Perhaps it’s a middle school thing, but race was the most talked about subject on the bus. In particular, it was hard to find somebody who was so vehemently repulsed by Asian people as Trey was, and he made that fact clear to me when he wrote racial slurs in the mist of the bus windows and made unwanted sexual comments about me. I was upset, no doubt, but I didn’t want him to win. I kind of just bottled it all up and pretended that I didn’t care for his words.
When winter break rolled around, it was finally time to feel relaxed. However, it still …show more content…
To this day, I am thankful that I am a light sleeper because I was certainly woken up by Trey’s screaming at 5 AM.
Too short for the peephole, I cracked the door open a little. I saw him, panicked and with tears welling up in his eyes. He saw me looking out the door and told me that there was a fire. I immediately leapt for the home phone and dialed 911 for him after seeing how serious and scared he was. While he talked with the operator, I roused my parents and sisters up to escape the building.
When I got back, our phone was on the couch, and the glass protecting the fire extinguisher was cracked open. Trey was nowhere in sight.
Snow was littered on the ground. The red fire trucks with their loud sirens seemed so out of place, and they were because winter was supposed to be merry. However, reality is ever so different from our hopes.
My father approached one fireman. In his broken English, he asked what had happened. It turns out Trey’s mother was going to commit suicide by burning the entire building …show more content…
I ceased to feel the passions of revenge or the urge to escape reality through binge-watching the Pokémon anime, which I grew sick of, anyway. The first thing I wanted to do was to hug my parents and tell them I wanted them to stay with me. They’re not perfect, but I’m grateful for all they have done in raising me.
A new school year brings new bullies. As usual, those of East Asian descent were the small minority in the community, and we were targeted relentlessly by some and ignored by most. However, I was sick of the invincible front many bullies put up and just told the principal after some boys ganged up on me. This time, I’m glad that some bystanders were on my side in confirming my report.
Trey showed me to consider other people’s lives, so I asked them why they would hurt a girl they never personally knew. I discovered that one of my tormenters had parents going through a divorce, and the other just wanted to be plain mean. None are good excuses in being antagonistic, but I wanted to know more about people’s pasts to understand them