Mia looked up with an amazed
expression on her face, “Charlotte,” she called, “I’ve got a place in the same
school as you.” They were both thrilled that they had obtained places at the
same comprehensive school near their homes. Barnet Academy had a reasonable
reputation and had children from all sorts of backgrounds learning to accept
each other.
As the best friends walked into school
together on their first day, Mia’s eyes shone with laughter while Charlotte
simply danced with delight. The girls were very happy indeed. However, their
joy did not last long. During break a girl named Tara strode up to the girls
wearing an angry expression on her face. “You girls Jewish?” she questioned.
“What’s it to you?” replied Mia.
“I hate Jews!” announced Tara.
After her venomous proclamation, Tara flicked her silky blonde hair and
strode off confidently, sniggering to herself.
The two girls were numb, as if they
had been slapped in the face. Charlotte
froze like a statute while Mia’s kneed wobbled and she dropped her head to face
the ground.
After a stunned silence, their gaze
met and eyes locked; they were totally lost for words.
Over the following days and weeks,
Tara and her new gang of friends began giving the girls nasty, scornful
stares. Tara’s beady eyes looking upon
the two girl as if they were criminals.
Charlotte and Mia both knew that Tara and her friends hated them. She was aggressive, rude and made fun of the
girls constantly. They knew that she was
up to no good.
Every day that the girls went to
school they were melancholy and became unsure of themselves. “Charlotte, we really don’t fit in,”
whispered Mia to Charlotte one day. “I know… NO one likes us,” agreed
Charlotte. Suddenly, Mia turned around
only to find Tara and her friends laughing hysterically at Charlotte. Mia was utterly confused but slowly circled
protectively around her best friend.
“What are they laughing at?”
questioned Charlotte. After some time
strolling clumsily around each other, they eventually found a little post-it-note
stuck on both of their backs. The paper
read: “They are the Jews!”
Charlotte’s face became red and puffy
with embarrassment. Mia just wanted to
cry out for help. The girls felt as if the whole world was watching them. They knew that Tara and her friends were
bullies.
Things gradually grew much worse. One day, Mia found that a swastika had been
drawn all over the cover of her English book.
Later that day, Tara and a group of her friends surrounded Charlotte in
the playground. Mia immediately strode
over to them and bellowed – “Leave her alone – you bullies!” as she went to
comfort her friend. The group looked aggressive and threatening and both girls
felt intimidated by their scornful looks.
One girl demanded all their money whilst Tara pulled their hair. It was only their deafening screams that
eventually made the bullies run away. Charlotte
then sobbed uncontrollably whilst Mia was determined to do something about the
horrific situation.
Whilst waiting for the bus that
evening, Mia noticed a sticker, which had been attached to the side of the bus
shelter. It was advertising help for
children; it was called ChildLine and had a telephone numbers written in bold
letters (0800 1111). Suddenly Mia had a
great idea! It struck her like a lightening bolt: “We should call this number!”
exclaimed Mia, “We need help, don’t we?”
Mia took her phone and dialled ChildLine …
When they contacted the adviser in
ChildLine, she was very sympathetic. She
told the girls that they had a right not to be bullied and had done nothing
wrong. The counsellor gave the girls a great
deal of advice as to how they should stand up for themselves and how they
should tell a trusted adult about exactly what was is happening in school. The advisor also said that a representative
from ChildLine could come to their school to talk to the class, or a group of
children, about what bullying was and the effects on everyone when bullying
occurs. Both girls breathed an enormous
sign of relief and tears began to roll down Charlotte’s cheeks.
That day, Mia had stood up to the
bullies, stayed strong even though she was frightened, found a solution to the
problem and proved to be a tower of strength to her best friend. Mia was a great inspiration, not only to Charlotte, but to the whole school on how
to overcome bullying.
