It was a warm summer day in August in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and it was the start of a new school year. 16-year-old Bailey is going to be a new student at Lincoln High School, and it will be her Junior year. Luckily her older sister Sophie went to school there last year, so she told her most things she needed to know about the people that went to school there and who to look out for. Harper and Sarah were the main people Bailey needed to worry about, they were the school bullies, these girls were the ones who made fun of almost everyone, especially the new kids. 

“You don't have to worry about them now, school doesn't start for another week”

“I know, I'm not too worried about it right now.”

Tomorrow is the first day of school, Bailey is excited and nervous at the same time. She got her outfit picked out and ready for tomorrow. Now it's the first day of school, Bailey's sister brings her to school and drops her off by the front doors. She walks up to the school with a bunch of different emotions, she pauses and takes a deep breath then walks in. No one looks at her, they just keep doing what they are doing. She walks to the office to get her schedule, then she finds her locker. She makes her way to her first class of the day, art, which was one of her favorite subjects in school. She loves to draw, sketch, paint, and do arts and crafts. Bailey usually does one of these things in her free time to calm down or relieve stress. By lunchtime Bailey was a little nervous because she had no one to sit by so she asked this girl named Sarah if she could sit by her then Harper said “No the new girl can't sit by us this table is for us and our friends only.” 

“Sorry I didn't know” apologized Bailey

“Yeah okay, you can leave now,” Harper said with a rude tone 

Bailey sat at a table by herself in the corner of the lunch room. Finally, the day was over and it was time for everyone to go home, Bailey's sister came and picked her up and brought her home on the way Bailey told her sister about what happened to her at lunchtime.
“I told you about them two girls,” said Sophie

“I think Sarah might not be mean at all I think it's just Harper controlling her”

“I never really thought about that. Now that you know Sarah never really said anything mean to anyone only Harper has. There was this one time when Harper told Sarah to say something to someone and she just couldn't say it then Harper got all mad at her for it. 

“Are you going to tell mom and dad about it?”

“I might if they ask, do you think I should or not?”

“It's up to you, you know the first thing they're going to ask is how was your first day at school”

“I'll probably end up telling Mom anyway, and then she will end up telling Dad.”

“Yeah”

When they got home, the first thing Mom asked was

“How was school?”

 Bailey and Sophie both looked at each other and started laughing, 

“It was fine” Bailey replied 

“Did you make any friends?”

“No, not yet at least”

“Don't worry you’ll make friends, the best ones are sometimes hard to find”

“Yeah”

“Try talking to some people maybe you'll make some friends”

“I do not want to talk to new people”

“Just try and if it doesn't work, well it will there is no what if’s”

“Fine”

The next day at school Bailey saw Sarah by herself so she went up to her and asked 

“Do you wanna hang out with me? You look a little lonely. I'm new so I do not have any friends”

“Yes, please I'd love to!”

“Great, where is Harper?”

“She's not coming to school today she's homesick”
“Oh, why do you let her boss you around”
“I have known Harper my whole life we have always done everything together, she was never as mean as she is now, she used to be one of the sweetest people I know until her mom died now she is always upset I'm just trying to be there for her and help her so I just listen to her”
“Wow I didn't know, but you shouldn't let her boss you around”
“I know, it will stop soon enough”

“Yeah but what if it doesn't?”

“I think it will”

“Okay” 

Bailey and Sarah ate lunch together
“Do you wanna come to my house after school?” asked Bailey 

“Of course” replied Sarah 

When they got to Bailey’s house Bailey showed Sarah around the house, when they made it back to her room, Harper called Sarah and asked her if she wanted to hang out, but Sarah was silent. 

“Hello?”

“Um, I'm at someone's house right now,”

“Who’s?”

“Baileys” 

“Ew, why are you with her!? Don't hang out with her, she is weird and ugly”

“No, she’s not! She's nice”

“Whatever”

The next day at school, Harper kept giving Bailey mean looks and told her that Sarah didn't like her and that she was only hanging out with her because she wasn't there. All the things that Harper was saying were making Bailey depressed and feel bad about herself. Her sister picked her up from school again and Bailey told her what Harper said and how it made her feel. Sophie told her not to worry about it that everything would be fine and to tell her if she kept saying stuff. Harper kept saying stuff so Bailey told her sister about it again. Bailey was getting more and more depressed. Finally, when Sophie thought it would be best, she told Bailey she should consider seeing a therapist Bailey was shocked when Sophie told her that, but she was considering it. Finally, when it got to the point where she couldn't take it anymore, she went to see a therapist. 

When she arrived at the meeting she was scared because she didn't know what to say, so she walked up to the room where she was supposed to meet her and sat down.
“Hey Bailey, how's your day?”

“Good”

“So, you wanted to talk to me?”

“Yes”

“Okay, what would you like to talk about?”

“Well there's this girl at school who keeps making fun of me and saying bad things about me and it's making me feel depressed. What should I do?”

“Well I think you should talk to her about it and see if she will stop”

“I could try”
“Okay, try that and tell me how it goes”

“Okay”

The next day Bailey goes to school, she asks Harper to stop making fun of her and saying things about her, but Harper just ignores her and walks away. The next time she goes to therapy, she tells her what happened. Bailey goes to therapy 1 time a week and tells her therapist what goes on with Harper. After a few weeks of going to therapy, Bailey decides to tell her how she used to bully people and how she feels terrible about it now because she understands how it made them feel. So that night Bailey called the people she made fun of and apologized for what she did to them.
The next day at school, Bailey talked to Sarah and asked if she could try to get Harper to like her and Sarah said she would try. Sarah went up to Harper and said,

“You should talk to Bailey and get to know her more. She is lovely and I think we would all be excellent friends.”
“No”
“Yes, you need to stop being mean to people. Bailey hasn't done anything to you. Just be friends with her, please, or at least just talk to her”

“Fine” 

Harper walked up to Bailey and said,

“I'm sorry I was mean to you I've just been going through a lot”
“I know you didn't mean, it's okay”
“Do you and Sarah want to come over to my house tonight and spend the weekend there?”

“Yes I'd love to and I think Sarah would too”

“Yeah, for sure.”