Simon okul koridoruna girerken sırt çantasının kayışlarını daha sıkı kavradı, kalbi çarpıyordu. Fısıltılar hemen başladı.
"Kaybeden."
"Okula neden geliyor ki?"
"Bahse girerim yine ağlayacak."
Başını öne eğdi, itiraf edebileceğinden daha derinden yaralayan kelimeleri görmezden gelmeye çalıştı. Yılın başından beri, John ve grubu Simon'ın yeni hedefleri olduğuna karar verdiğinden beri böyleydi. Her gün bir savaştı—kaybetmeye başladığı bir savaş.
Ama bugün farklıydı.

John and his group were whispering and laughing at Simon whenever he failed. John realized that he could not stand this situation any longer and ran out of the classroom. John's hands were shaking, his heart was beating rapidly, and suddenly tears began to flow from his eyes. The only thing he wanted to do right now was to scream in their faces as loud as he could and say leave me alone. But he knew very well that he couldn't do that. 

Meanwhile, the class bell rang. As if what was happening in the classroom wasn't enough, John and his gang were coming towards him. Apparently they were very determined not to leave him alone. This time they were hissing at him saying he was brainless and forgot to prepare his presentation. Simon couldn't stand it any longer and ran away. Jonh and his gang continued to follow him wherever he went.

Simon came to the end of the corridor. John and his group hit him. Susan saw this and told the school counselor. The counselor called Simon, John, and his group and talked to them for a long time.
They left the counselor's room.
The next day, were worse things waiting for Simon at school?

The next day, while  Simon was walking into school, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Susan standing there , her eyes filled with determination. "You don't have to go through this alone'',she said firmly.Before Simon could respond, a few more classmates stepped beside her - students he never expected to care."We saw what happened," one of them said."John and his gang don't shouldn't treat you like this". 

Before Simon could enter his class, John and the gang headed towards him, raised their hands and locked him into a closet. Simon was claustrophobic and they had done it on purpose. Simon had a panic attack and screamed. Susan heard him and said: “Come with me!” They got into a small room near the library. Inside, a few students were waiting for him. “We see what happens every day”, a boy said, “You won’t be alone”. Simon felt comforted and realized that there were also good people who supported him.

The day after, Simon walked into the classroom, John and his gang were waiting for him but didn’t expect that he wasn’t alone. One of Simon’s friends told John to stop tormenting people. Another one told him to STOP being a BULLY. John and his gang were shocked by this unusual reaction and ran out of the class.

The next day, after school, John was in the street, about to faint. Simon immediately ran to help him and called an ambulance. John was shocked for the second time.

As the ambulance arrived, Simon stayed by John’s side, despite everything. The paramedics checked his vitals and asked if he had eaten that day. John hesitated, then shook his head. Simon frowned.

“You haven’t eaten?” he asked.

John didn’t answer, just looked away.

The paramedics helped John onto a stretcher, but before they closed the ambulance doors, he turned to Simon. His voice was weak, but there was something different about it—something that wasn’t cruelty or mockery.

“Why did you help me?” John asked.

Simon hesitated. “Because… that’s what people do.”

For the first time, John had no response. He just stared, his usual arrogance replaced by something else—something Simon couldn’t quite place.

As the ambulance drove off, Simon realized something. Maybe John wasn’t as invincible as he pretended to be. Maybe the person who had spent so much time making others feel weak… was struggling himself.

That night, Simon couldn't stop thinking about John in hospital. The boy who had bullied him for years now seemed vulnerable...

The next day, the school seemed different. John's group was quiet, no one was insulting him. But instead of relief, Simon felt a strange uneasiness. After school, he went out of the town and looked at the adress on the crumpled piece of paper. 

 * Would John want to see him ?

* Would it change anything?

He took a deep breath and stepped forward. There was only one way to find out...

When Simon reached the address John had given him, he thought there was a mistake. There were neither houses, nor blocks of flats around, only a few old and rusty camper vans. He wasn't sure what to do next. A couple of seconds later, a red-haired woman opened one of the doors and said:

''You seem a bit lost, young man. Are you looking for somebody?''

Simon told her he was a friend of John's and the woman, who was his mother, looked at him in disbelief.

''I didn't know my son had any friends. No one ever visits him. Now I remember you. You came to see him in hospital, didn't you?'' 

She invited Simon inside the van and made him a cup of tea. He looked around and noticed there were no books, no toys...He felt really sorry for John. Was this the reason why he had bullied others? Because he was jealous?

There was a lesson to be learnt - everybody deserves a second chance, even bullies.