I was standing in the lunchroom.
Everyone was looking at me.
Judging me.
This girl is standing in front of me. Her eyes were burning bright red with anger.
Someone knocked her purse over, and she was sure it was me.
It wasn't.
I didn't even sit near her, my table was across the room.
"Where are you going to be at 3pm?" She barked. I was mortified.
"S-s-soccer." I stammered.
"Let's hope so, because if I see you outside, you're going to be sorry."
She was insinuating her and her friends were going to beat me up.
They probably would have, they had tried to before.
I was a freshman in high school.
This girl was a bully, and she made it her goal to make my life a living hell.
I told my friends about it, and they brushed it off.
No one wanted to get involved.
Who wants to help the nerd? Who wants to stand up for a problem that isn't theirs?
In their eyes, I was a nobody.
The scrawny Indian kid that seriously sucked at soccer.
When I left high school, I made it my goal to become BIGGER than the people that made me feel less than.
I didn't need that girl's validation.
Just like YOU don't NEED anyone else to validate you.
At the end of the day, only YOU can choose your next steps.
Prove the haters wrong.
I know I will.