4. THE LONG TERM BULLY

As far as I can tell there is no real thinking behind why bullies bully people. They will always go for the person that they think is more vulnerable or stands out, or the person with not many friends. It is extremely rare for them to pick someone in there own year who is the same size as them. They will target someone simply because they have ginger hair or if they are shorter than most people or even, sometimes, if they are smarter than themselves. There is not usually a case when there is only one bully, they usually come in packs. There is always the lead bully, who is the one who does all the talking and always goes up front and then there are the bullies who will never target anyone without the lead bully, they are the "cronies" so to speak, they don't talk but just stand behind the lead bully to create a threatening effect. This is what I find so puzzling about this next incident.

I had seen this boy before though I didn't know him personally. As far as I can tell he seemed to be pleasant enough. I never saw him in trouble or anything. However, my first encounter was at the end of school on a day just like every other.

I was leaving the gate when I saw him waiting at the end of the path leading to the road, despite the hot sunny weather he had his hood up. I noticed it but didn't think much of it. When I reached the end of the small path I just walked passed him with no confrontation. To my surprise a few seconds later he calls "Excuse me, wait up." So there I am thinking, "Wow, someone was polite to me I must be on a role." So I turn round and say "Yes," expecting him to ask the time or something but no, "Gimme a pound." Well, there went my polite theory out the window. What do you say to something like that? Well, I said "Oh, sorry I don't have any money on me." That was sure to work, give him the impression that I would give him money if I had it and the fact that I didn't is simply devastating to me. It didn't work, "Don't try it blad, I know you have money. Gimme a pound."('blad', this is the teenager, slang equivalent of 'sir'.) The temptation to punch him in the chest and start dancing around saying "HA HA, I gave you a pound," was overwhelming. This may have worked but I decided to take a more stern approach, "No….urm, seriously i'm out of cash." It didn't turn out to be as intimidating as I hoped, more sort of pathetic. At this he grabbed my bag and said, "Give me a pound now." This was worrying, I was just thinking that I would have to get rough when a few boys from his year came up. The fact that they were laughing wasn't encouraging. However, to my surprise, the bully laughed and let go of me rather than being encouraged. So I left.

That was it for about a week. I was actually thinking that it was a joke, but he did it again. Only this time, he grabbed my bag and said "I know you have money. Give me a pound." No small talk, nothing, just cut straight to it. I didn't fold. This actually continued for a week or so and I was getting worried. Even though the boy was only a little taller than me and didn't look that tough I was afraid of confrontations. However, it was one day after school when I learnt a valuable lesson. I was walking with my friend and I saw him with two other people. I thought "oh oh, this means trouble." As I expected when I passed him he called from the other side of the road, "Oi you come here." Now, my friend is a real weed. He is small, has very little visible muscle and largely resembles a mouse, fairly insignificant. (Don't worry he's not all bad, he has a great sense of humour.) Anyway, my friend says "WHO ME?" in a tone that sounds as if anyone who dare speak to him may come to a terrible terrible end. The boy across the road says "no, no not you the other one." "HE DON'T WANT TO COME TO YOU SO F OFF," and they did. I was amazed, I just witnessed a small mousey boy make three bullies twice the size of him leave me alone. My friend explained to me that this was called, "using da mouf." About two weeks past without any trouble when one day I saw him on a bridge by himself. As suspected he confronted me but this time I wasn't afraid. I couldn't bring myself to use "da mouf" so when he went to grab my bag I punched him in the shoulder. I'm telling you, you don't know satisfaction until you see a look of utter disbelief on a bully's face. He made out he was going to head butt me and said, "Ill see you later," an empty threat if I ever heard one. I never saw him again. It was a tremendous relief never to have to see his face again but I never will know why he chose me.