I’ll b honest with you: I’ve never been
a mean person. I mean I’m the guy who offered the bully
who pushed me off the swing when I was 6, half of my sandwich. He had said he was hungry and I gave it to
him. Then he had apologized for pushing me off
the swing. His name was Albert, I still remember. I didn’t see Albert after that day, but
I remember him. I always try to be nice. I love being the good guy, it actually makes
me happy. My mum had once told me that perhaps I was
obsessed with getting people’s approval. Maybe she was right, I don’t know. What I do know is that no matter where I am
or what I’m doing, I always try to be fair to everyone. Beings nice person does come with its drawbacks. The most obvious one is that people tend to
use me...A LOT. I figured that out early. I had a lot of what I thought were friends,
bit the majority of them were just close to me because they thought they could get something
from me or something. At first, I hurt a lot. I kept getting my heart broken over and over. Eventually, though, I learnt to filter who
I let get close to me. It was hard to figure out sometimes, and many
people are really good at pretending, but I figured out ways to know if someone was
genuine or not, and then I started to cut off people who were only trying to get close
to me to use me off. I remained friendly to everyone, but now I
only had just a few friends. Of those few friends, one of them was Jackson. Jackson was perhaps my first ever real friend. In fact, he remains my best friend. Jason is a pretty tough person. He was the one who kept me from being bullied
by pre-emptively bullying the bullies (haha; though it was a little frightening seeing
him lock Victor McConley up in his own locker). He was always there to stick up for me, especially
when I mess up. He was a true friend. I remember one time when my parents left me
at home for a trip. At first, they had wanted to drop me off at
my grandparents’, but I told them that I didn’t want them to. I was 15 and felt confident enough that I
could survive two days of them not being at home without burning the house down. At first they were skeptical, but eventually
they decided that perhaps this was a chance to prove to them that I was mature enough
to be independent. They didn’t know it at the time, but we
all made bad decisions that day. The first 24 hours went well enough. I went to school, I got back, I did my homework,
cooked, ate, played video games for a few hours. However, I got what seemed to be a pretty
idea all of a sudden. What if Jackson came to spend the night over
at my place? We could have the ultimate sleepover without
the supervision of my parents. The next day was a Friday, so we wouldn’t
have to worry about school and we could stay up all night playing games. By Saturday evening when my parents got back,
Jackson would be gone. It seemed like a pretty good idea, and so
I called my parents to pitch it to them. Again, they weren’t really sold on it, but
after another round of convincing, my parents agreed to let Jackson come over, but only
if his parents approved. His parents approved and so after school the
next day, Jackson followed me home. He had packed a change of clothes and an extra
gamepad. At first, it had been a lot of fun. We had talked about all sorts. Then we, instead of cooking, ordered pizza
for supper. The night was going great and we were ready
to be up all night playing, but then by 12am, we had already slept off. We were woken up at around 1am to the sound
of the fire alarm going off. I didn’t know it at the time, but it turns
out I had mistakenly spilled water on an open wiring and now the room was starting to burn. Panicking, Jackson and I left the room and
called 911. Then I called my parents to let them know
what was going on. They were really worried and said they’d
be on their way back immediately. I was so worried that I was in trouble. The fire team got there and doused the flames. Thankfully, only my room had been affected
by the fire. It had gutted the room almost completely,
but at least the rest of the house was still okay and it hadn’t affected it structurally. It was one of the firefighters who had identified
that the fire was as a result of an electrical malfunction. She had seen the burnt cup beside it and put
two and two together. Jackson’s dad came over to pick us up. He told us my parents were already at the
airport. When we got to Jackson’s, his parents had,
after confirming that we were absolutely fine, asked us what had happened. I figured the firefighters had told him what
they had discovered. I knew that I was the one who had brought
that cup into the room; I knew I was responsible for that fire. However, before I could speak, Jackson spoke
up and said that he was the one who had mistakenly started the fire. Shocked, I looked at him, wondering why he
would try to take the fall for me. It made no logical sense. If anything he was making things worse. I mean sure he was trying to get me out of
trouble, but then he was putting himself in trouble. What if my parents got mad and said we shouldn’t
see anymore? What if his parents got mad and sent him to
military school or something. As I tried to speak up and say that that wasn’t
true, he nudged my leg, signalling that I keep quiet. It was hard, but I kept quiet. Later that morning, my parents came over. Their worry was very obvious. Jackson’s parents sent us upstairs so they
