I remember it like it was yesterday. Mainly because of the words that were whispered to me that still haunt me when I feel low about myself. I was a new kid at a new school in a new grade: first grade. I was so nervous that I could have thrown up my breakfast. My mom walked me into the building and watched me walk through what seemed to be the longest hallway ever. I arrived at a classroom full of students who looked excited to see a new kid. I took my seat close to three girls who hung out with me for the rest of the day. Little did I know that as the weeks went on, they would become the biggest nightmare I could ever imagine.

I walked into class expecting to it to be a normal day. I sat with my newly made friends and they began to ignore me. After a couple hours, we were released from class to go to recess. I sprinted toward the playground and motioned my friends to follow me. They slowly made their way there. One of them, I remember, had an evil smirk on her face.

"Let's play a game," I shouted while climbing to the top of the big, yellow slide I loved so much. When I got to the top I didn't see them anymore. Before I could react, I felt a hard shove which caused me to fall off the slide and land face first into a pool of wood chips. I looked up to see them staring down at me. The same one that was smiling earlier was now laughing at me. I felt a gash in my cheek and started to cry. I felt pain all over my body from the fall but managed to crawl to the rotating tire underneath the wooden part of the playground. I sat on top of the tire and two of the three girls pushed me off of it. The third one just watched. I laid down in the wood chips, curled into a ball, and cried. The girl who kept laughing kicked me in my back twice and yelled, "Get up!" I sadly rose up at her command. She pushed me again. I closed my eyes waiting for the next kick or something to happen.

I opened my eyes to see that they were all standing around me. The girl who was laughing knelt down to me and whispered, "You are worthless. You are completely worthless without us and you better remember that." They finally walked away and I laid there and cried. The bell rang, but I couldn't move my body. A teacher found me under the slide lying flat on my back with a scar on my face and tears in my eyes.

"What happened to you?" she asked. I didn't reply. She picked me up and took me to the nurse. She kept asking me the same question over and over again but all I could do was cry. Eventually I was able to say, "I fell off the slide." I gave this excuse for fear that if I told them I was beaten by my friends that they would do it again. "I want my mommy," I shouted. The teacher told me that since I wasn't sick that I couldn't leave.

The teacher took me back to class and I dragged myself to my seat- the seat that was near my three abusers who I once called friends. I didn't make eye contact with any of them nor did I say another word for the rest of the day. Though I thought this was a one time deal, it continued until I transferred to another school two weeks later. Though I remember this memory like it happened yesterday, I've never shared this story with anyone. Not my best friend. Not my family. Not even my mom.