I have touched on this tale in the past.
Now, only this QOTW and dark chocolate are persuading me to tell it, mainly because it's something that affects me still today from time to time; when I get a bit low, it all comes back to me.

When I was a smaller Maladicta of about eleven, there was another new kid who joined our class at school. However, he was the total opposite of Stalker Boy, in that for some reason I still don't fully understand, he immediately took against me and made it his life's work to make me feel as miserable and unwelcome within about ten feet of him as possible. And by some horribly perverse twist of fate, I had a little girlie crush on him (do you ever wish that you could go back in time and slap your younger self silly? I do). He knew this all too well, and used it to his advantage to make things as difficult as possible for me. We shall call him Luke, for that was his name.

He quickly became extremely popular with the teachers, for as well as being "charming" and sweet to all outward appearances, he was a straight-A student who always did his homework and never got anything below 80% in an exam. He also became extremely popular with the girls in my year, not because he was attractive (he looked like an anorexic mole, or Rachelswipe's starving baby bird description) but because he was apparently very good at giving advice and was a good laugh. Over the course of the next few years, he managed to turn the entire school year, bar a couple of people (Stalker Boy, clearly, used to switch sides and would always delight in telling me what he'd said), but in the end they'd always cave to pressure and end up joining in.

Luke specialised not in physical violence, mainly because he was a weed of epic proportions, but he was a master at messing with your head. His favourite tricks were to steal my homework out of my desk or out of my books to make me look stupid when I came to hand it in, before saying "Oooo she's not done it, you should punish her, sir", hiding my books and homework planner (which if you lost for more than about a day every single teacher would throw a shitfit about), hacking my network user (in reality just leaning over my shoulder when I typed in my password, I suppose) and copying all my stuff onto the common drive (not that I had anything offensive on there, which didn't deter him because he just made textfiles saying "I, [Maladicta], love [History Teacher] and want his babies!!111" which got me into trouble), claimed to have hacked into my (locked) former blog and read all my secrets, yet was unable to produce evidence, repeatedly "went out" with (in other words, held hands with constantly, this was Year 9) my slaggy ex-best "friend" simply to mess with my head, and it was him who announced that I was "in love" with my history teacher to the entire school at the swimming gala, inventing a girlfriend who was "a model", when really her picture was just cut out of Sugar (this had no effect other than making me laugh at how far he was willing to go, including setting up a fake email account for her to yell at me off), in between telling me that he and no one else would ever love me or want to have sex with me because I was so fat and useless and ugly.

Why didn't I tell anyone? Because I knew I'd get no sympathy from anyone and because if I told any teachers, it would be my word against his and I already knew what a capable and manipulative liar he was. All it would have taken was a couple of tears from him, and I would be the bad guy. It just wasn't worth it.

By Year 10, then, I was a wreck; no self-confidence at all, virtually no friends (unless you count Stalker Boy, and I don't), no life outside of school other than the ones I made online (who were a great help to me, and I'm still in touch with a lot of them). I'm merely focused on one thing: getting him to leave me alone and to finally quit hurting me. By this stage, everyone and their dog had MSN and he'd bugged me on it for some time, not least when anyone I liked (he always seemed to find out) got a girlfriend, and one day, after enjoying taunting me because I was "on the shelf, where you'll always be" I finally snapped and told him he was a manipulative, twisted bastard who didn't deserve to live, and that I hated him and hoped he died. The ensuing row continued for about five minutes, with him mocking me, saying I "always have to be the tragic victim" and telling me how pathetic I was to even think anyone cared about me. And finally, I got a backbone. BLOCK.

This was just before the start of Year 11, and by then, something had snapped inside me and I was refusing to take any more of his crap. I blocked every single email address he'd ever used to annoy me, deleted him off my MSN and made it clear to anyone who talked to me that if they added him into the conversation, I would do the same to them. He found ways to get around this, like getting his cousin's friend, who just happened to be a lesbian (he was trying to convince me that the reason no one would go out with me was because I was secretly gay) to chat me up over MSN, and when he was mentioned "he just wants to be your friend". I ignored him at school to the point of not even registering he'd said anything to me, and not even acknowledging his existence by the end of the year. Gradually, I felt better, and this was made even better one evening when I was talking to a newish friend of mine online (hello Pete) and he said "look, Luke wants me to add him in, if he says anything mean you can leave straight away but he says it's important". I reluctantly agree, and he says (and this is why I hate people who type like this over the internets - why type like a retard if you're supposed to be so intelligent?) "after GCSE, im movin 2 Canada!!!".

