Storytime: A Friend Threatened Me For Food !

Hi!

Today I wanted to type a storytime. But this time it's about an experience I had that I'll never forget and that's the time my friend threatened me for food. Yip, she bullied me into giving her biltong (a delicious snack from South Africa). If you want to see how she did it, then sit back, grab some biltong and keep on reading.

One of my mom's friends, who's a teacher, posted this saying on her Facebook status and I thought I should put this on my blog post. 

My "friend" threatened me for a snack a.k.a The Food Bully

OK, so first I'm going to give her a name, and of course it's not her real name, it's a made up one. Let's name her..."Cruella" (the villain from 101 Dalmatians). 

So "Cruella" and I were good friends at the beginning. We started becoming friends around 5th Grade when we were in the same class and it's a few years later now so I might not remember every detail from our friendship but I do remember some things. Anyway, we were good friends and she was great to talk to, or at least I thought so, so I told her everything, and I mean everything. There were times where we fought over messages, and I think there was a time where we fought about a boy we both liked and sometimes these fights would upset me. 

One time I sent her a bunch of messages in 3 minutes and she actually asked me, "Don't you have things to keep you busy?" and ,'Is there something wrong?" Now that I look back, I can't believe she actually asked me that. We talked a lot and texted a lot, and in my mind she was a great friend and someone I can trust. "Cruella" and I weren't very close and she had these two friends that she always sat with. 

I also had many friends that I sat with at lunch time and one of them was also part of this story so I'm going to give her fake name as well - "Ariel" "Ariel" and I were best friends. We'd still be best friends today but I lost her number a few years ago. Anyway, we sat next to each other at the back of the classroom and we talked a lot, and we had so much fun together. We were really close and one time when we were bored in class, we came up with something - Revengers. We talked and thought that we could create a type of "team" that helps you get revenge on someone. In other words; let's say someone did something to you and you want to get revenge. All you have to do is come to "Ariel" and I and tell us your story. Then we'll get revenge for you. This was all a joke and very little people knew of Revengers. I remember her reaction when I said we could call ourselves, the Revengers! 

We had so much fun planning everything, like drawing outfits and things like that. I think some friends even wanted to join us and so we drew outfit for everyone! 

Of course since I tell "Cruella" everything, I told her about Revengers. In school I had a lot of crushes on boys, haha, and she knew that since, I tell her about EVERYTHING, and this is where is happened.

She messaged me one evening saying, "If you don't give me biltong tomorrow, I'll tell our teacher that you get revenge on boys if they don't like you back," I was gobsmacked that she came up with such a lie!! I knew I had no chance talking back or arguing against her because she was physically bigger than me and I was afraid of her. Of course, I didn't want our teacher to know because she was like a second mom to me so I begged "Cruella" not to tell her and I promised I would give her some. That was a mistake, because I knew we didn't have any biltong in the house and it's really expensive. And it was also a treat and something special my mom always did when packing in biltong for us because it was so expensive. And the sad thing is, you can see that "Cruella" has more money than my family and that she can probably buy lots of packets of biltong without blinking an eye but, yet she decides to threaten me for it.

The next day I went to school, constantly thinking about how she's going to tell our teacher and how disappointed and disgusted my teacher is going to be when she finds out. She was the best teacher I've ever had and I would be heartbroken if she found out. Luckily, when I told "Cruella" that I don't have some biltong today she made me promise to give her some tomorrow. 

The next day came and I think I still didn't have biltong so she threatened me and went to stand in line at the teacher's desk. I remember putting my hands together and begging her from my desk not to tell the teacher. I remember my heart was racing, and my head was filled with fear. 

A few seconds later I just made peace with it and thought that, that's the end so I stopped begging, and kind of waved my hand at her, gesturing that I don't care and that she can tell the teacher. And believe it or not, she actually stepped out of the line and smiled at me, almost a evil smile, like she was enjoying this, and went back to her desk. I did actually end up giving her a piece of biltong and I remember being really upset because I only had a little piece left but I was relieved that she won't threaten me anymore. 

I think "Ariel" and I stopped the whole Revengers thing a while later and now that I'm thinking of it, she doesn't even know this happened to me. Things changed between "Cruella" and I and our friendship just went downward from that point on. I stayed friends with her after but it just wasn't the same. We haven't talked for about 2 years now, only one time when I asked her for a guy's number that I used to like (and she used to like him too) and I remember he was in a relationship, so she told me, "Oh, and he and his girlfriend are really happy together, so don't try anything," and that just reminded me, she'll never change.

I've learnt so much from this experience, like don't trust someone too soon and be careful who you share your personal things with, otherwise they'll use it against you. This experience also taught me how to see friends like these from a mile away and I'm really grateful for that. 

Sometimes bullies can be really rude, and hurt you, and upset you but they might be going through personal issues and so they bully you to deal with it and feel better, which I think is why she threatened me. 

About a year ago I saw her in a store and I was so afraid of her that my heart started racing and I went to another aisle to avoid her. I told my mom that there's the girl that threatened me in 5th Grade. My mom's eyes widened with shock and she asked me, "What did she do?" That's when I realize, I never told my mom about her. I've never seen my mom this angry and so I told her the story. I could see my mom was trying really hard not to walk over to her mom and tell her everything her child did. We love to joke and everytime my dad buys a packet of biltong, we joke about "Cruella" 

Bullies are awful people ! and if someone is bullying you, tell someone you trust and don't be scared of them. They might be physically bigger than you, but you are mentally bigger than them. 

I learned that she wanted me to beg her and that's exactly what I shouldn't have done, I should've gone to my parents and tell them everything. To be honest, I wouldn't change a thing, and that's because I've learned so much from that experience. I've forgiven her, even though she hasn't apologized and I'm very calm about it. I'm actually not mad at her at all and I understand that she may have gone through something that made her feel better by bullying me, but I want you guys to know, that that's not the right way to deal with your problems and that you should talk to someone. And also, apologize.

Thanks for reading this post, I hope everyone has a fantastic week! Stay safe!

Bye xx