"Please Just Understand Me"

"Please Just Understand Me"

By: Jessie Bacon

Nonfiction Piece

2/20/12

Authors Note: People everyday around America get  cyber bullied, physically bullied, or mentally bullied. This next essay that I will be writing about, is a comparison of how Melinda gets bullied, to real life bullying.

"Why are they saying this? Why are they assuming this? Why don't they just get this?"

I was shocked to discover, that everyday in America  around 70% high students  get bullied whether it's in school or out of school.  Melinda Sordino from the book Speak is one of them.  Bullying damages and hurts lives, and to me it's sad for not only the victim but the bully too because that displays the lack of self confidence . Melinda, the main character from the book Speak got bullied by people and those "friends" didn't even know the truth, they just assumed.

To start off with, most middle scholars, are ecstatic to go to high school. It's a new chance to make new friends, have a new beginning of what people see you as, or to improve in academics. Melinda was excited to leave middle school behind and start a new chapter . She got invited to a  high school party. There she met senior savior Andy Evans, "the guy" who everyone wants to impress, to make him laugh, to date, or to be best friends with. At the party Melinda had been drinking and wasn't  her normal self. Andy Evans took out his hands and offered to dance. There he said some pick up jokes and brought her alone to his car.  Melinda kept refusing to do it with him but  he kept raping her. Melinda was going crazy and decided to call the cops.  No one knew she got raped they just assumed she busted the party because of the drinking. Through out the school year her classmates bullied her, threw things at her called her names  just because she called the cops.

Bullying,  can kill and damage lives. Because of this misfortunate event  that happened with Melinda, she got bullied so much by older classman and "ex-best friends" . Whether  it's getting lunch trays thrown at you, or being called names or getting Ho-Ho wrappers chucked at you Melinda experienced it all. Melinda can relate to bullying because even if she did call the cops  about the drinking (even though she didn't) no one should be bullied. However,  if Melinda were to tell people about the rape this bullying incident might not have ever happened.  But she might have just been so tramatized  that maybe she thought no one would believe her. Melinda got bullied by people who didn't even know the real truth.

To continue with, Melinda over came this fear of people not believing her and she finally spoke up. This crossed her mind when she was in algebra, thinking "This is not who I want to be, I don't want to hide in the darkness, I want to stand out in the light". Melinda's reaction in this was too take everything out of the storage closet, where she hid most of her year. When she was in there, Andy Evan's came and attempted to brainwash her into thinking you wanted to do it too baby girl, this is not any of our faults, it was nature. Melinda screamed out "No I said No"! He grabbed her and started to attempt again. Melinda screams out "I said No the first time and I'm going to say it again" and she suddenly breaks a shard of glass and slits his throat to where a tiny drop of blood swarms down the base of his neck. Soon after the lacrosse team heard her and got help.  Following  that incident  Melinda became a hometown hero after the students realized what she had been going through.  Melinda overcame her fear by speaking up.

Everyone deserves a second chance whether its developing the new you, or developing a better relationship with anyone. Everybody also needs to learn how to speak up against bullies or else their life could be ruined like Melinda's freshman year. Melinda found her voice and changed her whole entire life around, because a voice against bullies can be that powerful.