One victory lap of the house later, I sit down at the PC again and type "oh that's nice."

Of course, as soon as word got out that he was leaving, there was teenage drama aplenty: girls clinging to him begging him not to leave, saying they'd miss him soooooo much and that he had to come back to visit, and then telling me I was "heartless" for saying I wouldn't miss "lovely" Luke.

Finally, he was gone, and life went on like it had done before, but with a lot less angsting, bar a letter he sent me (address courtesy - surprise surprise - of Stalker Boy), saying that he had only ever picked on me "because u were different" and trying to justify his actions by saying "I didn't know how 2 treat u other than 2 be mean 2 u and I still think ur bein harsh cuz u won't talk 2 me" (he actually wrote like this, in posh fountain pen, it was quite surreal). I think part of it was that we were all growing up, and bar the odd mention of his name, and Stalker Boy mooning over how much he missed him (he fancied him, I later discovered), things were pretty much as good as they could be. He came back to England for the last week we were all at school and true to form, picked up exactly where he left off, meaning I got a lot of texts from him wanting to "meet up" and saying he couldn't wait to see me on Friday. I don't mind admitting I ignored him, just as I used to, that Friday, and never said a word to him the entire day: not that he would have needed it, being surrounded by his entourage yet again. And so, I left the school confident that he would never see me or be able to hurt me again.

Two months later, quite late in the evening, I get several missed calls on my phone, all from "Stalker Boy Home". We still had dialup at the time, so I disconnect and call him back, figuring he wants to talk about our up and coming trip of nightmares to Spain (if there's ever another Holidays from Hell, I will talk about this too). I get his mum, who asks to talk to mine, and after about five minutes, mum puts her hand over the receiver and informs me in hushed tones that Luke is dead. The phone then gets passed to me, and all I hear is the sobbing of Stalker Boy, interspersed with odd words that sound like "forgive and forget" and "he never meant you any harm". Eventually he manages to tell me what happened, that there was an accident on some highway where he was living, and that the car was totalled. My first thought, I'm ashamed to say, was "Karma's a bitch".

And that is why I hate public school, although I'm now living a life I never thought I would: at uni, with plenty of friends (bar the odd stalkery type) and a boyfriend who loves me to bits and treats me like a princess (aww), not least because he understands and is willing to put up with the fact I have moments where my self-esteem is nonexistent. I call that karma.

Apologies for length, it's cathartic.
( Maladicta, Sat 23 Feb 2008, 11:22, 17 replies)

Oh
Oops... posted my story above which is pretty much exactly the same :|

But i know exactly what you went through, and it sucks. Though to be fair, i didnt have it that bad...

*click* For a much better written story than mine :)
(Pointless as a chavs bathroom, Sat 23 Feb 2008, 11:32, closed)

Thank you :)
There seem to have been so many of us that went through something like that :( it makes me sad to think of it! Why don't schools do anything about bullies?
( Maladicta, Sat 23 Feb 2008, 11:38, closed)

School dosnt
But karma does, it seems
(Pointless as a chavs bathroom, Sat 23 Feb 2008, 11:42, closed)

Often...
School doesn't do anything about it, because they don't know.

In my experience, teachers and staff generally don't get involved in the world of kids, except in the classroom. They see a very two dimensional view of the system, and can only expand upon it through the lens they already know.
(Captain Skippy pooed in a bag and left it on your doorstep, Sat 23 Feb 2008, 12:10, closed)

I wouldn't mind
but the teachers at my school were, for the most part, either overzealous (if you blew your nose because you had a cold they wanted to know why you were upset), or they didn't give a shit. There was only one who knew what was going on, and that was my Latin teacher - she tried to get me to tell and I just didn't think it was worth it. Woe.
( Maladicta, Sat 23 Feb 2008, 12:26, closed)

It will get easier eventually.
Try to remember that the things that happened to you then have helped to shape the great person you are now.

