It was then. . .

         It was a rather ordinary day in art class, one of my favorite subjects. I sat with two other classmates, a boy and a girl, who like me were trying to get through the day under the radar of the bullies. Today we would have no such luck. For reasons unexplained, a girl at the table behind us decided it would be a good time to tell my tablemate, the boy sitting next to me, how worthless he was. With each taunt his head hung a little lower until I could stand it no more. I turned, not thinking of the consequences, and said to her, "Why don't you just leave him alone."

That remark set off her fury, and she unleashed her inner monster on me without restrint. I tried to ignore her, but a paper came under my nose with her name and my name on the top, and the question of "who do you like more" in stark letters. A long list of signatures from the other students were under her name, and a few brave souls had signed under mine. I stood up, pushing back my chair, and walked over to the bully, gloating in her popularity, and tore the paper up in front of her.

"I don't really care who likes me," I replied with no emotion. I returned to my seat and the boy next to me leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I put my name under yours."

It didn't matter, back then nothing really mattered much. It was a rare day that passed without my being bullied, and the days had turned into years. I finished my day with the taunts following me from class to class as the relay bullying passed from one girl to the next. I took the city bus home, walked a block to my house, and disappeared in my room. The pretty pink flowered wallpaper comforted me as I stared at it for hours, imaginary friends floating in and out of the walls. I knew they weren't real, but the loneliness was unbearable. My cruel and critical mother never saw my pain, and I wondered if anyone would notice if I were gone.

But that was then. . . now I am grown-up, with children of my own and a fulfilling marriage. Sometimes I sit in my car in front of my house full of warmth and love, and I am so grateful to have found happiness. I made it out of the darkness to now, because the best was yet to come, and it was worth the wait.