Each day when I boarded the bus in eighth grade, no one would offer me a seat until the driver yelled, “One of y’all please let this poor girl sit down!” At school I was bullied from my first class till the final bell. Snickering girls whispered as I passed, “What is wrong with her?” Boys told me I was ugly and tried to trip me or shove pencils in my ears. My main method of coping was to avoid school altogether by having my mom — an overwhelmed single mother and nurse — write sick notes for me.