Walter gets bullied Chapter one

Walter was an average 8th grade boy, with a small group of friends when one day he discovers a peculiar occurrence with their communication. It was 12 o'clock exactly on a fine February day, and Walter was just talking with his friends until he heard some strange whispering. Walter began sweating a bit.

    “Guys, what's going on?” he asked. This prompted one of the girls in the group to think for awhile; as if she was trying to look for a specific phrase.

    “Daniela told us what you do in your private time… we’re just a little disappointed that’s all,” she said and looked back really quickly, as if the sight of Walter made her cringe.

    “What? I don’t even know who she is!” exclaimed Walter and the friends shrugged.

    “I don’t want to risk being caught you with anymore” admitted a boy.

    “It’s painful being friends with you.”

    The other friends got up from their chairs and quickly walked away from him to sit at another table, and now they seemed much more comfortable talking freely amongst each other.

    Walter thought back on himself. What went wrong? His first thought was that something was wrong with him and nobody was telling him. His eyes watered and soon he began sobbing alone onto his binder. He was self-conscious about crying in front of other people; and this just made him feel worse about himself. This continued on a terrible downwards spiral as his crying got worse the more he noticed how bad it was.

    --

    Twenty minutes had passed and Walter looked up and saw a blond girl turning back to her friends and laughing. She pointed specifically at Walter as if she hoped he didn’t see her. He couldn’t make out the words being said but something told him it was negativity being hurled at him.

    Walter let out a sigh and crammed food into himself in order to make him feel better. He still felt desolate, but at least nobody could see it now that he looked happy while eating.
    The rest of the day passed forgetably, Walter thought school was pointless if he didn’t have any friends. However, he still tried to make sure to keep his chin up and to walk with purpose as he no longer wanted to show vulnerability. He hated how sensitive he was - maybe this is why he got bullied.

    He silenced the mean thoughts about himself and tried to focus on his English work instead. It was more difficult now as he couldn’t just ask his friends for help. He looked at Brayden sitting in front of him and he could see how uncomfortable his presence made him.

    Walter checked through his belongings and had realized that he had no pencils left. Since Brayden was the only one sitting near him; he was forced to ask him for a new one.

    Now, normally Walter wouldn’t mind asking Brayden; in fact he considered Brayden the funniest one in his group. Brayden had many silly catchphrases and ways to spin even the most boring conversation into a fun one. But after the events of today, you know.

    “Can I have a pencil?” he asked.

    “Yes.”

    The words itself weren’t bad, but the tone was terribly detached and impersonal, as if Brayden never knew him before. Normally, he would have said something along the lines of “Sure thing buddy”, or “Yes Mister,” but instead he chose the shortest possible phrase. Things like this made Walter extremely uncomfortable, and the worst part is that it was so subtle nobody would care if he told someone about it.

    The rest of the day followed the same way and Walter’s desolation never truly left. At least he was now at home.

    Walter lived in a middle class suburban home with his mother and father and younger brother. When things went wrong, he felt as if he could trust them with anything. It was a close knit family, he knew that his mother worked as a photographer and his father worked as a construction worker. It was a strange pairing of jobs, but it worked out.

    Right now, to Walter the natural course of action would be to tell his family about the bullying but he suddenly got a twinge of doubt. He realized it had just only been one day (it might have been an isolated instance) and perhaps he was just being oversensitive. That’s probably it though, Walter had a habit of blaming his problems on his sensitivity.

The rest of the day was average. Walter diligently did his homework and then played video games until dinnertime. During dinnertime, his family liked to talk about politics. Walter occasionally joined in too since he was considered mature for his age and therefore could talk about “grown-up things.” Since his parents were Republicans and he was a Democrat, this led to a lot of debate and Walter enjoyed debating.

It was now getting late, and Walter wanted to get enough sleep to do well at school so he went off to his bed. He recalled the events of the day and shuddered at the time his friends left him. At least the initial pain was over, he didn’t have as much to lose now.