My name is Lexi, and I was a bully. I used to bully people, laugh at them, and make mean comments about their bodies and clothes. I would say that I was all because of something awful that happened to me when I was nine. I lived in Chicago with my parents and my older brother Levi. he was eighteen. We were a happy family with a nice, big house. One day, my mom was cooking dinner, and she accidentally left the stove on. We ate dinner and went to bed, not realizing the stove was still on. My brother barged into my room at 3 am and told me, "The house is on fire! Come on, we need to tell our parents!" I quickly got dressed while my brother went to tell everyone else in the house. I had a phone, so I called 911. I went outside. A couple of minutes later, I saw my brother but not my parents. I asked my brother where they were, and Levi said, "I tried to tell them, but it was too late. There was so much rubble on them, and I think they didn't make it. Our grandparents lived far away, so we couldn't stay with them; we had to live alone. We didn't know where to live because we didn't have a house, but thankfully, our savings weren't burned, and we had enough money to buy an apartment. Six years after the accident, my brother Levi and I were still living together. I never wanted to go to school. I just wanted to skateboard and listen to music. But I forced myself to go. My brother didn't care if I went or not, but I went so I could take out my anger on some innocent kid. That was the best part of my day. I would bully that kid just so I could feel better about myself. I always had one target, Grace. She was nice, quiet, and smart. She always wore vintage clothes. I bullied her because of that, and then she changed. She started dressing girly. To be honest, vintage was more her style. She just changed because of me. I was a bad person and student. My grades were just Ds and Fs, and I went to detention almost every single day. When you don't have parents, there's no one to discipline you and tell you what's wrong and what's right. My brother didn't care about how I was doing, about my grades, my actions; he barely cared about me.
One day I was skateboarding when I accidentally bumped ito an old lady and all her groceries fell. I did'nt care. The old lady just said, "Your actions always have a way of coming back to you!" I didn't think much of it and continued what I was doing.
The next day, a new kid arrived at our school. Her name was Charlotte. She looked very cool. Cute pink mini skirt, white long sleeves, and blonde hair. I wanted to get to know her better, so at lunch I sat next to her, but she said, "Get away from me, loser." What are you wearing? You look like a boy! Stay as far as you can from me!" That really hurt me. I thought I kind of looked like a boy because I never had my own clothes. I would always take clothes from my brother. And that's why that really hurt. Her words wouldn't get out of my head. It was like I was stuck with them. Then I realised. That's exactly how I've been treating Grace! I felt so bad and decided to change. But it wasn't easy. I told Grace that I'm sorry and that I commented on the way she dressed just to feel better about myself, and that she should go back to her old style. She was skeptical at first, but she listened to me. Later that day, I saw the same old lady, and she was struggling to carry her groceries. I wanted to help her, but she saw me as a mean bully and didn't want my help. I insisted on helping, and after telling her what happened, she let me and said: " I told you, your actions always have a way of coming back to you." I was a little annoyed, but I helped her anyway. That night I started studying. That was the first time I studied in six years. I thought History was boring. But now, it was really interesting. It's been a week, and it was time for my History test. I got an A+. My teacher and I were shocked. She said I got the best results in the class! I was so happy. My whole life changed. I started helping people and stopped bullying them. That day at lunch, a girl came up to me. Her name was Hazel, and she wanted to be my friend. I happily accepted. I finally had a friend! Now we're best friends, and we hang out two times a week. And later that day, my crush Cameron asked me out! My life got so much better because I changed.
Now I'm 22, and I live in San Diego with my fiancé, Cameron. My brother Levi lives with his wife in LA. My life is amazing and we're planning on having a family at thirty. All of this happened because I decided to become a better person.