could talk to them privately. They apparently discussed the “fact” that
their son had been responsible for the fire and asked to pay for the repair of my room. My parents had kindly declined, not just because
we had fire insurance on the house, but because they were friends. I would later learn that upon hearing all
Jackson’s parents had said, my dad had simply replied “Mistakes happen”. After the fire incident, Jackson and I became
even closer. Something about him risking getting in trouble
for me unasked made me feel really proud of him. I would go to the ends of the earth for him. For the rest of high school, we were inseparable
and we did just about everything together. We planned that we’d go to the sane college
and live in the same town and all that. Unfortunately, our plans seemed to be utterly
disrupted in our final year of college. We had both planned to school at NYU, but
unfortunately while I got in, Jackson didn’t. That was a big bummer. I told him that I’d go to one of our backup
schools, but he convinced me to go ahead without him. He was considering taking a gap year anyway. That fall, for the first time since I was
10, I was separated from my best friend. My time in NYU was pretty pleasant. I enjoyed my classes, made new friends, and
developed a pretty okay social life. Also, this was New York, one of the biggest
cities in the world. There were opportunities just about everywhere
and a ton of things to experience. Did you know that if you ate at a new restaurant
in New York every single day, it’ll take you over 60 years to try them all out? That’s crazy. College was also where I finally started to
date. I dated a handful of women, but nothing really
went long-term. By the time I graduated with my degree in
Economics, I was a completely different person from the version of me who had come in. One thing that didn’t change, though, was
my relationship with Jackson. He remained my best friend, and I usually
planned my visits home to coincide with when he’d be around. We also regularly spoke on the phone and gave
each other updates on how our lives were going. After I graduated college, I stayed in New
York and started my career working for a brokerage on Wall Street. Work was hectic, but the pay was good. Life carried on. One day, I got a call from Jackson. He had gotten transferred from his company
and was moving to New York. I was extremely excited. I was glad that I’d finally be able to be
with my best friend once again. I offered to have him stay with me at my apartment,
at least for a while. It would not only save us both costs -I don’t
know if you’ve heard, but living in New York is obscenely expensive-, but it’ll
also give us time to hang out with each other once again, just like the old times. He agreed and so we became roommates. It was like we had never left each other. Jackson was as good a roommate as he was a
friend. He was reliable and we never really had issues. Then came Danielle. I had met Danielle through a friend. She was a manager at a luxury clothing store. I liked her almost immediately so I asked
her out. It took a while, but she finally agreed to
date me. Danielle was sweet and goofy sometimes, but
sometimes she was withdrawn and not want to talk to me for days. It had been a huge deal, and we had fought
a few times about it, but eventually she had become more open to me, and I had learnt how
to gauge her moods and act accordingly. Danielle and I had been dating for just a
couple of months, but she had already started talking about moving in together. I had explained that I had a roommate at the
time and I didn’t think that would change anytime soon, but she had been insistent. The whole things had even caused her to dislike
Jackson, even though he had never really done anything to her and they had met only a few
times. She always tried to change the subject whenever
I talked about him and she intentionally tried to make plans that clashed with plans that
I made with him. It was a bit annoying, really, but I figured
she’d come around eventually. There was no reason they couldn’t learn
to at least tolerate each other. One day, I was out getting groceries and my
drycleaning, when Danielle informed me that she was at my place. Jackson was in, so I told her he’d let her
in. After running my errands, I came home to find
that she and Jackson were nowhere to be found. Confused, I called her. When she didn’t pick, I called Jackson. Jackson told me he was at our favourite drinking
hole and that I should come over immediately as he had something important he wanted to
discuss with me. When I got there, he sat me down, and after
I had gulped a considerable amount of the bottle of beer he had gotten me, he finally
talked. Danielle had made a move on him. At first I thought he was joking, but he was
dead serious. Apparently, it wasn’t the first time. She had been trying to seduce him since the
day she met him and he had been very carefully avoiding her. He didn’t want to start a big fight, and
he figured if he ignored her long enough, she’d give up. However that afternoon she had walked into
my apartment naked and had told him that she was only dating me for “benefits” and
was only interested in him. He had told her off and left the apartment. It was a lot to take in. A lot. I left the bar and went to took a very long
