Jade Prest
In the worst cases, emotional scars can last for years, as Jade Prest, now in her early 20s, knows only too well. For Jade, the bullying began with a single rumor when she was 15: that she had slept with some other girls boyfriend. Whispered from ear to ear it spread through a classroom, along the corridors of a school and eventually through the teenage grapevine of the local town. It did not end until Jade had tried to kill herself.
The teenager had been the victim of malicious girl-on-girl bullying. Orchestrated by a single ringleader and her side-kick, Jade could not walk through the school without being called ugly, slut, bitch, and liar. Someone even planted fake drugs on her, hoping to make her look bad. As it continued, she stopped going to school and started cutting herself. Jade suffered terribly for many months and felt that there was nowhere she could hide. Wherever she went she was attacked with threatening text messages while internet sites such as Bebo or MSN would be filled up with nasty gossip. As the cyber-bullying swelled, girls she had once thought of as best friends were too afraid to walk alongside her at school or in the town. By the time she reached 16, her once happy, teenage life had been destroyed. She felt alone and like everything they said she was.
By the end Jade had begun cutting herself with razor blades and tried to kill herself with an overdose of paracetamol tablets. Eventually she moved to a new school and tried to start again. She had no confidence about her ability to make friends but she worked hard and ended up achieving Cs in her GCSEs. It was a huge success given what had happened, but she was disappointed because it had been predicted that she would get As. Today, she has just one person who she would call a close friend.
Now things are on the up for Jade. Since taking her GCSEs she has studied for childcare qualifications and hopes to become a teacher. It is a glimmer of hope for a teenager whose life had to be put on hold while she became the target of a vicious form of female mental intimidation.
The teenager had been the victim of malicious girl-on-girl bullying. Orchestrated by a single ringleader and her side-kick, Jade could not walk through the school without being called ugly, slut, bitch, and liar. Someone even planted fake drugs on her, hoping to make her look bad. As it continued, she stopped going to school and started cutting herself. Jade suffered terribly for many months and felt that there was nowhere she could hide. Wherever she went she was attacked with threatening text messages while internet sites such as Bebo or MSN would be filled up with nasty gossip. As the cyber-bullying swelled, girls she had once thought of as best friends were too afraid to walk alongside her at school or in the town. By the time she reached 16, her once happy, teenage life had been destroyed. She felt alone and like everything they said she was.
By the end Jade had begun cutting herself with razor blades and tried to kill herself with an overdose of paracetamol tablets. Eventually she moved to a new school and tried to start again. She had no confidence about her ability to make friends but she worked hard and ended up achieving Cs in her GCSEs. It was a huge success given what had happened, but she was disappointed because it had been predicted that she would get As. Today, she has just one person who she would call a close friend.
Now things are on the up for Jade. Since taking her GCSEs she has studied for childcare qualifications and hopes to become a teacher. It is a glimmer of hope for a teenager whose life had to be put on hold while she became the target of a vicious form of female mental intimidation.