"Don't you know anything about school bullies?" he demanded. "If you give them an inch, you end up giving them a mile."

He was probably right, but I had never had to stand up for myself like that before. I had avoided the bullies by walking around as if I was invisible. Now that I had put myself into the forefront, I had to confront things, and confronting things was not something that I was used to doing.

I saw DeMarcos a few more times, but he didn't try to talk to ...