Though I am almost 23 years old, I will never forget my sixth grade year. That year was absolute hell for me. I was the new kid in a school where everyone had been friends since Kindergarden. Immediately the outcast, I never had many friends that year. Those that were my friend found something wrong with me and turned against me. I was called idiot, four eyes, whore, slut, and anything else you could think of. Not all forms of bullying are physical. I am a lover of school and of learning but I would go home at night and beg my mother and stepfather to call in sick the next day. I lost my stepfather that year to a heart attack. My mother and I found him in the floor in the kitchen late one night. All these kids from my school sent me cards saying they were there for me. But it was a lie. I went back to school after a week off and they were worse because I was vulnerable and they knew it. I would take bathroom breaks to cry in private so they wouldn't know they broke me down. Finally a month later I found my voice and I stood up for myself when the school or teachers wouldn't. I started fighting back, not by bullying, but by standing tall and proud of myself because I had gotten through the toughest year of my life and I stood strong. There were times when I contemplated suicide but I knew I could never do that to my mother. I was all she had left and the same went for my grandparents. Let this be a lesson. I made it through and so can everyone if you stand up against the bullies and let people know it is not okay.