Disclaimer
I know many other people have to go through or have gone through being bullied, labeled, teased, etc. There are some people in these stories that some may known. And I just wanted to share my stories on my experience since it was a big part of growing up and in school.

Only Elementary School
So I’m currently 13 years old, and in 8th grade. But I’m going to start with 3rd grade. When I started going to elementary school I thought it wouldn’t be that bad. Of course after the 2 years of being at that school annoyed me. Which made me way more excited to go to a different school for 3rd grade. Nope. The 3rd grade in what was supposed to be my new school, ended up being at my elementary school. So now another year stuck in that school. I took the bus to school everyday and sat with all my friends. Now what I’m about to say may make you think that I had done something mean, but I never did anything that I know of to cause this. I got on the bus once school was over and it was about the middle of the bus ride. Out of nowhere a girl (in the grade below me) started going off at me and one of my good friends. Then she looked straight at me and she said “ You don’t have any friends you b****, you know why because you’re a huge s***”. Then she turned to my friend and said the exact same thing to her. This was very random at the time, she always look back at us with this evil glare. Up until this today she still does the same things to me and say the same things. I’ve learned to ignore her, even though I see her on the bus everyday. But I realized it wasn’t just me she did that too and many other kids didn’t like her either. Sometimes you’re just never alone.

Who is She?

Same girl, just a few years later. But between these two stories all these labels keep coming, not many are that interesting as these stories I’m telling. But they still got to my head and bugged me. I got many more comments in and outside of school. Anyways, about a month and a half ago I got together with my boyfriend and around that time was when this next story happened. So this girl, I’ll just call her “Amy”, so anyways my boyfriend was telling me about how he kept getting texts from “Amy” and she apparently had a lot to say about me. I’ll just point out that the day after this my friend told me the same thing. It went something like this…

Boyfriend: “Why do you know ‘Amy’?”
Me: “Yeah she’s on my bus and she never really liked me for some reason.”
(He starts reading some of the texts)
Boyfriend:  “You should break up with her she’s a huge sl*t”. “She doesn’t even like you anyways”. “She isn’t even pretty. Wouldn’t you want to date someone that looks like a goddess anyways. She’s such a s***, plus she’s emo”. 
Me: “Hey do you have her snapchat?”
Boyfriend: “Yeah, it’s _______”.
(End of that)

Me: “Hey”.
“Amy”: “What do YOU want”.
Me: “I just heard that you were saying a lot of things about me”.
“Amy”: “Do I know you?”
Me: “Yeah, I’m on your bus. You know, brown/purple hair, Adela?”
“Amy”: “Heyyyyyy”.
So that conversation goes on and she just constantly denies everythings, says that we could be friends.  It ends pretty quickly and she is still constantly saying things about me behind my back. Again I try to ignore.

Guidance?
To be honest I have never heard any labels from an adult. When this happened to me I was not completely sure if the lady who was talking to me made it joke or not. But I did take it has how most people see me. Three of my other friends and I got called down to the office one day during school. Now I’m not trying to be rude to this person and I’m not going to explain what I got sent down for, continuing. So I went down to the office and walked in to see my three friends sitting together looking at me. I apologize about being late and the lady asked me if I knew why I was called down here. I said no and then she went on explaining why we were here and talking to all of us. During the conversation she asked for me and my friends input on the situation. So my friends shared what they had to say and most of the time I don’t say much because I agreed with what they were saying. Then the lady turned to me and said, “Well how about you Miss. Quiet”. I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t know my name, but like she never even asked.  I was just annoyed of people calling that and to her it from an adult, bugs me even more. Then my other friends turn and all give me the same stare. Which freaked me out. But I knew that they knew I wasn’t cool with it.

Cheater
This next story had happened maybe a week or two ago. I recently went to go to look at colleges for my older brother with the rest of my family. We took a tour of Ithaca College at about 3pm and it ended around 5pm. After the tour my family and I met up with some friends for dinner at a nice southern restaurant. We all sat down, ordered our food, and all that boring stuff. As everyone else at the table was talking to one another, I was texting my boyfriend. Now I am going to say real quick that he wasn’t a big part of this conversation I’m about to tell you. Anyways, while I was talking to him my phone started to vibrate. I looked at the new notification and it said that I got a dm on instagram from this girl who has been bugging me. I don’t want to say her real name, so I’ll just call her “Jennifer”.  And now I can’t find the actual messages but I’ll just give a short version of it.  I started off with just ignoring most of the things she was saying, not knowing who she was. But she ended up really getting on my nerves.

“Jennifer”: “Why are you ignoring me, huh?”
Me: “Sorry I just don’t really know you.”
The conversation somehow ended up with her accusing me of cheating on my boyfriend.
“Jennifer”: “You’re such a sl*t.”
“Jennifer”: “I know you like that other guy, so why do you still pretend to like your boyfriend.”
Me: “I don’t like any other guy.”
“Jennifer”: “Sure. Well he likes me better compared to you.”

This went on throughout the rest of dinner and by the time it was over (after being called emo, cheater, s***, a billion times) we were leaving the restaurant. The car ride home was around 2 and ½ hours. I didn’t talk much and I tried to fall asleep but the conversation I just had kept going on and on in my head. By the time I got home was better, it wasn’t on my mind as often as before. But it almost felt like it was constantly haunting me for the next few days.

Deal With It
Throughout these events my friends and family have been telling me too try to ignore what other people say. They tell me people won’t always be nice to you. But I’ve heard these things multiple times and it doesn’t always work. Trying to face the fact was always somewhat difficult for me. But now it is nothing like it used to be.

Break You Down OR Build You Up
There are two choices for when you’re being bullied, given labels, being teased, etc. You can let it break you down, or you can let it build you up. While growing up with these different labels, emo, s***, cheater, ugly, etc.  I’ve always let them break me down. Sometimes I just stop trying to ignore thinking the labels will go away. But up till today, I don’t stop and spend a lifetime trying to think about it, about why people don’t like me. Now I’ve chosen for these experiences to build me up, and become more confident about who I am, and not care what people say. Because for all I known, I might never see them again.