I really think he was fucked up and unfortuntly you were the target.
( girlinthehole, Sat 23 Feb 2008, 13:49, closed)

Thank you too :)
I'm getting there, I feel more positive than ever a lot of the time but I have decided a little professional help is necessary, too.

There's a theory (though as this comes from Stalker Boy I'm reluctant to believe it as he would do anything to justify Luke's actions because he believed I was making a fuss over nothing) that he realised he was gay at a very young age - hence why he freaked when he realised there was a girl who felt that way about him, plus his home life was a bit odd - his family were very religious with crucifixes all over the walls, plus his mum died when he was quite young and I think he was expected to call his stepmum "mum". I suppose all that could have been the cause of his cuntishness.
( Maladicta, Sat 23 Feb 2008, 14:10, closed)

...
Sympathises and clicks.
I was bullied horrendously at my first school. Sadly, there's no evidence of karma yet, my bullies are all doing rather well for themselves. Damn them. I live in hope though...
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Sat 23 Feb 2008, 17:57, closed)

I don't think you need worry about the reasons...
the reasons being WHY he acted like a complete prick to you from the word go. There's no excuse for it. If he had issues then he could have dealt with them in many ways other than to torment you.

The thumb of karma came down on him good and proper and if he was miserable, well he's not anymore.

Glad to hear things are going well for you now!
(Lurkaloid awarded wanking black belt on, Sat 23 Feb 2008, 18:30, closed)

Am I a horrible person?
Because my first thought after reading your story was 'yay'?

:x

Bullies are horrible little shits, I got bullied a bit at school but managed to avoid a lot of it by keeping my head down, it cheers me up now though that several of the chav scum have tried adding me on facebook and all their jobs are something like Tesco cashier or something similarily dead end.
(Guilt wants to get in your moist confines, Sat 23 Feb 2008, 20:16, closed)

Having done a fair bit of research into Domestic Violence...
this guys sounds like the kind of chap that would have grown up to be extremely abusive, physically or mentally, to the woman he was with. All the time being a a charming cunt to every other fucker in the world. It's having their punch bag kept in their closet that allows them to feel smug and superior and exude confidence. There's one person that has their world depend on how he treats them, until the manage to get away, as you did. So sod him.
(Cryptoprocta has abandoned the username of Voodoo Mary, Sat 23 Feb 2008, 22:08, closed)

@ Guilt
I pre-empted all the inevitable Facebook adds, you should see my block list! Sadly, they're all doing stupidly well for themselves and my slaggy ex-best friend just got engaged, making me wonder where the karma was there, especially as my other half is a Tescos till monkey :(
( Maladicta, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:16, closed)

@ Voodoo Mary
That's exactly what my mum said - she frequently called him a misogynist and said he'd be abusive to anyone who looked at him funny for the rest of his life, yet to all outward appearances be a sweet, charming soul. But still, fuck him. Fuck him right in the ear!
( Maladicta, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:18, closed)

@ Lurkaloid
I think he must have picked up on the general atmosphere surrounding me; I did occasionally get grief off some of the troglodyte boys in my year and he must have thought "monkey see monkey do". By the end of school I got on much better with the ex-troglodytes than anyone else. Thank you :)
( Maladicta, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:19, closed)

@ BobFossil
Perhaps karma is biding its time for them... I fumed last week when I heard my ex-best friend and champion slag of the universe got engaged, and since she more or less picked up where he left off and had the entire year convinced I had teh gay for her by the time we left, I'm hoping karma really comes for her later in life...
( Maladicta, Sun 24 Feb 2008, 17:21, closed)

Sounds familiar...
Like every bully who enjoyed making my life a misery from years 4-13 (that's right, even 6th form).

I understand you're looking for the good in him, but his losing his mother doesn't make a jot of difference. I'm in the same boat, and know many similar people. Plus, my Dad's a preacher. There never has been, and there never will be an excuse for bullying!

oh, and *click*
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Mon 25 Feb 2008, 10:02, closed)

@ Agnostic Antichrist
I guess I was, because I thought for so long that I brought it on myself by being "weird" when virtually no one I've met out of school has given me a moment's grief I realise it was just the people I went to school with who were pants on head retarded. I guess he's the exception, not the rule in that case :) *looks down* warm enough for you down there is it?
( Maladicta, Mon 25 Feb 2008, 10:58, closed)