You know Mike, what comes across in this story, is that Shelly stands head and shoulders above us all. What a strong woman she has turned out to be. I'd personally have tucked that memory into a far corner of my brain, the place where it would never have seen light of day, undealt with, and me a prisoner in my memories.

I also would NOT have responded to your friendship request, but she did, and you learned so much about yourself and the little power turd that you were.

There's a hidden story of cruelty here, and it's not from you, or your classmates.

Given that your teacher heard the teasing and chose to do little about it, shocks me to the core.

She could so easily have turned that around. She could have easily crushed it there and then.

AND, she could have found a myriad of ways to elevate Shelly.

This is spot in the story where you could, as an adult, have asked the question, why?

Why would any teacher ignore this hurtful, ongoing, cruelty?

I was a teacher and i can tell you that I would have quashed that teasing in a way my students would never have forgotten.

There would have been no anger, but at the end of the day, there would have been no doubt in their minds about the extent of the cruelty, not to mention their need for change.

Teachers don't get to witness every act of cruelty. Kids are too cunning for that to happen, but they notice a lot.

At the end of the day though, you ate humble pie, and that's not easy to do.

Writing about this is humbling, but people reading it have no doubt about the conveyed message.

Well done.