One of the first trips we were offered in year 7 was a day trip to Boulogne , France where we would get to visit a sweet factory ,Citie Europe ,and one of the french markets which sounded like great fun and I really wanted to go as things so far had gone really well in my first year at secondary school minus the odd comment or two but hey I just turned a blind eye and ignored them it wasn’t anything too bad anyway besides I was loving french lessons which my class tutor taught me for and I really liked the whole idea of getting to go to France we never ever ever ever did trips like this at junior school the only sort of trips we ever did were trips to museums, zoos , residential etc and just boring day coach trips in the same country everyone was really excited about this trip and hey I was looking forward to this trip
The next few days leading up to the trip a few of the boys in my class thought it would be funny to start picking on me yupp I guess you really could call this strike 3 of bullying again oh the joys seems like I can’t ever escape the grasp of the bullies clearly ,Anyway yeah it started off with one boy just being stupid and thinking it was funny to try to wind me up one evening in tutor just before we took the last register for the day and went home he was obviously bored or something and wanted something to and how lucky for me I was the victim of his stupidity and ignorant comments it started off silly little things that I just blanked and ignored because after all it wasn’t too offensive or anything and it was just a boy being silly .However the next day at school in registration the exact same thing happened and so on right up until the day before when it wasn’t just him but a little group of the boys now decided it was funny to join in this time saying how they were planning on throwing me over board of the ferry and how funny it would be and keep telling me over and over and over that tomorrow morning when we got on the ferry they would throw me over the side of the ferry and would all stand there laughing as they threw me over the edge .I tried so hard to ignore it and just think you know it’s boys being boys but that night when I went to bed I couldn’t help but keep worrying and thinking although it was just boys being boys what if they really meant it ? what if they really did throw me over ? then what ? because I mean it’s not like you don’t hear of these sorts of things happening and so I lay awake most of the night worrying about it tossing and turning .I hadn’t had much sleep when dad came awoke me early in the morning so I could start getting ready I played all the old tricks in the book as I had made my mind up this was it I wasn’t going and that I’d rather go to school instead as I knew the boys who had said that were all going on the trip so hey the problem would be resolved right if I dropped out ? but nope dad eventually got me up and knew something was up but still I didn’t want to say anything because what if nothing did actually happen ? In the end I acted like all was fine and as soon as we pulled up outside the school I burst into tears and refused to get out the car so dad ended up driving the car round the car park a good 5-10 times keep asking me what was wrong but I wouldn’t tell him I didn’t want to worry him and he also kept asking if I was going or not as he needed to know but the thing was I didn’t know if I wanted to go or not mean I wanted to go as the trip sounded like great fun and I knew mum and dad had already paid all the money for it and if I did drop out they wouldn’t get that money back .However at the same time I didn’t want to go as what if it did happen ? what if I never made it home tonight? so I eventually confessed all to dad and he took me up to my tutor in fits of tears and told her what happened and she said how the boys were already on the coach and I wasn’t going to be in the same groups for the day as they were and how no one was going to be going on the top deck and that I could sit with her on the ferry and she would deal with the boys later but in all honesty I don’t think she ever did but anyway she let the teacher who was with the group I was put in know in case anything happened
I hated the fact that dad took me up to my teacher in fits of tears blubbing in front her and the rest of my year group and everyone staring at me really didn’t help make me feel any better at all even when I was on the coach and everyone kept staring at me going why are you crying and things I didn’t want them to know it was nothing to do with them and besides how did I know they weren’t going to go and tell the boys what I’d said and that they wouldn’t then react and do something to me whilst we were in France ?I felt so awful the whole way to the ferry knowing this was the bit I didn’t want to have to do and thinking about what the other kids in my year group must have thought about me turning up crying like a baby
Once on the ferry I went to find my tutor and stuck very close by her as she said I could stay with her which started off fine and no problem or issue but then a few of the girls such as Emma (another Emma not Emma Buck) ,Hannah and Aiden came up to us and said to my tutor that I could hang around with them which my tutor encouraged ok these girls and Aiden were really nice and I did like them but I was so worried of bumping into the boys while we were on the ferry so I didn’t really want to stay with anyone other than my tutor which sounds babyish yes I know but still ..
Anyway I went and hung around with Emma,Hannah and Aiden as my tutor had encouraged well pretty much forced me but actually I enjoyed hanging around with them it was nice of them to let me hang around with them and it was all great until Emma and Hannah started feeling ill from the motion of the ferry and I soon lost all three of them and was left on my own wandering around the ferry not sure where to go or what to do so I attempted to go and find my tutor again and stick with her again but no matter how hard I looked I couldn’t find her anywhere or any of the other teachers so had no choice but to wander around on my own but hey it wasn’t so bad as I went in some of the shops on the ferry
Once we arrived we headed back onto the coach and headed for the sweet factory which was actually really cool watching them making hard-boiled sweets and then being allowed to sample some they were actually really nice so as we were leaving and past through their gift shop I bought myself a big 101 dalmatian lolly pop and a bag of mint hard-boiled sweets .We all then quickly loaded back up on the coaches and then headed off for the little market which wasn’t too long a drive and I walked around with several groups of people as I lost one group of people I was walking with an then found some others to walk around with an then lost them and found the original people I was walking around with etc but the market was really cool to look around and most of us bought ourselves beret from one of the stalls I got myself a blue one ,Once we had finished having our free time to walk around the market once again it was time to load back onto the coaches by which time pretty much everyone was feeling ill as they had bought and eaten too many sweets from the sweet factory and in the sweet shop at the market even though the teachers kept telling them not to eat too many as they would feel ill 🙂 anyway we then headed off for the big shopping mall called Citie Europe where again we were allowed to go off on our own as long as met our group teacher back at certain times for a register so they could make sure they still had us all .The shopping mall was HUGE but so amazing at the same time and I loved walking around again with various people as I lost one lot , found another etc .I went in loads of shops one of the shops I liked in particular was a toy shop which unusual toys and teddies at the time I was Eeyore mad and the lady who owned this small shop had a plush Eeyore teddy cuddling a pink teddy bear which I had to buy to add to my collection as I liked to collect them .Sadly after the mall it was time for us to start making our way back to the ferry to start making our journey home which we ended up being delayed as one of the girls got lost and got left in the mall so the teachers had to go back to find her and there was also loads of traffic on the roads back to the ferry .Eventually we made it to the ferry but the ferry was a lot more bumpy coming home as it was going out but that didn’t bother me too much really .Seeing as we had run out of time to go to the french restaurant we were meant to go to I bought myself a plate of chips and can of coke for dinner on the ferry
I was so glad after all that my dad had made me go up to my teacher sobbing as if he hadn’t of made me do that no way would I have gone on the trip and I had an absolutely amazing time and enjoyed every minute of it so obviously was glad I did go in the end the only down side was that I don’t think the boys did ever get dealt with and also everyone on our coach was throwing up on the way back which was gross luckily though I wasn’t one of the ones who was but other than that it really was a fab trip and I suppose really this shows you really shouldn’t let bullies stop you from doing anything at all ad that it really is important to tell a grown up about it as soon as possible
goshgurl95 