💚 Two Worlds Collide 💚*Josh Richards*

It hurts. It truly hurts to have to get up and go to school, only to be shoved into the lockers and pushed to the floor. My name is Octavia Anastasio, but at school, everybody calls me Ava. I'm 16 years old. At school, kids bully me and at home, my brother ignores me. I don't even know what I did to deserve it but I'm used to it by know. Where may my parents be you ask? Well, they are always busy as work or on business trips, because asking according to them, it's more important than family. I also have my best friend, Joey Birlem, who has been there for me since we were babies. That's pretty much all you need to know about me.

Actually, that's a lie. To take away to the pain, some people who are victims of bullying self-harm. Others paint and draw. Me? I dance ... on TikTok. Yup. That's my biggest secret. I live in two completely different worlds. The Octavia that my bullies at school see wears big hoodies to cover her face, contacts that change her eye color, and she never cares to brush her hair. On the hand, the Octavia that my supporters (57.4 million people to be exact) see, the real me, wears a little bit of makeup, no contacts, and clothes that show some of my body.

The only person who knows about this is Joey. He claimes that I should go to school as the real me, but I know that if I would, things would only get worse. A few years ago, I actually used to be friends with all the kids who bully me. Suddenly, things changed and as soon as the bullying began, I put up a wall or became the person everyone knows as Ava, and stuck by the one kid who didn't leave me high and dry, Joey. Here is my story. 👋