I've taught many lessons in my life. Well, of course I have, I was a History teacher. I taught seventh graders about the ancient times around the world. I loved hearing the student's opinions and answers to the topics I taught them about. I loved the looks on their faces when I announced that there was no homework that night. I loved everything about the students.

Except for the bullies.

I could tell who is a bully and who is the victim by the look in their eyes when they pass by in the hallways. I could tell the bullies from their miserly smile that seems to touch both ears in a sneaky sort of way. I'd like to think of it as my sixth sense.

Or just because I've looked like them.

Throughout my school years I was taunted, made fun of. I never knew why, but I got hints from the countless remarks like, "Nerd face!"and "Loser!" and even "Beanstalk!". Sometimes I saw things written on desks alongside my name, but I never want to repeat them.I walked throughout the hallways, my long, ragged hair concealing my hateful glare.

I'll never forget the one group who would bully me the most. Larry Townsend and his girlfriend, Tara Smith, and a couple of their cronies, like Charlie Cummings, Betty Carol, and a few others. They were the worst to me. They had set up pranks to terrify and humiliate me, and the insults, the many, many insults...

It all made me think of a passage I heard in my ninth grade english class from Edgar Allan Poe. I think it was: "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge." Another line that was iron-pressed into my mind was: "... He did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his...". I believe the last word of the statement had to do with sacrifice.

But they, all of them who offended me, did not understand what I had been going through. My father was a heavy drinker and my mom would leave for hours at night at a time. I would drown myself in studies to distract myself from the world I lived in.

Tara Smith had finally did something to ruffle my feathers for real this time in the beginning of senior year, and that's when I couldn't stand it anymore. Everything had been going great that day- my mother got full custody, I got an A on three of my tests that I took the day before, and the boy I liked smiled at me.

I ran into the bathroom crying. I just couldn't take it. I actually believed her. I believed every foul thing Tara had ever said to or about me. And I was done. No more being pushed around.

In that bathroom on the third floor, in that very stall, I decided enough was enough. I was tired of things ruining me. This is my life, and nothing from this point on will ruin that. So the things that threaten my perfection shall be... eliminated.

I concocted a plan. This would eliminate my sadness forever, I was sure of it. I just needed to go by the hardware store with my saved up money...

The next day, I walked into school extra early, a plan painted red on my hands that no one else could see. I put a paper into Tara, Larry, and all of the other's lockers. To this day, I cannot remember what I had wrote, but it was to meet in the gym storage room at seven o'clock tonight.

Waiting for the last bell was like a child waiting for Christmas day.

Ring! Time to shine, or should I say burn?