"The time I got revenge on my high school bully..."
This was about 9 years ago but I was reminded of it recently after talking about bullies with my fiancé. So in high school I was bullied a lot, I was short, poor (in a school where most people were middle class), an emo kid, and the cream on top was that I didn't hit puberty until I was 15, and I got my first period at nearly 16.
I'm also in the UK where we finish high school at 16, so any post puberty glow up happened after I left. So throughout high school I looked like a child, and still had a lot of baby fat when everyone around me had shed theirs and hit that naturally skinny stage.
The bullying was so bad that in a few classes my teachers gave me an entire table to myself just to avoid certain kids. Specifically this group of 3 boys, who would torment me until I snapped. One of these boys was Stephen (name changed).
High school was brutal, but I got over it, by 18 years old I had lost all the baby fat, got myself a chest, and actually looked more like an adult. By 23 I was very naturally skinny, but also worked out to maintain it, I had properly grown into my features and I was actually feeling confident having finally broken up with my toxic ex.
Now I wouldn't say I was or am a 10, however I would say that I was a solid 8, and thanks to the 2016/2017 make-up trends I was going to my job with the right makeup to make me a solid 9.
At the time I worked in a bowling alley, it was a large bowling alley with a decent bar area, and an arcade (with pool tables). We also opened daily at 10 AM, most days at 11 AM a group of people would come in that worked overnight shifts, and so 11 AM was their 6 PM. They would have a couple of drinks, shoot the crap, maybe play some pool and go home.
On this particular day they brought the new guy with them, the new guy happened to be Stephen. They come to the bar and order their drinks, and I immediately recognize him, he recognizes me, and pretends he didn't. So I say "oh are you Stephen? From (high school name)" he can't pretend so he has to say yes.
I just acknowledge that, ask a polite how are doing and move on. Immediately he work buddies start asking questions, specifically asking if we dated. I laughed, and he immediately says no. So they ask if we were friends, he's looking at his feet, and I say no. They obviously clock something is going on at this point, and they've paid for their drinks so I walk away to help someone at the bowling desk.
At this point his work buddies clearly know that something is going on, because he's looking at his feet, won't look at me at all and has gone from loud and joking to completely quiet. So they're at their table and just start poking and prodding to find out what happened for him to act like this.
The bowling alley is completely dead in the daytime, it's just them and a small group that are bowling, and I have a stock check to do at the bar so I'm there the whole time and I can hear everything. He eventually confessed that he was a popular kid and I wasn't, and whilst he doesn't say that he bullied me they catch on that he did.
So they start telling him how he fumbled the bag because look at me now, if he wasn't so mean he could have a chance with me (he wouldn't but sure) and all sorts of other things. They completely boosted my ego though.
I don't know what happened after that, but he left there looking a lot smaller than he did when he walked in. He also never came for drinks with them again, I don't know if he left the company or just refused to come along incase I was working. I could have lied to help him and say we were friends, and might have for other people who just ignored me and/or only made the odd comment.
However him and his friends made my life heck, they even had a nickname for me because my surname rhymed with "smelly." So I just got to enjoy the vindication of watching him dig his own grave because he bullied the ugly duckling before they became a swan.
Here's what people had to say to OP:
InkGoesWildAlaska said:
I hope Stephen matured. It sounds like he was at least ashamed and embarrassed by his behavior in high school; which is a good sign. It would have been nice if he’d have apologized to you either that day or would have come back another day and apologized. You deserved an apology from him.
mzmm123 said:
Ha! Enjoy that sense of satisfaction; that was karma doing its thing with you not having to lift a finger. Been there, done that and yes it was delicious.
Outrageous-Trade3007 said:
I was bullied in primary school as well (3-11 years old in wales), I was called four eyes, had bald patches in my hair where they’d pull my hair out, my coat thrown in puddles so I couldn’t go outside at play times.