"To my daughter Araceli and everyone who has been bullied, and those who are still being bullied."

Not that long ago there was a girl named Celi.  When she first started school the teachers always told her mom that she was very nice, sweet, helpful, and that she always motivated her friends and classmates.

Celi never really liked to miss any days of school. On the way to school, she would always tell her mom about her favorite things she would do at school.

Even on the days that she felt sick, she still wanted to go to school instead of staying home to rest so she could feel better.

Celi would tell her mom to give her some medicine and that she would feel better.  But if she still felt sick later on, she would go to the nurse or get picked up from school.

Than one day when Celi's mom woke her up for school,she noticed that Celi was taking longer to get ready than she would usually take.

On her way to school Celi began to cry and told her mom that her tummy was hurting and that she wasn't feeling good. She looked at her mom and asked if she could stay home from school.

Not wanting her to get anyone else at school sick, she decided to keep Celi home. At home her mom called the school to let them know that Celi would not be going to school that day.

During the day, Celi's mom noticed that she was feeling better. Celi had spent the day playing with her cat and dog until it was time for bed.

The next morning as she was getting dropped off, Celi hesitated going inside. This made her mom upset, so she parked the car and walked inside the office with her to see if they knew anything about her sudden change of behavior.

As they walked inside the office she asked the office staff if they knew anything about Celi's behavior. After assuring that they didn't know either, Celi looked at her mom and everyone in the office and told them that she was being bullied as she began to cry.

After seeing her daughter in tears and listening to what she just said, this made her angry and she was wanting to know why nothing had been done about it, and asked Celi if she spoke with anyone in the office? When she found out that they were told but nothing was being done, she told them that something needed to be done, then took Celi home that day.

A few weeks went by and Celi was going to school without any problems. Then one day Celi let her parents know that she was being bullied again. Her dad decided to go to the school to write a report hoping that the bullying would finally stop.

At the end of the school year Celi was ready for summer vacation to start. She did the best she could to go to school even while she was still being bullied and nothing was being done to stop the bullying.

During summer break Celi's family hardly seen her. She would be in her room or on the hammock outside, which was her favorite place to be. Her family would worry about her sometimes and ask if she was okay, she always said yes but looked sad.

Summer went by fast and it was almost time to go back to school, Celi began to get worried about returning to school. She knew her family would worried about her if they knew she was feeling that way, so instead she just pretended that she was doing okay.

Soon it was almost time to go back to school, Celi's parents called her to their room and asked her if she was okay because they seen how she looked sad or worried. So she smiled at them gave them both a hug and told them that she was fine and went to her room.

The day before school started, Celi's dad asked if she was worried, and wanted her to try to feel better. Celi told him that she was a little worried but that she would be okay, than looked at him and smiled.

That afternoon Celi's brother was preparing dinner and had a talk with Celi. He told her not to be so worried about going back to school. He also told her that bullies are everywhere and the best thing to do was to stand up to them and to tell them that they needed to stop bullying her.  As she walked to her room she smiled and thanked him for the advise.

Celi felt a little better but after thinking for a bit she asked herself "What if they don't stop? What if they would just let them continue to bully her like the year before?" 

When her sister came to visit, she told Celi that bullies are mean and pick on others is usually because the might be having problems at home. Sometimes they have no one to talk to so they hurt others so they can feel better about themselves but just might need someone to talk to and to listen to them.

Still worried about going to school the next day. Celi had a talk with her mom in Celi's room. Her mom ask her if she was really okay. Then she told Celi that no matter what happens, she is always going to be there for her, that made Celi feel so much better and made her smile. She gave her mom a hug and said goodnight.

The next morning as they arrived at school, Celi asked her mom if she could change schools, her mom looked at her and said that she was going to see what she could do. Celi felt better and gave her mom a hug as her mom told her to try to have a good day, then walked inside the school.