The Effect

Backstory

Let me give you a little background on her. When she was eight years old, she realised that she was different than most of her friends. While they ogled over boys and fashion magazines, she was interested in girls. There was absolutely nothing wrong with that, but she didn't know that. She was afraid. She hid her secret for years and years, until one day she was caught with a girl behind the school. She was fourteen, and very much in the closet. A group of boys came around the corner, and started teasing both of the girls. Samantha's face blushed scarlet, and she hung her head. She took the insults, but the girl that she trusted, the girl that she was caught with, turned against her. She was also in the closet, and she turned against Samantha. She joined in calling her horrible names, stating that she was approached by Samantha and had no interest in her because she was 'straight'. Yeah. Riiiiiight. Anyways, the bullying persisted. Rumors spread like wildfire. Soon the whole school was whispering 'dyke' and 'fag' in the hallways when she walked by. All of her friends avoided her, afraid that she had a crush on them. The teachers were oblivious to the harassment she received, and nothing was done to solve the situation. She didn't dare tell her very Christian parents of what was going on, hell, they'd probably just join in on the bullying. Things went along like this for two years, nothing ever getting better. Things went downhill quickly. She started getting hate notes slipped into her locker, and she was punched in the face by the most popular girl in school. In her freshman year, she became accustomed to cutting herself. She started wearing long sleeves and stopped going to school on a regular basis. No one reached out to her, no one tried to help. She was at the end of her rope, and she didn't have anyone to turn to.