because anyone that knows me now knows I don't tolerate disrespect from anybody - I don't care who it is.

But back to middle school.

So remember I told you guys how there actually was a time in middle school that reminded me of how I was treated in elementary school? Let's talk about that.

I was a cheerleader at my middle school 7th grade year. I was still doing cheerleading and dance outside of school as well, but this was my first time being on the cheerleading squad at school.

I thought it was going to be a super fun experience and similar to how fun it was at the academy I cheered at outside of school. Boy, was I SO wrong.

When I tell you the other cheerleaders hated me. They literally could not stand me at. all. I wish I could say I had done something to them to make them hate me. I really, really do. Because then, I wouldn't be sitting here almost 15 years later still confused as ever about what the problem was?

They were extremely hateful towards me at practice. I will say, there were a few that never did anything to me. Maybe like 2 or 3, but they also never bothered to defend me either. The head cheerleader especially hated me. Still have no idea why that girl was so hateful. I truly wonder what was going on in her life.

They would single me out and always tell me the way I was cheering was wrong. I felt like an outcast. I always felt so alone at practice, and if my love for cheerleading wasn't as strong as it was, I definitely would've left the team. I always look back on that and wonder how I was able to deal with that for all that time and stick it out. I'm amazed by my resilience. I did end up leaving the team eventually, but right before the last game we had to cheer at, so that was nothing. I was pretty much there the entire year.

For me, it was also strange because at the academy I cheered/danced at outside of school, I was always praised for my talents. So I knew it wasn't me and that they were just hating.

Something hilarious about the entire situation though is that I was the most talented on the entire squad. I was the only one that could do back handsprings. And even though these girls hated me for whatever reason, they made sure they used me to make them look good at games. They'd always get me to do my backflips to make the crowd go wild. And of course, I would always do them, because I love tumbling. What I should've done was told them no and made them look stupid. After all, they were just using me.

Maybe they didn't like me because I could do backflips? But to me, that's such a dumb reason to treat someone like dirt, so I always told myself that wasn't the reason. But who knows. Haters gonna hate.

That was really the main thing that happened to me that sticks out significantly. Don't get me wrong, there were moments here and there where I was "bullied" in middle school, but I don't think anything really beats how those cheerleaders treated me. After that situation, I didn't even bother trying out for cheerleading in the 8th grade. Or 9th. Or 10th. But boy oh boy, when I tried out in the 11th, all hell broke loose all over again.

Read all about it this upcoming Saturday when part 3 drops.