walk. I thought about a lot. I considered that perhaps Jackson was lying. Perhaps she had thought he was me when she
walked in? Maybe he wanted her to seduce him so much
that he thought she did? After hours of thinking, I called Danielle
again. She picked this time. After a brief silence where neither of us
spoke, she said finally “It true, okay? What do you want me to say?” I asked if there was anyone else, someone
she actually went through with. She said yes. I hung up. For weeks I mourned Danielle. It hurt a lot. I had actually liked her a lot. Her sudden withdrawals started to make a lot
of sense suddenly. By the time I was done mourning, my pain had
turned to anger. I had to get my revenge. I figured out how to get back at her: her
job. Danielle was targeting a promotion to regional
manager at work. She wanted it really badly. In fact, when we had been together, she had
talked about it all the time. She had also made the mistake of logging into
her email on my computer previously. She had not logged out and she had not blocked
access to her account on my device. So what did I do? I sent a series of emails to a random address,
where I “mistakenly” CCed her bosses. In the email, I talked about how “I” was
willing to offer bribes to any exec to ensure that “I” hot the role. I also talked about how much power the role
will give and how I’d skim just a little over the top of the company’s earnings. It didn’t take time for the plan to work. Soon she was investigated by the company. They even audited her branch. Turns out she was stealing from the company
and she got fired and arrested. To be honest, my revenge actually did give
me a sense of relief and closure, and it helped me get over her. Jackson and I remain friends till this day. In fact, he ended up finding out about what
I had done to Danielle weeks after she got arrested when I told him. If he was disturbed or upset about it, he
didn’t show it. He just casually asked if I was going to have
the last wing in the bucket of chicken we were eating. Thank you for making it to the end of the
video. If you enjoyed it, a like to the channel would
be amazing. Also, don’t forget to subscribe and ding
the notification bell to get to know when we drop a new video. Have a nice day and see you on the next one. The one time in my life when I remember being
severely hurt, was when I was still in the early years of middle school. I was rolling with a crowd of… let’s just
call them mischievous kids, and they do crazy things around the school and outside. I was usually the one doing the daring and
stuff, but one day, I was dared myself. One of the boys, Otis, dared me to jump off
a building, and land on the other building close to it. It wasn’t a really tall building, just one
storey, and they weren’t so far apart from each other. On a normal day, I would have cleared that
jump, with no problem, but that wasn’t a normal day. It rained heavily the previous day, and most
places were still wet, including that rooftop. My footwear also, wasn’t in the best condition,
which completed the recipe for that disaster. I ran at full speed to the edge of the building,
slipping slightly as I tried to jump. I fell off that building, and landed on my
arm, breaking it on the interlocking stones floor. I have to confess. Breaking a bone? It hurts like hell. I tried my best not to cry in front of my
friends, but as soon as they touched it while trying to lift me to my feet, I couldn’t
control the tears as they came rushing down my eyes. I say all this to let you understand that
I have felt one of the worst types of pain imaginable, but it is nothing, compared to
the pain I felt when I found out that the girl whom I thought was my girlfriend and
the love of my life, was not really in love with me. She was only pretending, because she needed
me to help her pass her exams and get straight A’s. How did I get myself into a situation like
this? Well, it all started in my junior year of
high school when I got expelled for playing a prank that seriously hurt a fellow student. We’re not going to discuss what the prank
is, because it has nothing to do with this story. All you should know was that I put my vast
knowledge of chemistry to good use, and that that A hole deserved it. Anyways, for the rest of the term, I was grounded
and homeschooled. it was more like I was doing the schooling,
because I was brilliant, and most of the time I ended up correcting my teacher. (This right here, is one of the reasons why
I frequently got detention in school. Apparently, no one likes a smart ass). It didn’t really mess with any plans, because
my parents were planning to move during the summer. I was going to need a new school anyways. I was still grounded during the summer break,
and I didn’t get to spend any time with my friends. A few weeks into the holidays, my parents
and I moved into a bigger apartment in the suburban part of the city. (I’m not saying where sorry. I’m trying to keep this as anonymous as
possible). At first, I still wasn’t allowed to go out
when we got to the new school, but I talked to my parents, and after promising to be on
good behavior, they allowed me to go out once in a while, which was still hell for a growing
teenager. The new school session started three weeks
