Alyssa's Sins

7. A Bad Bullying Problem

As Alyssa took her time to recover from the emotional trauma of that day, she thought - what if bullying was extremely prevalent at this school? How could she stop it? She needed to find others who were in a similar situation. It was going to be a challenge, albeit a surmountable one. 

The first week of school was surprisingly chill, when compared to the first day. Only some glares from other students, especially Zoey and Paardso, but nothing too serious. Besides, of course some people will be judgemental of her habits. At least Alyssa's bruises had fully recovered by the end of the week, and she had kept up with her studies. Joining extracurriculars was certainly plausible, although Alyssa had to think whether or not it suited her schedule and interests. 

The weekend was busier than most weekends - after all she had to catch up some stuff she had missed, due to the acceleration. But she knew it was all for good - she had to fight for her ambitions otherwise why did she even go for them in the first place? 

After spending Saturday to catch up on stuff, Alyssa relaxed on Sunday while thinking of how to solve the bullying problem. She knew it was much bigger than she had expected when she asked people about the school - they said it was a prestigious school. She was wrong, but there was nothing she could do about it. 

Until a stray thought popped up in her head of joining an anti-bullying club or founding one. Perhaps she will be famous and popular despite the horrifying bullying culture. Therefore, she planned to join some clubs on Monday and Tuesday. She also used her new Blackberry Storm 2 to search for tips on how to debate - in case she needed to advocate for herself. After all, middle school bullies could accuse people of something fake but plausible in order to ruin others' reputations. 

Alyssa knew she needed help in order to tackle this problem and safeguard her reputation at all costs. For that end, she asked Lucas Jones for help, but before that she smoked a cigarette to calm her nerves. Alyssa knocked on the door of Dad's room.

Alyssa: *knocks*

Lucas Jones: "Alyssa! Oh just wondering, what do you want?"

Alyssa: "I want to talk to you about how to tackle bullying, because..."

Lucas Jones, abruptly interrupting: "Oh yeah, those bruises, I thought you just had an accident or something but"

Alyssa: "Two bullies, Zoey and Paardso, bullied me because they thought I was a regular smoker."

Lucas Jones, with a concerned look: "Yeah, the anti-smoking brigade has gone too far these days. Even if you smoke, they don't have the right to bully you, and besides bullying is not okay! It's not my place to make you quit anyway - if you need another cigarette go outside by the way, I just don't want to deal with my wife. If she finds out that you smoke inside, she's gonna get mad about the tar-stained walls, even if I don't mind it! Well... i do prefer you not to smoke inside because we may need to clean the house later on when we move out, so please... She can be"

Alyssa, blurting out before he finished: "A handful, I know. I had to fight back against her. But thank you for supporting me. Oh, what was I here for... OH! Could you help me fight against my bullies and maybe be the leader of an anti-bullying club?"

Lucas Jones, inquisitively wondering: "How?"

Alyssa: "Perhaps I could join the anti-bullying club if there is one, or try to start one myself. After a few days I will be able to think of some ideas."

Lucas Jones: "I look forward to hearing them! Oh yeah... how is school?"

Alyssa: "Yeah the first day was terrible but the rest of the week was surprisingly good. It was tough not to smoke, but y'know, I can get away with smoking during lunch sometimes. I like to smoke though... it's not really healthy I admit... but y'know I'm not a puritan. I have some sins, as Audrey Hepburn said to justify her smoking."

Lucas Jones: "Yeah, I'll need to see how middle school goes before I advocate for you to let you smoke between classes and during recess/lunch. I mean, it's tempting, but if you really want to smoke then..."

Alyssa: "I mean i do love my Slims so... sure! On the other hand it's not that healthy, but y'know it's just life, we can't be perfect and choose safety every time!"

Lucas Jones: "Up to you. Well, I wouldn't do it, I prefer the occasional cigar instead, but that's just me! If your tobacco of choice is Virginia Slims then so be it! You do you!"

Alyssa: "Damn! I love the spirit!"

Alyssa, energised with a flight of ideas of how to deal with bullying, went back to her room. She remembered there was an extracurricular activity fair at 10:15am on Monday recess and therefore jotted down her timetable to include that fair. Realising some others may have the same ideas, she jotted down all the ideas that came to her mind just in case some were used by others.

Time flew by like a Concorde whizzing through the sky. It's as if a flight of ideas overwhelmed her time management skills - though at least Alyssa managed to finish what she had planned to do early. She used the debating skills she self-taught to organise her points and write them down. It was surprisingly decent - at least for the middle school level. The arguments had main points, succinct reasons supported with research and a conclusion. Alyssa even created a slogan called "In Alyssa We Trust" to rally people behind her cause for anti-bullying, libertarianism (including freedom, personal responsibility and opportunity).

The rest of the day was hard-earned relaxation. She practiced smoking like a classy lady in order to create an image of popularity and elitism. After all, she had her outfit and makeup, especially the lipstick to not wear off by smoking, to complement her smoking seduction. By the end, it was the first time she had smoked half a pack in a day, but she can always cut down a little bit later. 

Today was the day for it, Monday, September 6th 2009. She rushed back to school after her daily cigarette and coffee to kickstart her day. Once the lessons were finished, she went straight to the extracurriculars fair, arriving by 10:15am on the dot. Hey, at least she wasn't late. Just then, the leader of the anti-bullying club greeted Alyssa.

Leader of the anti-bullying club: "Hello Alyssa... oh is that you... oh I recognise you!"

Alyssa: "Am I this famous?"

Leader of the anti-bullying club: "Somewhat, i have heard rumors that people bullied you because they thought you were a regular smoker... oh yeah my name is Christopher, I am the leader of the Roberts Middle School Anti-Bullying Club!"

Alyssa, in glee: "Nice to meet you!"

Christopher, feeling he will get a new member: "Would you like to join the club?"

Alyssa: "Absolutely!"

She signed some forms and then joined the club... then she realised it was 10:28am and the fair was almost over. Rushing to the debate team, Alyssa realised she could only ask for the forms to join and save her questions for later. She managed to ask how to join just in time - the leader of the debate team gave her forms and screening questionnaires to fill in, to be submitted in two days. After that, the leader of the debate team will decide who to interview, then who to accept.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful - though at least Alyssa managed to hang on without a cigarette for the whole school day - hey, she could finally enjoy one after. She filled in all the forms and thoughts of how to answer the questions in the questionnaires - for example her strengths and weaknesses. It wasn't too stressful - she had quite a lot of time. She even managed to smoke less than what she thought she would smoke - 3 cigarettes (1 morning, 1 after-school, 1 dinner). Therefore she knew she smoked because she loved it, not because she was a hopeless addict.

It seemed as if the first week was merely an aberration - that things would become much better in the following weeks. But on September 9th 2009, after she had been informed that she was accepted to an interview in a few days, she heard some rumors from her classmates that an openly lesbian couple was being bullied for their sexuality. At first Alyssa didn't know what they were talking about, but then they said they were Gabriella and Rudrani, with their aliases being "Gabi" and "Rud 2.0" respectively.

Immediately Alyssa knew she had to smash the interview, get into the debate team and fight against bullying in order to secure her popularity. Oh, and while she was at it, be better at modelling because beautiful, sophisticated girls are much more popular. Will she make the debate team? Will her efforts simply end in vain as jealous people would think she was "stealing opportunities"? Or will Alyssa rise up to the challenge?