Bullying
Katti's story

How do you stay true to yourself? In middle school Katti’s friends turned on her, and put her to the test.

Adolescence is so hard, and you're judged so much. I mean, in fifth grade and sixth grade other people look at what you're wearing, how you look. You can't go outside the normal, you know? Whatever that is.

When I was in middle school there was a group of girls I was a cheerleader with. We were all friends. And then they started changing. It’s not like they could just say OK, we're not going to be friends with you, and we're not going to talk in school. They had to take it to another level. They would be so rude and hurtful towards me. Not because I was that much different from them. But because I wasn't exactly the same as they were.

They didn't have respect for anyone. I wasn't like that. I was always raised to respect your elders, and to have respect for other people. My father always told me to try and be true to myself.

It would be so bad I didn't want to go to school. My stomach would hurt in the morning to think that I would have to go to school and deal with these people, my friends.

I didn't change with them, because I didn't feel like it was right. It wasn't being true to myself. I was coming to the age where I could go one way or the other. And I decided to go the better way. I think I probably did that because I have such a strong family. I'm sure that a lot of those kids didn't have that to go home to. I had my brother, sister, parents, grandparents and cousins. We were always doing things together.

I think the turning point was when I saw one of the girls one day walking home from school. I was scared to death that she was going to say something to me. She didn't say a word to me. That's when I realized that all the times that I sat in my room upset and heartbroken – it wasn't worth it. She made fun of me in front of her friends, but by herself she couldn’t show me how she felt. That was when I said I'm not going to let people push me around.

What I would tell younger girls to do is to follow their own instincts and be true to themselves. That's the most important thing in life. Be real. You're not going to live your life to the fullest, and you're not going to experience things if you're afraid other people are going to look down on it.

It doesn't matter that you have 50 friends or five. As long as you can truly say they will be there for you no matter what.