Day #8 - The Bullies get it back.

Story #1 - Moved to a new school in 7th grade and was doing fine-making friends, good grades. Then somehow ran afoul of this bigger kid (he'd been held back a few times). Typical bully-pushed little kids into lockers, loved to torment girls and ran with a pack of acolytes who adored and aped him. In Texas at the time, if a kid didn't like you, he "called you out" (challenged you to a fight after school). Well, "Zed" calls me out one day, because I was a "***** from New York." Clueless me (moved there from said NY. where people are civilized), I said, "Sure, ok." A few days later, in front of his acolytes and a small group of my friends, he proceeds to beat the crap out of me. It was 7th grade, so the damage wasn't excessive-mostly to my pride. Spent the rest of middle school known as one of the guys "Zed beat the crap out of. Fast forward about seven years, home from college and going to the grocery store for mom. Who should I see bagging my goodies but Zed. Taking a look at him, I see a horrible scar running from the top of his head down around the back of his skull and neck and under his shirt. His face lights up when he sees me, and he says, in slightly slurred speech, "Hey! Didn't we go to school together? We're friends from school, right?" He walks with me out to the parking lot, and as we walk I learn that he had been hit by a car in high school while biking home one day. Accident required a half-dozen surgeries and had left Zed mentally impaired and a completely different person. He put my stuff in the car, shook my hand for a good 30 seconds and kept asking me to "come back and see me sometime!" I had hated few people in my life to that point, and no one more than him. Almost cried driving home, I felt so bad for him and disgusted with myself for my previous hatred. Story #2 In grade 10, my locker was next to that of one of the most popular guys in school. I was not so popular. When both at our lockers, he would regularly whisper close to my face that I was a stupid s*** and that he was going to rape me. Fast forward 4 years at a party, he shows up. Out of morbid curiosity. I speak to him. He started hitting on me, obviously not recognizing who I was. I laughed and said loud enough for everyone around us to hear "I'm not going to frick you, especially after you threatened to rape me almost ever day of grade 10!". He was horrified. I smiled and walked away.