Oh great, another day of high school.  Another day to face "my" bully.  I am so "excited".  Sorry, let me introduce myself.  My name is Jennifer White.  I am 16 years old and I go to Meadowbrook high school.  It's hard to be an 11th grader, especially when you're not "popular".  No matter how hard I try.

            Anyways, there is a bully in my school; her name is Princess.  Seriously?  What kind of a name is Princess?  Soon there is going to be Prince, Queen, and King.  Who am I kidding right?  Whatever, her name defines her.  Popular, snobby, and mean. I mean, what have I ever done to her to be so mean to me.  Does it make her more popular to bully me and to make her "squad" laugh at me!?  I might not have an expensive car like hers, or always buying the "new in style" clothes and accessories like she does.            

            Anyway, it all started on Facebook.  She would sneak pictures of me and post them on Facebook and comment some mean things about it.  There was this one picture she posted on Facebook of me and commented, "Where did she get those clothes? From her mother's closet?”  So of course, when she posted it, she did it during school.  Everybody from the 9th grade to the 12th grade saw it.  So I was laughed at and teased about it all day from everybody.  That’s just one of the examples how Princess bullies me.  And this goes on every day.  Now you see why I don’t look forward going to school.

            One day I exploded! I don’t know what happened. I am usually a very quiet girl but I guess all my anger just built up and I couldn’t handle it anymore.  I walked past Princess and she remarked, " Oh yuck, what stinks? " And again, everybody laughed.  I screamed in outrage while running towards her and knocked her down.  EVERYBODY was watching and they were yelling " FIGHT! FIGHT! " But I forgot one thing, Princess had a "squad".  Yup you guessed it!  They all jumped in to save their so called " Princess".  All the sudden, I was picked up, and slammed in the locker.  I got extremely dizzy and I saw stars.  Literally stars!  I thought that was just a saying, nope!  I saw them.  Then again, I was slammed into the locker again, but this time, my head hit something really hard on the locker.  Maybe it was the combination lock.  After that I blacked out.

            Now what happened next, I will never forget.  After I blacked out, I woke up.  But I woke up outside of my body.  It was extremely weird.  I saw my body lying lifeless on the floor next to the lockers.  Everybody was hovering over my body.  They were saying things like " Is she dead?"  " Is she breathing?" " What happened? " The police and paramedics rushed to my side.  After assessing me and taking my vitals, they agreed I was stable and that I probably just blacked out from a severe concussion. 

            While all this was happening, I looked for Princess in hatred.  Wondering how she could do such an evil and mean thing to me.  When I found her, I actually saw tears in her eyes. Tears!! Was she actually crying?  I didn’t know she had feelings.  All the sudden I heard one of the paramedic’s yell, " She's coding, we need to rush her to the hospital!"  What did that mean?  I wasn’t sure what happened next because once again I slipped away.  I couldn’t hear or see anything, like I went back to sleep.        

            What felt like an eternity, I woke up again.  Once again, it was outside of my real body.  It looks like I was in the hospital.  WOW, I looked awful.  My hair was a mess!  But what was really concerning was that there were tubes coming from my mouth to a machine.  I guess I was sleeping because my eyes were closed.

            My parents were in my room.  My mom was crying uncontrollably, while my dad was trying to calm her down with tears in his own eyes.  I heard my mom sobbing and saying, "I can’t believe my baby is in a coma and hooked up on a ventilator machine.  All because of bullies from her school! I wish she had told me about them, I would’ve helped her." My dad calming her down then said, “You didn’t know, it's not your fault,” reassuring my mother.

            The doctor came in and told my parents that after the hard blow to my head from hitting the lockers, I went unconscious and never wok up.  Now I am in a coma and on a ventilator. Then the doctor said that it was up to me when I wanted to wake up and that I was a strong and healthy girl and that there was hope. it's just a matter of time and that we just had to wait. Other than that, Jennifer is a very healthy teenager.

            I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  I haven’t had a boyfriend yet.  I wanted to get married and have kids.  Of course, I have to go to college first and get a degree.  A lot of thought went through my head.

            Anyways, I don’t know how long I have been in a coma.  It could’ve been days, months, or weeks.  I kept going "back to sleep" and "waking up" but never "really waking up".  It was weird and I couldn’t understand any of it.     

            While the days went by, friends and family came in and out to visit me.  I saw and heard everything that went on in my hospital room.  All the sudden, I saw my parents run out of the room, and were shouting at somebody.  The door to my room slammed open and there was my bully, Princess.  Are you serious?  How does she have the guts to even step foot in the hospital that I was in?  I can’t believe this.  Now what?  Can you do anything worse? Princess asked my parents if she could be alone with me.  My mother was about to lash out at her for asking such a stupid question, but my father held her back.  My father said that was fine as longs as we can leave the door opened to my room.  My mom and I looked at him in horror.  He has to be kidding me.  My father led my mother out of the room.  I couldn't believe what I seeing.  For all I know, she could kill me right there and then.                    

