All was not entirely well at school. Being lonely, socially awkward and trying to cope with a terrible loss, Annie was targeted by a group of bullies led by a girl named Pricillia (Pricilly) Dawn and composed of her main henchwoman Vivienne (Viv) Dusk and a few other girls. From the viewpoint of anyone watching it was obvious enough that she was a mousy little girl whose insecurities or lack of confidence clearly stood out - hence an easy target.
Life for the vulnerable Annie who had very few friends and people to turn to was a living hell whenever Pricilly and her girls wanted fun. They made her life hell in every way possible the catcalls, the taunts, the belittling, the trips coupled with a vast array of horrible pranks.
The Halls, the workshops, the computing lab, the locker room, the canteen nowhere it seem was there any respite but the worst were the lavatories she had lost count of how many times she had been ambushed there. Annie began to dread having to go to relieve herself. Sometimes Clarissa or one of her other friends was on hand to watch her back but as everyone knows they couldn't be always there.
No matter what she did whether it was keeping tabs on her tormentors or using every ounce of ingenuity to evade them, no matter how hard she tried they always seemingly popped out of nowhere when you would least expect it. It was like being stalked, silently. Day in day out they picked on her bullying and humiliating her in the most horrible of ways. Then as time went on, more and more of her peers joined in the taunting and harassment, emboldened by Annie's quite and passive personality. Despite the deceptive appearance of the most harmless person on earth, deep inside a chain reaction was building up to critical mass.
Then there came a time when they started passing notes around about Annie in both in and outside class. Time after time she returned home with gum in her hair, that she had to cut it off so often that it became tatty in appearance. In turn this drew more laughs and ridicule from her fellow peers. And then they were the times during swimming class when she was forcefully held underwater whenever the swimming coach's head was turned in the opposite direction. More than once Annie actually thought it wasn't going to end as she struggled to breath. She thought she was going to die. She didn't wait to find out and quit swim club without explanation much to the surprise of her teacher who remained oblivious to what was going on under his own nose.
Later on came the cyberbullying and happy slapping. Now they posted humiliating web pages of her and recorded the occasional of physical assaults on their mobile phones which they then posted online. A most effective method as the tormentors knew that the school lacked any policies to deal with this phenomenon. The were always ahead of the authorities and they knew it.
Pricillia Dawn in particular was a born leader. She was crafty enough individual to know how to wriggle out of a situation. Unlike Chris Hargensen 27 years previous Pricilly Dawn was smart enough to know when or when not to rebel, when and when not to attend, detention and went to be polite and diplomatic and when to throw all the niceties and formalities out the window and of course she was skillful, scheming, manipulative and adept at wrapping people round her finger when she had too.
And then there was the time when they – four of them hoisted her up by grabbing and arm and leg each and locked her in the recycling bin along with the rest of the garbage. She received no sympathy from Coach Walsh who admonished her and told her to get herself cleaned up. That particular incident resulted her in being late for an English class, with little explanation. The teacher told her she was lucky not to get a detention as he was in a generous mood today. "Garbage girl, Garbage girl" was the cat call of the day.
Perhaps the most painful of all was that her tormentors stole a bronze locket in which she kept a picture of her and her mum. Even though Annie had a number of spare photos of her family that she kept, at least one was snatched from her in the hallways and then torn up as a prank by Viv Dusk much to the delight of the others in her crew. Pricilly enjoyed flaunting Annie stolen locket knowing that her victim was powerless to get it back. Janet Luna returned the photo that was inside but not without penning a few obscenities on it. Clarissa Ryan later helped Annie fix the photo that Viv had torn up but she had to use sellotape and consequently it didn't look as nice as before. Nonetheless Annie remained appreciative. After this incident Annie never carried her priced family photo to school as she had before and kept it by her bedside at all times in the Wallaces trailer home.
As for the few pupils that harbored compassion and sympathy towards Annie Jenks they were powerless to do anything other than stand by helplessly and watch. Though not as frequently targeted as Annie was they too were just as much victims of bullying. The majority remained distant, it was not their problem, they had nothing to gain in persuading Annie's tormentors to stop being horrible to her regardless of the things she had been through in life. In any case Annie Jenks did not belong at Bates High School, she was a misfit she didn't fit it and no one was going to let her even try. Had she been back in Macon at her old school with her now deceased family, everything would be all right.
Emilyn Wallace Annie Jenks's Foster mum displayed a compassionate and helpful side of her personality when she came home from work one evening and found Annie in her room sobbing. Showing some patience for once in her life she comforted the crying girl and encouraged her to speak to her eventually Annie told her what has been happening, how long it had been going for and how she wanted it all just stop. The following day Emilyn took the day off work and arranged for an appointment with the principal and reported the bullying.
The meeting between the principal and Emilyn Wallace seemingly concluded successfully with the principal promising that he would do everything he can to help Annie Jenks and stop the bullying. Sadly that help would not come soon enough for Annie and afterward Emilyn Wallace made the mistake of assuming that her job was done and did not bother following up any progress.
Although the school authorities had been aware that Pricilly and her girls had been bullying unpopular students for some time. Pricillia Dawn was a clever enough to know how to impede and evade their efforts. She knew the system very well and how to play it. Wherever possible she and her gang would ensure that the course of action they took would make it as difficult as possible for the authorities to intervene in their activities and thus subsequently implementing any form disciplinary action.
Here at Bates High everyone knew that you can take positive action against bullying but it is harder perhaps impossible to eradicate it altogether. Anyone will tell you that it is one of those things that would need time dealing with. In any case if it goes away altogether in one place it simply turns up again in another one.
In any case Annie Jenks was not looking for trouble, she wanted to avoided it and snitching or grassing on her tormentors was the last thing she wanted to do. For now she would just suffer in silence.
Meanwhile one day she tried to see the student guidance councilor one more time and quietly and discreetly without mentioning any references to Andrea's abilities, Annie pleaded with her one more time just to refer her to one of the institution or places where she can get her condition treated, nothing more. Andrea remain professionally composed and said she will see what she can do, but managing lots of other students and saddled with a heavy workload she did not take prompt action.
At the end of the day whatever the outcome. - Even if the school authorities were able to deal with the bullies or help Annie in any way it was going to be too late for Annie Jenks and dozens of other students.