after we moved to the new city. On my first day, I wasn’t nervous or anything. I was kind of a nerd, but I didn’t have
social anxiety issues. I had no problems making frieinds. I got to class and dazzled my teachers with
my knowledge of the sciences. I quickly noticed something as the weeks went
by. Most of the students in the school were average
at best when it comes to academic knowledge. Instead, they’re well-versed in the world
of Tik Tok challenges, and Twitter memes. It’sa stark contrast to my former school,
where at least a higher number of students actually cared about their grades. No wonder the teachers in my new school tolerated
my corrections, and my know it all attitude. I was a breath of fresh air. I joined the school’s science club so I
could feel a little bit of normalcy. I couldn’t connect with most of the other
students outside the club, so I kinda had no choice. It was a good decision, and I made friends
rapidly. One of my best friends to this day, (let us
call him Jackson), I met him at the science club. After the first term, I kinda soared to the
top of the academic rankings. My result surprised even some of the teachers,
that the school decided to post it on the bulletin board, to motivate the other students. (at least that’s what they said, but to
me, I think it's all about wanting to take the credit for grooming an excellent student
like me. I became kinda respected by the teachers and
simultaneously hated by some jealous students in my class. As if the hate I’m getting from my classmates
wasn’t enough, something worse happened. Shortly after we resumed after the break,
a classmate of mine (Tyler), walked up to me. Tyler was a basketball jock and one of the
popular kids in school. He was also a bully that liked to torture
other students by taking their lunch money or pushing their heads down the toilet. I have never had an encounter with him before,
because I was good at blending into the background. But after the spotlight was cast on me, I
couldn’t avoid him. Tyler walked up to me that fateful day and
demanded that I did his assignment for him. Before then, I had never been bullied, and
even though I’ve seen other people being bullied, it has never occurred to me that
I’ll be a victim one day. I was supposed to be scared and give in to
his demands, but I wasn’t. I told him no. he was taken aback by my answer,
and I went further to explain that I had no problem helping anyone with assignments and
stuff, but if he wanted my help, he was going to ask politely. My friends, Jackson and some other guys in
the science club tried to get me to back down and stop being confrontational, but it was
no use. Without a word, Tyler walked away. That was the beginning of my bullying. Every time I walked past the basketball court
during gym, he’d throw the ball, aiming for my head. Some other times, he’d accost me in the
bathroom, and try to drown me in the toilet. Through all these harsh treatments I still
never once agreed to help him with an assignment or test. Months went by in this manner, and one day,
I was walking over to my bicycle rack with Jackson when out of nowhere a basketball landed
on my head. I trip on my foot and fall to the ground. The basketball guys laugh in the distance,
and before I knew it, a girl from the cheerleading squad came over to help me up. She called the guys Jerks and asked if I was
okay. It was surprising because as much as I knew,
the cheerleaders were even bigger jerks than the jocks. But here this girl was, being all nice. Naturally, I was a bit wary of her. She introduced herself as April. Apparently, we attended lots of classes together. I never noticed because she’s not one to
interact in class. She asked where I stayed, and when I told
her, she asked if she could walk with us. We talked on the way home, and as much as
I wanted to be wary of her, I started to let my guard down. She seemed so bright and cheerful. (she’s a cheerleader. I should have known that the facade of cheerfulness
came easy for her). When I got to my place, she asked what I was
doing that weekend. This was where all my warning bells were supposed
to be going off, but they didn’t. I let the fact that she was nice from the
beginning cloud my judgment. I told her I was free, and she asked if she
could come over to study with me. I said yes immediately. It’s not every time a pretty girl asks to
come to my house. I know I pay most of my attention to my studies
and the occasional mischief, but she was really pretty. I couldn’t say no. That Saturday, I was supposed to meet up with
Jackson and the rest of the guys for a chemistry experiment, but I had to cancel. Jackson asked why, but I couldn’t tell him
I was hanging out with April. I just told him there was an impromptu family
meeting and that I had to stay home for it. April came over and we went up to my room
to study. My dad made sure I left the door open. And he came by every ten minutes, offering
us hot chocolate or tortilla chips. It was pretty embarrassing really. One thing that really surprised me is the
fact that throughout our time in my house, April paid total attention to her books. I had thought that she was the type that’ll
be on her phone while I'm explaining the intricacies of organic chemistry. But that wasn’t the case. She stuck to her books for the whole day,
and it made studying with her very interesting. The next week, during lunch break, I was hanging
