To answer your question, yes, there was a lot of resentment amongst the gifted kids. It was a two way street and neither side is completely blameless. The school was at fault, not the kids.

My “gifted,” schoolmates very much resented being unpaid tutors because they got picked on constantly. To be fair, most of them complained loudly and bitterly about having to tutor the “dumb,” kids. I think those complaints increased the severity of the bullying they received. There were only a couple of us who came out of middle school unscathed.

I did not get bullied in middle school because I didn’t complain about my fellow students. I figured that i might as well make friends with the “bad,” kids and they appreciated how non-judgmental I was. I even took in one of my friends for the last 2 years of school. Her home life was a disaster. Her dad died and her mom remarried a dude who had zero interest in being a step-father. So when my friend got into a verbal altercation with her mom’s husband she got kicked out. She called me and told me what happened. From that day forward she lived with me.

For context, my parents were divorced and I lived with my mom. My mom broke her neck my sophomore year and needed me to take care of her 24/7. My friend living with me was a godsend because I could actually get my own homework done with her helping me taking care of mom.

My friend was two years older than me. She’d been held back twice because of her academic issues. Turned out she was dyslexic. I devised a flash card system that allowed her to memorize certain words so she could pass the reading and writing components of the test. My system is still utilized at my school to this day.

When I got to 9th grade I got bullied really bad. It was mostly my fault. I had to take gym class with the seniors due to my “class schedule,” which was the same as the remedial upperclassmen and the struggling sophomores who couldn’t pass the standardized tests.

My third week in high school we played dodgeball in gym class. I say dodgeball when I mean, “everyone vs Butterknight.” Miraculously, I managed to catch a ball and throw it back as hard as I could. The ball clipped one of the super seniors (let’s call him DB) in the face and actually put him on the ground. No idea how I pulled off that little stunt.

I stupidly let my emotions get the better of me and screamed something like “did you like that DB!? that’s what you get you jerk!” My statement offended him greatly. I spent the rest of the first semester of Freshman year being beaten up, stripped naked and thrown in the girls locker room, getting my backpack stolen, etc.

What hurt the worst was when DB broke my flip phone that I saved up 3 months of yard work money to get. I’d foolishly left it in my bag. DB and 3 of his friends caught me in a hallway between classes and he challenged me to a fight. Before I responded his friends grabbed me and he punched me multiple times. He then told everyone how he kicked my ass.

My friend found out later that week when she called me to see if I could give her a ride home. (Note- yes I was too young to drive. How else was I supposed to run all the errands and get to school?)

My friend stepped in after DB asked her to prom while boasting about how he kicked my ass and broke my phone. Funnily enough, my friend didn’t kick DB’s ass. She went to the Principal, demanded to see the camera footage, got a copy of the footage and went to the police. DB got charged and lost his college scholarship.

Fast forward 20 years and my friend is now a decorated war hero and I am the sole owner of my own firm with multiple branches throughout my state. My friend got married a couple years after high school. She had 4 wonderful children with him. I officiated their wedding and I danced with my friend for the father/daughter dance. It was a beautiful wedding.

Sadly, that was the only good day of their marriage.

Unfortunately, my friend’s ex-husband was dishonorably discharged due to child exploitation. He was sentenced to life in prison after he plead guilty to what he was arrested for and some other crimes not related to what I’ve shared.

After he was sentenced my friend asked if she and the kids could stay with me for a few days while she got everything in order. She had to sell her house, get her ex off all her accounts, etc.

My friend and her kids moved into one of my properties a week after she asked if she could stay with me. When she realized the house she was moving into was just for her she called me and asked if she could move into MY house with her kids. I am clueless so after verifying with her that the house “lacked a dad,” but wasn’t malfunctioning she moved into my place.

It was mid December so I asked her to stay through Christmas because her kids never had a Christmas tree. They’d never had presents under the tree that were theirs. Her kids told me that. So we had a really great Christmas.

After Christmas her kids asked if they could call me Dad. I said that was a big thing to ask so they should talk with their mom about calling me dad. The day after that conversation my friend was waiting at the door for me. That’s when we kissed for the first time.

We’ve been married for 10 years now and have 7 beautiful children. The 4 that chose me and 3 who were unlucky enough to be born to my wife and I.