            After my parents left, Princess sat next to my body on the hospital bed. Then, out of nowhere, she busted out in tears.  Whoa, that was unexpected.  She was saying how sorry she was and she swore she will never bully me again when I woke up.  Oh my God, Princess has a soft side!  Where did that come from?  I couldn't believe my ears.        

            Princess calmed down a little bit and told me the reason why she was that way was because she had some troubles at home. She said starting when she was a child, she was physically abused.  Her mom just remarried and her step-father was rich.  Every time her step-father was upset or was tired, he would take it out on her.  He would beat her with anything he could get his hands on. Belts, broom sticks, anything. She would have bruises everywhere. He would throw glass cups, dishes, vases, anything.  Once her step-father threw a broken glass at her and cut her arm.  She had to get stitches and her mother told the doctors that Princess "accidently" cut herself.

            Princess's mother never did anything about it because she was brainwashed by her step-father.  Her step-father would apologize every time after he would abuse her to both her and her mom and begged them to stay with him.  He would shower them both with expensive gifts and money.  Princess's mother seemed to like this a lot because they never had this before.  So, Princess's mother would beg her not to tell anybody and to take all of his abuse or they would go back on the "streets" and be poor.  So, Princess kept all these secrets built up inside of her for all these years.

            Of course, while having this "outer body experience", Princess has no idea that I just heard her whole story!  I wonder how she would feel about me knowing her past.  Princess finally got up, wiped off her tears, apologized again, and wished me good luck.  While she was leaving, my parents looked at her with surprise.  They didn’t expect "heartless" Princess would be crying, especially over me.

            I felt myself slipping away again.  I guess I went back to sleep again.  I am not sure how long I have been out.  But this time when I woke up, I was in my real body, I felt like I was choking on something.  The doctor and nurses rushed in and were trying to explain to me that I was "choking" on the breathing tube and that I needed to calm down while they took It out.  Calm down?! I started to even panic some more. I tried pulling the tube out myself. I needed to breathe!! I am choking! The doctors and nurses had to hold my hands down. They saw how I was acting and knew they had to act fast. They started pulling the tube out. I felt like I was choking some more!! What a horrible feeling. I started crying and coughing at the same time. Finally, the tube was out! I can breathe again.

My parents were next to me crying in joy. They were saying how much they loved me, how they were happy to see me awake, and if I was ok. All I could do was nod yes because my throat hurt from the tube. Between blinking my eyes and trying to breathe normally, I wasn’t sure if I was awake or if I was having another outer body experience. I started touching and pinching my body like I was trying to make sure I wasn’t “dreaming”. Nope, this was real.

            I smiled at my parents and told them I was feeling ok. My parents hugged me and were happy for me. My parents then started to tell me what all happened to me. While they were telling me, it was like having dejavu. I knew exactly what they were going to say next because of my outer body experience!

            What I did next had my parent’s jaws drop. I “finished” their story, step by step, and in order. My parents asked me how in the world did I know all that. I told them excitedly that I had something like an outer body experience and how I would wake up outside of my body and see and hear everything that was going on. My parents were speechless. They didn’t know what to say or even what to think.

            But my main concern was Princess. I told my parents about what I heard what Princess told me and that we needed to get her immediate help. I told them that I had to talk to her first before we did anything. So, while I was at the hospital, word in school came out that I was awake. Some of my friends came to see me. But I didn’t tell anybody about my outer body experience. I didn’t want them to think I was weird.

            Finally, the person that I have been waiting for came, Princess. When she came, she was alone. Tears started forming in her eyes and she started apologizing. I smiled at her and told her I know. She stopped in her tracks and looked shocked. I looked straight in her eyes and said, “I will keep your secret if you keep mines.” She was still staring at me, wondering what was going on.

            I explained to her about my outer body experience and that I heard everything she told me about her past. Princess started crying even harder. She said that now she couldn’t live with herself with everybody knowing her past. I gave her an ultimatum. I told her that I wouldn’t tell anybody in school if she didn’t say anything about my outer body experience and if she would let my parents help her. Most of all, I forgave her.

            She reluctantly agreed.  After being discharged from the hospital, my parents and I met Princess at the police station to file a report against her parents. My parents gave her all the support she needed, and so did I.

            As Princess and I go, we became best friends! Best friends? Yup, that’s what I said. All Princess needed was a support system and somebody to love and to talk to.