For me the bullying started in 4th grade. That is when kids started splitting into "clicks", leaving me and a few others the odds ones out. It started with words being whispered that I could hear and continued from there. No one really wanted to talk to me except if they needed help with something. Fifth grade came and I thought maybe it would stop but it didn't. Every day I wished I would get a stomachache so I could go home. Instead, however, I decided to just keep working hard at school and try to ignore it. 6th grade was the first time I actually started standing up for myself. Some made a rude comment about dancers and what they stereotypically wear (I take dance lessons) and I simply turned around and told them they were wrong and proved it by telling them my Halloween costume that year was a dance costume. They were shocked, but it didn't stop them. 7th grade came and went with similar taunts and teases. 8th grade things seemed to get better but it was not to last. We were at our 8th grade dinner dance. All the other girls in my class were dancing in a circle together and my few friends called me over to join them. The others girls pushed them out of the way and blocked me so I could not join in. I was happy to graduate. Finally high school started. I was very scared the bullying was going to start again. Thankfully it did not and the few incidents where it almost did were quickly resolved. At the end of my freshman year I was told I was chosen to do a three year independent research project on a topic that challenged the status quo of society. I immediately chose the topic of bullying. When asked why I told them my story and how not only I was bullied but my friends and now my younger brother. I worked for three years on that project and now am almost done. I am doing presentations about it and trying to spread the word that Bullying is WRONG and it’s not just “Kids Being Kids”. I still have the memories of what I went through years later and though it is all behind me I know it has affected me. I now have a voice I did not have back then and now I try to spread the word and stand up for those who are and have been bullied.