Have you ever smelt an 8th grade hallway? It smells of fear and sweat. Pushing, shoving, shouting and screams. Torturous seconds tick by without news, our lives were dry. We seemed to work as one, until one fell creating new fodder for laughter at lunch.

Once we came back from winter break, my friend was bullied. She was never the first to raise her hand in school, but she always knew the answer. She did not have many friends just a few really close ones who knew everything. She was a small girl with a lot running through her mind. She cared more about what people thought of her than how she felt. She was not perfect, but none of us are. And now, she had made a huge mistake, but she did not deserve to be treated this way.

Once everyone discovered what she had done, she ran down to the bathroom in tears. I had practice so I continued on my way. Practice is a responsibility, I had to go. I had no time to stop. Could I really not have stopped? Did I really just leave my friend like this? These thoughts crossed my mind, yet I kept on walking. I was a train and the track only led me away from my troubled friend. Watching and hearing everything people had to say about her caused me to feel sorry for her yet I said nothing.

“Stupid girl!”

”Does she even have a brain?

”No wonder she has no friends,” snickered her classmates.

After two weeks of torment, I got a phone call. Her mother was concerned about her and asked for help. Her mother watched her child break into a thousand pieces in just two weeks. 14 days and her daughter transformed from a perfect working matching to a pile of tears and stained clothes.

It was time for me to break my silence. Rather than being a bystander, I rose above the bullies to help my friend. By the end of our talk, she had a small smile, she had a small glimpse of hope. She clung to that hope and by the next morning, she put on that small smile and some new and clean clothes and marched down the hallway with pride. Snickers and side comments did not phase her as she was superior. She rebuilt herself and all she needed was a friend. In that moment, I realized sometimes all people need is to know someone cares.