I’ve grown up with Tourette Syndrome all my life and never thought it would be this bad. I’m 17. I thought I had grown out of the class full of immaturities and insecurities. But things never change. At least not here at East-view High. I’ll be graduating this year. When is this BS going to end?

Having Tourette Syndrome (TS) was always a struggle. “Was” being the keyword here. I’ll tell ya three things about my life… in three words: Tourette, bullied, and scared. And the last two words are effects of the first word: Tourette. I’ve always lived in fear of going to high school. People bully everywhere. I turn a corner and see a kid being harassed, shoved into a locker. This is the reality of it.

But one day. One day of my entire life something changed. Everyone was quiet that day. It was a Friday. So the explanation of the day of the week did not fit the criteria. I just remember everyone looking at each other with smiles. All day. Smiles everywhere. It was like some God had come down from heaven to tell everyone that they shouldn’t judge anymore. That’s when it happened.

That’s when it happened. The fight broke out on the third floor of the building. Someone was bleeding. A “nerd”. He got punched in the face, had a bloody nose, tried to fight back and got his head split open. How? I don’t know. But I helped him off the ground. In fact, he was my friend. Johnny. That’s his name.

Someone then punched me in the face. I took it. I didn’t try to fight back. Seeing the shape Johnny was in was too much for me to try that. I had a bloody nose. As I was cleaning myself up and getting Johnny to the nurse, that’s when it happened.

Some “popular” girl named Sheila, then helped us up… I had never met her before. I had only seen her in the halls. As she helped us up and down to the nurse, nobody said anything. It was silent. You could hear our shoes as they touched the floor like a feather. She said nothing as if it was her obligation to help us. I love her. She is my hero. Me and Johnny are okay now. But nobody harassed me after that day. Everything changed.