Illuminating The World Of Darkness

On my desk, I was reading a book. It dealt with the world's complex issues, which left me questioning the problems faced in our school. My best friend, Sofie, was right beside me, and she almost shed a tear reading about poverty. However, the thing that broke me more than that was bullying happening around. I surely faced it. My name is very unique, and many make fun of it. Hi, I am Anita, and ever since I migrated to the USA from India, people haven't been the nicest. Like one day when I was getting down from the bus, two people from behind called me out, saying, "Hey, Anita, do you need something?" This was because my name in German meant always requiring help. Even though they knew I was way smarter and more sincere than them, they always made fun of me. One day all my friends left me alone because apparently I was embarrassing to them. Even Sofie left; she was supposed to be my best friend. A couple of days later, while I was sitting at the cornered lunch table with no one beside me, a beautiful girl with cute bangs came and sat next to me. She asked me with a crooked smile what my name was. I managed to spill some words out and nervously said, "Hi, I am Anita." Oh, I could just hear the laughter already, but to my surprise, she smiled at me and said that I had a very beautiful name. I thought she was sent by Sofie's mean friends and the bully Carlson, so I ignored her and went to the bathroom to have lunch. I bullied her every day after that, saying mean stuff, as I wasn't used to people being nice to me. One day when she tried to sit next to me at lunch, I shouted at her. I could hear the hurtful whispers which covered the room. Tension grew, and I just ran out of there in tears. My life after migration hadn't been easy at all, and these bullies just made it worse. I just couldn't do this anymore; I had been through this with Sofie as well. You can't trust anyone. But another thought was at war inside my head; what if maybe she was actually a nice girl? I was in constant war after that. I found out the girl's name was Chrysanthemum; I guess she would understand my situation. The next day when she tried talking to me again at lunch, I gave her a comforting smile and said, "I am sorry for the way I behaved; what is your name?" She looked at me all confused and happy at the same time. She smiled and said, "My name is Chrysanthemum." She explained to me that she was a migrant from Ukraine because of the war going on. I felt really bad for her. I was also helpless. She said things like we are in this together and that she would support me, and I believed her, which had stopped happening ever since the whole Sofie going away thing. Chrysanthemum and I started hanging out every day after that. We became the best of friends and spread awareness about anti-bullying together. She made me realize that the only way to have a friend is to be one. We together embraced our journey and had a wonderful time.