A Bully In High School Ruined My Life: I Was Beaten, Humiliated And Even Arrested

Let’s face it, bullies can ruin people’s lives. Gay guys in high school suffer from it often, but it can happen to everybody, whether gay or straight – and a persistent bully can change the course of your life completely.

In a very painful and hard to read confession, this guy on Reddit tells the story of how James, the new kid in school, tormented him all through high school – he was beaten, humiliated, even arrested – and had no one to help him.

• Also See: The Bully That Outed Me In High School Died. Is It Wrong To Feel Happy?

“I was in 9th grade when James transferred over to our high school”, the recount begins. “He had rich parents, he was a star football player and wrestler, and he was in the top 10% of academics in the entire state.

“I came from a not as good background. My mother had died in a car crash when I was 3 and my father became a drug and alcohol addict. I never let this discourage me and did pretty well in school. I kept my GPA at a 3.7 and I was striving to be a police officer and help the community. That is, until James showed up.”

And that’s when things when spiraling down. Here’s the condensed version:

I don’t know what he saw in me but there was something in me that sparked him. Something about me just turned him into the worst human being I have ever encountered in my life.

The first encounter I had with him was in the hallway before 1st period. He was walking with his group, blocking the entire hallway and when I came in front of him he asked “Do you want us to move?” and all I said was “If you don’t mind because I have to get to Biology.”, he seemed cool and did a little move where he kind of “opened” the gate of people but as I went passed him he took my head like a basketball and slammed it into a locker. “YOU move for ME, it’s not the other way around. Got it you little piece of shit?” and then let go and walked off laughing with his little group.

Now I don’t know exactly what would have happened had I not told the principal and I don’t know if he would have let me “off the hook” had I not tried to get him into trouble but I had. Now mind you, this was before cameras were a thing in school and everything was more “laid back” in terms of bullying.

I told the principal about what happened and he called us both in there. James, of course, acted astonished that anyone would ever make up a lie like this and all his little buddies attested that this never happened. I ended up getting in trouble for making things up and trying to get the new student in school a “bad rap”. I got a detention but that was nothing compared to what was about to happen throughout my high school career.

The real bullying started when James caught me using a urinal in the bathroom. I had put my backpack down and started peeing and all of a sudden I hear “No fucking way!”. James then grabs me by the back of my shirt, slams me up against the urinal wall, and then drags me into the stall where he proceeds to shove my head in the toilet while saying “Was this worth being a tattle tell?”.

After shoving my head in the toilet he took my books from my backpack and tore a number of pages out of each one, broke all my pencils, and pissed on my backpack. One of the worst experiences of my life but it sure as hell wasn’t the last.

Here are some of the events just from 9th grade;

• Every lunch period he would ask me for my tray. If I didn’t give it to him, he and his friends would take turns spitting in it. I quickly learned that if he wanted my lunch, just to give it to him because if I said no I wasn’t eating anyways.
• Anytime there was an opportunity for a beating, he took it. Multiple occasions of him waiting at the bathroom door and when I walk by, he grabs me and pulls me in. Then him and his friends punch and kick me or piss on me or shove my head into the toilet. Sometimes they even piss in the toilet before they did it.
• Held me down and spray painted my hair pink.
• I rode my bike home from school as my father never bothered or remembered to pick me up and I hated the bus so I never signed up. James found this out and him and his friends would chase me down on their bikes. If they caught me they would usually throw me in the river or a dumpster behind a restaurant. Depending on where they caught me.
• Had a girl befriend me and get me to hang out after school, only to be met by James. They poured a gallon of paint into my backpack then shoved my head into it and kicked me around a little bit. Then left laughing.
• Got caught at the park with my best friend. They held him down and made him watch me get kicked around. Told my friend to beat my ass or he was going to get the same treatment. He stomped on me a couple times and then they left together. He joined in on some of the bullying’s after that.
• Terrible verbal abuse. Constant reminder how much of a piece of shit I was, how my mother probably died on purpose to get away from me, how my father is a low life just to deal with me, and how the only way to get out of James’ life is to kill myself.

My academic performance suffered greatly. I went from a 3.7 to a 2.3 GPA in one year. My physical and mental health were rapidly declining. 

Now 10th grade rolls around and it’s back to the old days of constant beatings and punishments. Until a couple months in, I had had enough. I ran into James again and he grabbed me.

I told him to meet me in the park after school and I would fight him but if I won, he had to leave me alone. His face seemed that of someone’s first Cocaine experience. His eyes glowed and he had so much joy in his face that it was scary. He said “DEAL! But if you don’t show up, I will make your life a living hell. Well, more than it already is you piece of nothing.”.

I was dreading it all day. I didn’t know exactly how bad it was going to be but I didn’t think it was going to be good. School ends and James actually escorts me over to the park. The whole time his just staring at me and saying shit like;

“I’ve been waiting for this moment from the day I met your pathetic worthless body.” or “I don’t think you understand what is exactly going to happen to you. Do you?” or “Your mother is going to look down on you after this because you are so fucking worthless and pathetic”

Now what I left out for this moment actually is that is our physical specifications.

• James stands at 6 foot 2 inches tall. Weighing about 240 pounds of pure fucking muscle. One of the biggest kids in our class. State wrestling champ. Star football player. 
• I stand at 5 foot 7. Weighing 140 pounds. Never got in anything physical in my life and I have never lifted weights in my life.

After what feels like a lifetime, we get to the park and a circle of people forms around us. 

He yells at me to throw the first punch and I swing….and I miss. He leaned out of the punch, grabbed me from the back, and proceeds to suplex me on the ground. He gets up and makes me stand up again but that slam was one of the hardest blows I have ever taken in my life and I don’t know what my next move is but I stand up. I know I can’t just give up like that.

After I stand up, nothing got better. He picked me up in what they call a “Fireman Carry” and slams me down hard as fuck, again. Only this time he starts punching me in the head. It only took 2 good shots and I was out.

I don’t remember what happened after that but I woke up with nobody around me and I had dried blood from my nose all over me. My head was POUNDING, my body felt like I got hit by a car.

After that, nothing got better. It was the same routine of bullying as 9th grade was.

By 11th grade my GPA was a 1.3 and I had given up in life. James actually made it easier for me by planting Marijuana in my backpack and telling the principal I had it.

I was given a choice to either drop out or go to a juvenile school. I choose to drop out. I was then charged with bringing a schedule 1 narcotic onto school grounds. I spent a week in jail and then I was on probation for a year and had to do 40 hours of community service along with a drug addiction program.

You’d think dropping out of HS would have made James leave me alone. He had won, what more did he want? Obviously something but I didn’t know what it was. He would catch me out occasionally and beat my ass, throw me in a dumpster or river.

When 12 grade rolled around he got a little more crazy knowing that he had to go off to college eventually. Whenever he would catch me out he would grab me, take all my shit, shove me in the trunk of his car, take me MILES away from my home, beat me, and then force me to walk back. This happened about 4 times.

James got to graduate with a football scholarship and a 3.88 GPA. He then proceeded to graduate from Dartmouth college and now owns a branch of his father’s business and he is rich as fuck.

Me? I’m stuck in the same town working at the local McDonald’s and addicted to heroin. I was supposed to be something in life but in James words; he got to do it for me because he was more worthy. He’s sent me Facebook messages asking when I’m going to rehab or if I’m just going to end up killing myself.

I am so glad we are taking bullying a lot better than we used to. I don’t want anyone to ever go through what I went through and I hope one day to get help and get my life back on track.

I don’t hate James individually. I hate the system that let him get away with it