by Ethan Wang (P5 2021)

     The day blossomed like a beautiful flower with an array of colours. The golden rays of the morning sun filtered through my bedroom curtains, showering my room in its brilliance. I yawned and stretched lazily before groggily rubbing my eyes. Throwing a cursory glance in the direction of my alarm clock, the realisation that I was going to be late for school yet again, hit me like a bucket of ice-cold water. It was 8 o’clock!

 

     I hastily put on my school uniform and grabbed my schoolbag and dashed out of my house like the wind. I waved down the school bus frantically. Thankfully, the school bus slowed down to let me board it. Walking to my regular seat, I saw the school bullies ridiculing an unfamiliar boy for having long hair. Their behaviour was deplorable yet I was too preoccupied with checking that I had all my school belongings to care about the victim. I reached school just on time and hurried to my classroom, sighing as I avoided the school bullies shoving the unfamiliar student into a corner.

 

     During my Mathematics class, I reflected upon my actions and felt a bit bothered. I decided to help the student defend himself against the gossip, knowing that the bullies would relentlessly tease him throughout the year. After that long, boring lesson, I took a leisurely stroll down the hallway enjoying the lesson break. Walking down the seemingly never-ending corridor, I heard giggles and amused laughter. Looking in that direction, I saw bullies pulling the poor boy’s hair while he cowered in fear. I could not believe that they were harassing the new student again! I walked briskly towards them and stood in front of the newcomer.

 

     “Hey! Stop teasing him! That’s mean and rude!” I told the bullies off sternly.

 

     Roger, their leader, retorted fiercely, “Mind your own business, Nosey Boy!”

 

     I threw a venomous glare, and he gave me the evil eye. The other bullies stared daggers at me as well.

 

     “What did the new boy do?” With poison dripping from the tone of my voice, the bullies who no longer saw any fun in picking on the boy mumbled irately and walked away. I approached the new boy gingerly and extended my hand in friendship.

 

     “Hey, I heard your name is Bobrutz. It’s the name of a famous Youtuber!” I said excitedly.

 

     Bobrutz replied shyly, “Yes. That Youtuber is my dad.”

 

     My eyes widened with awe. He was the son of Bobrutzk, a famous gamer.

 

     “Then… I suppose you play video games? Like Minecraft?” I asked gingerly.

 

     “Yeah! You do too?” Bobrutz said with a smile.

 

     I nodded vigorously. Just like that, we struck up a conversation. During that conversation, we discovered that we had many common interests. He promptly invited me to his house and I agreed heartily, excited to meet his father, too. Strangely enough, I saw a tear in Bobrutz’s eye as we walked back to class. Worried, I asked him what was wrong. He simply said that he was glad somebody had empathised with him and saved him from the bullies. From then, we became very close friends.

 

     Through this event, I learnt a very important lesson – we should always stand up for victims of bullying.