i remember it like yesterday. when it all started. i was in sixth grade back then. looking back, sixth grade was a big deal. i was saying goodbye to primary school and i was entering middle school waters. this was no pacific ocean. middle school was more of a relentless sea - its waves hitting you repeatedly until it finally swept you off your feet and buried you whole, making it hard for you to swim back to the surface and breathe. even when you did make it to the surface, it wouldn't last long.

there would be seagulls, soaring through the sky and eyeing their next victim. these were the cool kids, the ones who bullied their way up to the top.

there would be fish, swimming in the sea and trying to survive. they're the rest of the students, who have to bow down to the bullies, stay out of their way and pray a storm won't be set their way.

it was always like that. once you entered the sea, you would never be able to get out of it, unless you went through metamorphosis and became a seagull.

i was an outcast for the most part, a small fish that wasn't acknowledged by many. at least, i wasn't a lone fish. i had another fish beside me - my best friend.

she had been with me since first grade, when our talks would only consist of permissions for borrowing school supplies from one-another. back then, we'd often fight for that one red marker in her coloring set. according to her, it was her favorite marker and she didn't want it to run out anytime soon. as much of a silly memory as it is, those markers were the ones that ignited our friendship.

everything was easier in primary school. i didn't have to worry about my looks, i wouldn't have to worry about the clothes i adorned and i certainly wouldn't have to worry about other people's opinions. i was a free spirit, who was still new to the world around her; who always thought the world was pure and kind. i always had a positive vision, believing that the world was only made out of good.

oh, just how wrong i was.