Becky                                        Connie                                        Principal

                                                                                                        Zucchini

Charlie                           Oliver

Karen                                                Sandy

                                           Preface

I chose to explore the topic of bullying and how it affects the adolescent age group. When most people hear the word bully, they always want to assume that it only happens amongst school age children, when in all reality it is everywhere. It happens in people's homes, the work place, amongst close friends, and even in romantic relationships. The story follows Becky Broccoli, she is a new student to Vegetabrook Junior High. She was bullied by a couple of guys at her old school and that's why she left. After Becky makes it to her first class and finds a seat, Karen and Sandy start bullying her instantly.

 After Becky makes it to her first class and finds a seat, Karen and Sandy start bullying her instantly. The story covers hate and humility, but also covers friendship and zero tolerance. 

My intentions are for people to read this and see how damaging bullying can be to someone. How it changes who they are as a person, which in turn, pushes those close to them out of that person's life. I wrote about vegetables to show that you shouldn't be afraid to try new ones and I used vegetables in the story to show which ones are more popular to human consumption. 

I want people to understand that it's ok to be different. It's important to know your worth and values as a person. Stand tall and firm for what you believe in, but in that same breath, learn how to see things from someone else's perspective and never be afraid of personal growth. 

Illustrations by: Shutterstock. com 

                             Woodstock.images

All were modified by Maria Sabanski 11/20/2020

     As we go through life, there are so many different situation we experience. One of the hardest thing we deal with is the first day of middle school. 

     Becky Broccoli was nervous not only because it was her first day of school, she was extra nervous because she was the new girl at the school, as well.   As her mom approaches the school, Becky clutches her backpack a little tighter as she slowly closes her eyes, she makes one last wish before she exits the car. Becky quietly tells herself that she hopes the girls at this new school are nicer than the ones at her old one. 

   As Becky exits the car, she turns to her mom and waves, she takes a deep breath in and enters the school. As the office secretary escorts  Becky into her first class, Becky's heart starts to thump as the door opens and the secretary introduces her to the class.

The teacher takes over and tells Becky to take a seat. Becky walks through the aisle and slowly slides into the seat at the back of the class. As Becky settles into her seat, the girls sitting on each side of her turn as to introduce themselves. 

  As the girl on the left whispers, "hi, I am Karen Carrot and I rule this school." As Becky slowly raises her head, she looks at Karen and says "hi". Before Becky could get that simple statement out, Karen stops her and continues to introduce her BFF, Karen says "this is Sandy Celery and she is second in command."

As Becky sits through the rest of class she is worried about how she is going to be treated by the popular girls in school. 

Becky stares at the clock as the minute hand slowly ticks around, moving closer and closer until the bell rings. 

     She looks to each side of her and sees Karen and Sandy texting back and forth. All Becky could do is sit and worry that every word punched back and forth was about her. The bell finally rings and the time comes for Becky to mix with all the other kids at Vegetabrook Junior High. Becky approaches her locker with hopes to go unnoticed by the two girls from her last class. As Becky finishes up swapping out her books and closes her locker, she hears Karen Carrot and Sandy Celery

 talking about her. Karen and Sandy walked right up to Becky and started saying hurtful and hateful things. They told Becky that she is one of the grossest and smelliest vegetables that they have ever seen. They made fun of how green and curly her hair was and that no other food out there would ever be caught cooked with her.  Becky quickly grabs her things and takes off towards the bathroom. She finds an empty stall, slams the door and locks it. As Becky sits in the bathroom stall, her head is being cradled by her own hands as she sobs alone 

with her tears pooling in the palm of her hands. As Becky starts to collect herself, she hears the bathroom door open with no voice to be heard and moments later she sees two feet in front of her stall

 and a voice that says,"hi Becky, I'm Connie Cauliflower and I would like to be your friend."

     The two girls hit it off and for the first time Becky felt like Connie was a true friend. Over the next couple of weeks, the two girls have become the closest of friends. Karen and Sandy still torment Becky every chance they get.

They tend to only bully her when she is alone at her locker. Everyday the two popular girls say more and more hurtful things. Connie started to notice a change in her friend and asked Becky what was wrong? Everyday, Becky seems to change more and more week by week and Connie has decided to finally ask Becky why or what was going on. After that question is asked, both girls just sit in silence and a few moments later, Becky starts to sob uncontrollably. 

                                                                                              Connie jumps up from the chair she been seated in and ran to Becky and threw her arms around her. After about ten minutes of non stop crying, Connie gets her to calm down enough to tell her why her personality has changed since the first day they met. Becky had calmed down enough and finally was able to tell Connie what had been going on. Becky first got into how she was bullied at her last school, Turnip Junior High. Becky just poured her heart out to Connie about the two main bullies from her last school, Oliver Onion and 

Charlie Squash. Becky was able to recall ever moment of torment inflicted for all the years she was in school with them. Becky's mom had even taken things to the principal of Turnip Junior High and the only thing that happened to the two boys was a week of after school detention. After Oliver and Charlie served their week, they went right back to to picking on Becky. It turns out the boys had treated Becky

worse than before. The names she was being called were more vulgar and derogatory. Oliver and Charlie got the football team to chant those slanderous words at Becky everyday she walked by them in the