Maggie was an odd quiet girl. Everywhere I’d see her, I always saw her with her head down. She did not look at anyone, matter of fact she didn’t even talk to anyone. I always wondered why she didn’t have any friends, or even talk to anyone. She’d always eat alone in the cafeteria during lunch.

One day when I was walking out of class I saw Leslie and her followers running up towards Maggie. Leslie was accusing Maggie of checking her out. “She’s a lesbian?” I thought.
“Hey. Freak show. What is your problem? I saw the way you were looking at me.” Leslie screamed out loud to the point where everyone could hear. Maggie kept on walking without saying a single word pretending she could not hear her. “You want to ignore me? We’ll just see about that!” Leslie grabbed Maggie from behind while Maggie was trying to get away. Leslie pushed Maggie down onto the floor. Maggie just lay there the whole time, not moving or even putting effort into standing up. Leslie, Maya, and Jasmine laughed happily. Everyone else in the hallway just kept passing by as if nothing was going on. One guy passing by stepped on her long brown hair. Suddenly I felt a knot on my stomach. I wanted to help her. I wanted to tell Leslie to leave her alone, but then I remembered how she would tease me. Before I removed my braces and before I got my contacts she’d also tease me calling me names like four eyes and metal mouth. She’d push my chair when I was about to sit down so I could fall on the ground, she did that six times. One time it was bad enough that I fell on the ground and dislocated my left thumb.
The bell rang; it was time for fifth period. Leslie, Maya, and Jasmine all went their separate ways walking to class. Maggie was still lying down on the floor. I turned around and I walked towards Spanish. During class I couldn’t help but think of how Leslie and her two side monkeys could be so mean. I was thankful that there wasn’t much of school left and that Maggie would soon be home safe.
After school as I was walking home, I saw a crowd of people gathered around. I walked up to see what was going on and I saw Maggie. She had been pushed down a ditch. Leslie, Maya and Jasmine had done that. They called her nasty, and told her that because she was lesbian she deserved to die. Certain people went along with the “jokes” being made. Others felt the same way as I did, they had also been teased by Leslie, Maya and Jasmine. We were afraid to stand up for Maggie. If we were to say something, that would also make us a target as well. They might think I’m a lesbian too for standing up for Maggie. I walked away from the scene still hearing everyone laughing yelling out mean things. I entered the bagel and café shop down the street. I sat there over thinking what I had just witnessed. Minutes later I saw Maggie walk by the shop. She was entirely covered in dirt. I quickly got up and walked up to her.
“Maggie are you okay?” I slowly asked. She did not answer; she didn’t even look at me. “I’ve seen what Leslie, Maya and Jasmine have done to you, I went through that as well.” I said. She glanced over at me and I saw her watery eyes. She smiled and walked away from me.
The following week I had found out that Maggie had tried to commit suicide that week. It hurt me to know that I hadn’t done anything to avoid that problem. She had tried drinking bleach that same night of the incident. I felt horrible!
A few more months went by and Maggie had not returned to school. I later heard from one of Maggie’s family friends that she had moved to Los Angeles with her aunt.
After that incident everything in school had changed, people were now nicer to each other. People were actually watching out for other’s feelings. This was just the change that our school needed, a tragedy for everyone to realize that bullying is not okay and that tragedies actually do happen. We all need to take a stand against bullying and not let others affect us.