Life Lessons for Every Girl
The Worst Day of My Life
It was 4th period History and still the first Monday of February. I was listening to Mrs. G talk about the Mayans and how they built temple-like structures to pray to their gods. History had always been my strong point, same with math. I don’t know, I was just good at them and I really looked forward to those classes. But of course, because I did so well, everyone labeled me as a nerd.
Life Lesson # 9: If you’re smart, you’re not cool, and if you’re cool, you’re not smart. You can NEVER be both; at least, not in middle school…
Twenty minutes into this discussion, I started hearing giggling in the back, which really annoyed me. Everyone at the middle school was so disrespectful to the teachers and I never understood why. These teachers were providing a valuable service for a measly salary because they cared about the future of their country, and none of the middle school students seemed to understand that.
So anyways, I heard giggling. It started with one person, and then more and more people began to join in. Finally Mrs. G had had enough and she asked this girl Rachel to please share what was so funny. Rachel was literally the definition of a Bitch. She was horrible and conniving and made everyone feel worthless just so that she could feel better about herself. But she was the most popular girl in the school because she was gorgeous, and I envied her for that.
Life Lesson # 10: The most popular girl in the school is almost always a bitch.
“Someone shared something really funny with me, Mrs. G. That’s all,” she said.
Of course that wasn’t all. She wasn’t done. She was just waiting for Mrs. G to tell her to go on so that she wouldn’t get in trouble for what she was about to say next.
“And…?” Mrs. G said in a very stern voice.
I will never forget the next few words that came out of her mouth, because hearing those words would change my life forever.
“Well,” said Rachel, “Apparently Nick asked Mary out for Valentine’s Day and Mary thought that he was actually being serious. It was just a prank, and she was too dumb to realize it. I mean look at her, who would ever go out with her!?”
Everyone immediately started laughing. Everyone. It was like a scene from a movie where the popular girl humiliates a loser. People watching those scenes are always like, “This kind of thing never happens in real life,” when in reality it does… People just chose to pretend like those events have never happened at their school, because they want to seem perfect.
When I was in middle school, rules against bullying were non-existent; and even if they did exist, they were definitely not enforced. So after I heard Rachel say those things, and after I heard the whole class laugh, I was just so heartbroken. I’m usually good at keeping my emotions in check, especially in public, but that day, I just broke down. Breaking down and crying made my whole situation even worse because my classmates began to laugh even more. And when I looked over to Mrs. G for guidance and help, she just gave me an apologetic look and told the class to settle down; which, of course, didn’t work.
So I ran out of the room, leaving my books behind. I ran down the hall and into the bathroom and just cried for a few hours. It was one of the worst days of my life. I was never the same after that day. Never. That day made me realize that you should never show any emotion, other than happiness, and that you can’t trust anyone, especially boys. So from that day forward, I kept to myself. I didn’t make any friends, I didn’t talk to anyone, and I didn’t join any activities. I went from trying to interact with people, to alienating myself from everybody because I didn’t trust anyone. I only had three friends, and honestly, that was all I needed.
Life Lesson #11: It doesn’t matter how many friends you have, what matters most is the quality of those friends.
I realize now that the actions I took after this traumatizing experience were irrational and definitely not appropriate, but at the time, I thought that they were justified. Those actions that I took would affect my life for the next few years in a very negative way. But you live and you learn.
Looking back, I always had a feeling that Rachel was going to say something about me when Mrs. G asked her to continue; I just felt it in the pit of my stomach. And when I actually think about everything that happened that day, I should have known that Nick would never ask me out for real. It was just against social norms. But the last bit of hope that was still in my heart wanted me to believe that everything that happened earlier that day was genuine. So in a way, Rachel was right; I let my hope overpower the logical side of my head, like a stupid and clueless little girl.
Life Lesson #12: Beware, because hope will overpower logic many times in your life…
Life Lesson # 9: If you’re smart, you’re not cool, and if you’re cool, you’re not smart. You can NEVER be both; at least, not in middle school…
Twenty minutes into this discussion, I started hearing giggling in the back, which really annoyed me. Everyone at the middle school was so disrespectful to the teachers and I never understood why. These teachers were providing a valuable service for a measly salary because they cared about the future of their country, and none of the middle school students seemed to understand that.
So anyways, I heard giggling. It started with one person, and then more and more people began to join in. Finally Mrs. G had had enough and she asked this girl Rachel to please share what was so funny. Rachel was literally the definition of a Bitch. She was horrible and conniving and made everyone feel worthless just so that she could feel better about herself. But she was the most popular girl in the school because she was gorgeous, and I envied her for that.
Life Lesson # 10: The most popular girl in the school is almost always a bitch.
“Someone shared something really funny with me, Mrs. G. That’s all,” she said.
Of course that wasn’t all. She wasn’t done. She was just waiting for Mrs. G to tell her to go on so that she wouldn’t get in trouble for what she was about to say next.
“And…?” Mrs. G said in a very stern voice.
I will never forget the next few words that came out of her mouth, because hearing those words would change my life forever.
“Well,” said Rachel, “Apparently Nick asked Mary out for Valentine’s Day and Mary thought that he was actually being serious. It was just a prank, and she was too dumb to realize it. I mean look at her, who would ever go out with her!?”
Everyone immediately started laughing. Everyone. It was like a scene from a movie where the popular girl humiliates a loser. People watching those scenes are always like, “This kind of thing never happens in real life,” when in reality it does… People just chose to pretend like those events have never happened at their school, because they want to seem perfect.
When I was in middle school, rules against bullying were non-existent; and even if they did exist, they were definitely not enforced. So after I heard Rachel say those things, and after I heard the whole class laugh, I was just so heartbroken. I’m usually good at keeping my emotions in check, especially in public, but that day, I just broke down. Breaking down and crying made my whole situation even worse because my classmates began to laugh even more. And when I looked over to Mrs. G for guidance and help, she just gave me an apologetic look and told the class to settle down; which, of course, didn’t work.
So I ran out of the room, leaving my books behind. I ran down the hall and into the bathroom and just cried for a few hours. It was one of the worst days of my life. I was never the same after that day. Never. That day made me realize that you should never show any emotion, other than happiness, and that you can’t trust anyone, especially boys. So from that day forward, I kept to myself. I didn’t make any friends, I didn’t talk to anyone, and I didn’t join any activities. I went from trying to interact with people, to alienating myself from everybody because I didn’t trust anyone. I only had three friends, and honestly, that was all I needed.
Life Lesson #11: It doesn’t matter how many friends you have, what matters most is the quality of those friends.
I realize now that the actions I took after this traumatizing experience were irrational and definitely not appropriate, but at the time, I thought that they were justified. Those actions that I took would affect my life for the next few years in a very negative way. But you live and you learn.
Looking back, I always had a feeling that Rachel was going to say something about me when Mrs. G asked her to continue; I just felt it in the pit of my stomach. And when I actually think about everything that happened that day, I should have known that Nick would never ask me out for real. It was just against social norms. But the last bit of hope that was still in my heart wanted me to believe that everything that happened earlier that day was genuine. So in a way, Rachel was right; I let my hope overpower the logical side of my head, like a stupid and clueless little girl.
Life Lesson #12: Beware, because hope will overpower logic many times in your life…
♠ ♠ ♠
This was possibly the hardest thing I have ever had to write. I hate going down memory lane... This event was just so hard on me, and it still affects me today. There aren't a lot of readers for this story, but I'm really hoping that that will change....