Since the end of elementary school, Francis had been bullied for everything. She moved to New York City when she was ten years old. She was born in Moscow, Russia but grew up in Malaga, Spain. From the second other children found out she was from Russia, she began to endure the pain. Tommy, a small boy with a big ego and Joe, the largest kid in Francis’s class, believed it was extremely funny that Francis was from Russia. The first comments came in sixth grade. Walking down the halls, Francis could hear Tommy and Joe in the distance yelling, “Go back to Russia! We don’t want you here.” Moving was extremely hard for Francis because just Francis and her father traveled to America. Every time Tommy and Joe would yell that she should go back to Russia, the only thing Francis could think of was how much she missed her family. Francis stood tall even with the hateful yelling. Coming from a strong family that had to endure many moves and new experiences, Francis knew she would never change herself for others. This was soon to change.
Tommy and Joe recruited others to bully Francis, and then the new bullies recruited more. Soon it was most of her class bullying Francis for being different. “What is so wrong with being different?” Francis would ask herself. One night she went home and asked her dad, “Why do people receive so much enjoyment out of my pain?” But all the advice Francis’s dad gave her was that she shouldn’t listen to others and that she should be herself. This was hard for Francis because at this point the only thing she wanted to was to fit in and have friends. After fighting through middle school, she began to worry more and more about her next four years to come at that school. The stories she heard terrified her. From skyscraper kids throwing the small ones into trashcans to taking books out of the small one’s hands and throwing them on the ground. “How could people do this to others?” she thought to herself.
Francis thought for a long time that summer and decided if she couldn’t stop bullying from happening, the least she could do was help prevent it. She bought a new backpack to hold all her books and the loudest whistle at the store so if anyone tried to bully her she could scare them away. She then encouraged others to stand up for themselves and if they ever needed help in highschool they should tell someone. Francis was only 78 pounds going into high school, and just a mere five feet tall. The first day of school arrived; she couldn’t avoid it. As Francis walked through the doors and smelled the fresh new paint on the high walls, her legs began to tremble. She felt herself shrinking as she had to look higher and higher to see the others’ faces. This turned out to be everyone in the school except for girl named Joy. They happened to share lockers with each other which also meant they had a lot of classes together. As soon as the two met, they knew they would be friends forever. It turned out that Joy had moved to New York City a few years ago from South Africa. Francis went home that night and told her dad all about Joy and how nice she was. As Francis lay in her bed that night, she thought to herself how slim of a chance for her to meet joy and that they would spend the rest of that year together. Francis and Joy went on to know each other for the rest of their lives. They went to the same college and then moved into a house together in New York.
As Francis grew old, she began to become ill. Joy was at Francis’s bedside when she took her last breath and spoke her last words. Francis pulled Joy in close and whispered with happiness, “Thanks for being there for me all these years. If it wasn’t for you, I would not be the person I am today.” A week later Joy followed in death to forever be with her best friend, Francis.