Stella Andersen was a sweet yet slightly naive girl (who moved to Shakopee in second quarter) who didn't understand the friend changes that came with middle school. She didn't realize how mean some people could be.  She also didn't have a flawless four-point-oh  GPA, which is duh NORMAL.  But when she came across Ethan, it was like night and day, sugar and poison.  He saw her and, I don't know, it was like someone had moved the pointer from MEAN to CRUEL.  Every time she saw him, she did her best to be kind and polite, even though she knew he was a jerk.  Such compassion and goodwill she had for such a bully, it amazed me and I vowed to stop thinking of Ethan this way, because maybe he isn't so bad, maybe I'm looking for faults, and if Stella and God forgive, then I definitely should try too.  But Ethan returned none of these good things.  When they were in the same class, he called her dumb and pondered aloud why she tried to do her best, she was too stupid to do anything right.  "Stella-bird, you're so slow.  Just stop trying, you can't do it, you never will."  The name, "Stella-bird", although different because of her real name, nonetheless bothered her to no end.  And she told him so, how we're supposed to, "Ethan, I don't like this name you call me.  Please stop."  The only thing that did was wake him up to the fact that it did bother her and, as a result, the name-calling increased.  When the two were not in class together, he talked about her behind her back, oh Stella's so stupid, why does she have friends, and so on and so on.  At this point she was so tired from all the harassment and such, she turned to a trusted teacher, Ms. Welsh.  Now in all of the anti-bullying pamphlets and cra-- stuff, it always says to first confront the bully, believe the best, they might not realize that what they do/say hurts you.  Been there, failed that.  Somewhere later, the next try is to tell a trusted adult that can DO something about it, so in this case, our Health/ Social Studies teacher, Ms. Welsh, very kind and not the type to sweep things under the rug.  Stella did what she was supposed to, and told her all about how Ethan treated her, including how she confronted him politely.  Ms.  Welsh was no dunce, either, and Ethan's blatant disregard for other's feelings hadn't gone unnoticed in her class.  

So she had a talk with him, and she meant well, and there was nothing more anyone could do.  It didn't work.  In one ear...you know.