out with Jackson at the cafeteria when April walked up to us. She joined our table, which was very weird. The cheerleaders and jocks had a different
table designated as the popular table. She joined our conversation as though nothing
was wrong, but I could feel that Jackson was uncomfortable. By the end of the lunch break, she asked if
I was interested in going home together. Obviously, I said yes. We agreed to meet up at the close of the day,
and we parted ways to go to our different classes. On the way to AP English class, Jackson asked
why I was hanging out with April so much. I answered that she was different from the
rest of the cheerleaders. He told me point blank that it wasn’t true,
and she was only hanging out with me because she needed something from me. I was pretty pissed at him for saying that
because it indirectly meant that April couldn’t be genuinely attracted to me. I told him he was just jealous that she liked
me. (stupidest thing I’ve done in my life and
I eventually regretted that statement). Jackson said okay, and I should do whatever
I liked. But whatever happened, I shouldn’t come
crying to him. After that day, I started hanging out with
Jackson less and hanging out with April more. She seemed really interested in everything
I was interested in, especially academics. Most times, we hung out at my place or hers,
doing assignments and studying for tests. This routine kept up until one day I summoned
the courage to ask her to be my girlfriend. Surprisingly, she agreed. The only thing was that she didn’t want
anyone in school to know that we were dating, so we had to keep our relationship a secret
in school. One particular day, we were in her place,
and she was really worried that she was going to fail a test. I tried to assure her that she was going to
do well, but she didn’t believe me. She begged me to help her make a note of all
the possible questions and answers on a sheet of paper. She wanted to use the paper during the test. I wasn’t comfortable with this, but she
convinced me to do it. One thing I noticed after April and I started
hanging out is that Tyler stopped bothering me. He didn’t bully me anymore, and I shrugged
it off, thinking it was one of the perks of dating one of the popular kids. (I was so wrong.) After the time she took the paper into the
class for the test, it became a usual thing. I’d help her write down the possible answers. She even started to make excuses to not do
assignments and skip our study sessions. “I’m too busy with cheerleading practice,”
she used to say. It fell on me to help her do her assignments,
and anytime I tried to complain, she’d find a way to twist my words to make herself appear
as the victim. And I was a fool. I was too blinded to see that she was manipulating
me and I kept doing her assignments for her like a good little soldier. Until one day, my eyes finally opened. It was the close of the school day, and I
was about to head home. April said she had to stay back in school
to practice, SO I was supposed to go on without her. But I decided to surprise her. I was going to wait for her all through cheerleading
practice, then take her to get some froyo. But as soon as I got outside the gym, I peeked
in and noticed that there wasn’t any cheerleader in sight. Only some jocks, including Tyler. I contemplated leaving and calling to know
where April was, but as soon as I pulled out my phone, April walked into the gym room,
through the other door, and to my utmost shock, she walked over to Tyler and kissed him. Not a peck on the cheek. Like an actual kiss on the lips. I’ve never been more shocked in my entire
life. I wanted to storm into the gym and demand
answers, but even in my heartbroken state, I knew it wouldn’t end well. I stayed there, watching in agony as they
got all lovey-dovey with each other. Immediately, I understood what Jackson was
talking about. April had been using me to get her assignments
done. Tyler was probably in on it too. He couldn’t get me to do his assignments
for him, so he sent her. I left the school immediately and cried when
I got to the privacy of my bedroom. I had never had a girlfriend before her, and
the pain I felt was unimaginable. I felt so stupid. Of course, Jackson was right. Why on earth would she like me? I stayed away from school for two days, pretending
to be sick. I also avoided her calls, because I didn’t
want to face her yet. Jackson was a really good friend. He came back when I told him what happened,
and he helped me come up with a plan to get back at them. Exams were coming up in a few days, and I
was sure she was going to want me to help her write down the possible answers like before. I didn’t let her suspect that I knew about
her and Tyler. When she came over to my place to get the
answers as usual, I told her to write it down herself, because I hurt my hand. I merely told her all she needed to write
down. I needed the answers to be in her handwriting
so my plan wouldn’t backfire. On the day of the exam, I made an anonymous
tip to a teacher about seeing April and Tyler get the exam papers from the principal’s
office. The teacher investigated, and they were searched
in the exam hall. They were both found with incriminating papers
and were shown out of the exam hall. They were both given failing marks in all
their classes and were given extra years.
