High School Bullies

When I went to high school, the cheerleaders not only ruled the social scene, they were also more athletic and thus stronger than most of the boys. Unfortunately for us, they enjoyed making life miserable for those of us further down the social status heap.

Wedgies were routine for some of the smaller boys, but even the larger boys weren't immune. I remember being in the boys bathroom one day when one of the cheerleaders barged in. Her name was Cindy Simpson and she looked a lot like Hilary Duff. She was livid about one of the football players spreading some gossip about her. She cornered this guy and put him in a headlock, then walked him over to one of the bathroom stalls where she proceeded to repeatedly dunk his head into the toilet, while yelling at him the whole time. I remember being awestruck because, this guy was no pipsqueak yet, despite struggling to free himself, she handled him as if he were a rag doll! You never saw a bathroom clear out so quickly as nobody wanted to be next.

Whenever a cheerleader walked down the hall everyone gave them a wide berth. One day, I inadvertently became the target of another cheerleader named Cammy, who looked a kind of like Charisma Carpenter and was known to have a temper. I was walking down the hall with a group of friends when one of them pushed me into Cammy as she was drinking from a water fountain, splashing water onto her cheerleading uniform. Before I could react, she whirled around and grabbed me by the front of my shirt collar and pulled me up to her face. "Are you retarded"? she screamed, causing everyone in the hall to stop dead in their tracks. She stood nearly as tall as me and I still remember her chewing her bubble gum with a wild look in her eyes as I tried to apologize profusely. My hands were wrapped around her forearm and I remember it felt like solid muscle. I continued to say I'm sorry repeatedly while she chewed her gum and glared at me.

Then she took the gum out of her mouth and pressed it against my forehead with her thumb. She then reached around and grabbed the back of my neck and slammed my head into a locker. Not hard enough to hurt me, but loud band was a definite wake up call. She continued to bang my head against the locker, flattening the gum in the process while the entire school stood and watched. She must have slammed my head against the locker ten times, but it seemed to go on forever. All the while she was slamming my head against the locker, the loud bang echoed down the hallway, attracting even more kids to witness my humiliation. I was powerless to do anything but take the punishment. I still remember feeling how strong she was.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only a few seconds, she released her grip and I crumpled to the ground. More stunned than hurt. As I tried to regain my senses, I remember hear the laughing as I lay there with bubble gum flattened on my forehead. It was a totally humiliating experience.