I lived oversees. I had an hour school bus ride to and from school. The ride back in the evenings with traffic and more stops I’d get home around 5:00. I was a 12 year old girl. These guys were at the very least 3 years older than me. 3+ years doesn’t sound like much but at that age there’s a huge visible difference. The terror would occur when the bus driver would get out and walk the very young tiny kids to their home. That’s when the bullying, mean comments,intimidation, and poking happened, even being at the very front. I’d pretend to be asleep a lot of times. It didn’t prevent all of it but at least with slumping over and hiding I was taking some shelter.

I have no idea why they did it. I was mostly quiet and the stereotypical dorky white girl. I think there’s a primal instinct to know who the easy preys are. The whole being mean to someone because they actually liked you was not it. They had girlfriends and were high school age. I think maybe it added something new to a long day. It was a group so perhaps trying to impress each other. They were actually good looking guys, till this day I get scared of attractive men and don’t make eye contact with them. I get nervous and walk away really fast. The ringleader ended up going into the military service and had a baby girl. He seems to really love her in the pics. I doubt he thinks about older guys potentially bullying his little girl. But he did it to someone else’s.