– “What do you want to do today?” asked Julia lying on the floor of her bedroom, surrounded by books.
– “Maybe we could watch a movie?” suggested Mikolay.
– “No, I don’t feel like watching a movie. What about going for a swim in the river?”
– “We can’t go for a swim ‘cos mummies aren’t here.” Mikolay was already checking the DVD’s titles.
– “Maybe we could just read?” suggested Julia shyly. She was the top student and her favourite activity in the whole world was reading.
– “Suit yourself. I’m going to watch a movie!” stated Mikolay and started putting the DVD on.
– “So why don’t we go to the park than,” suggested Julia.
– “Fine, fine.” Mikolay reluctantly gave in.
So the two of them went out to the garden, which was full of blooming trees and blossoming flowers.
Julia gently started smelling the flowers and talking to them. That activity Mikolay always found a bit eccentric. But after all, she was his best friend so he accepted her the way she was.
As it quickly turned out Mikolay wasn’t as enthusiastic about the garden as Julia was. He walked aimlessly kicking stones and wishing that something exciting could happen to them that day.
In fact, he didn’t have to wait too long for the excitement to arrive.
– “Can you hear that? ” asked Julia. Mikolay stopped and listened.
– “Yeah, what is this noise?”
– “I think… I think… someone is crying,” Julia started looking around. After a little searching, the two of them noticed someone sitting by the huge oak tree on the other side of the road.
Mikolay looked at Julia.
– “Well, I guess we have no other choice but to cross the road. We can’t leave these poor souls all alone,” said Julia.
Mikolay felt happy again & without much hesitation, he ran toward the street and was just about to cross the road when Julia shouted in panic.
– “Wait!!!”
– “What!!!?” he shouted back.
– “You need to check if any cars or buses are coming.” Julia always had to remind Mikolay about looking left & right before crossing the road.
– “Oooops. Every time,” Mikolay muttered to himself feeling a bit silly that once again Julia had to remind him about that.
They both looked left and then right and since there were no cars or buses approaching, they swiftly crossed the road together.
On the other side of the road, there was an old oak tree park or forest as some people called it. Under one of those trees, a boy & girl were sitting & crying.
– “Why are you crying?” asked Julia softly.
The girl looked from under her folded arms. She looked somewhat different than Julia. Her ears were much smaller than Julia’s and she was wearing huge thick glasses.
– “The big boys bully us!” said the girl stuttering.
– “Did you hear that Mikolay?” Julia was already gearing up to fight the bullies. There was a real fighting spirit in this little girl and she was always ready to fight any injustice.
– “Can you tell us exactly what happened?” asked Mikolay.
– “Well…” started the boy who had artificial legs made of some kind of metal. “We were on the field trip with our school and Nicky and I got lost.”
– “I was picking up flowers and when I looked up, my class was all gone and only David stayed behind,” finished Nicky.
– “And what happened then?” Julia was really eager to know what happened to the two wizards could take the right action.
– “We were walking around trying to find our class. But instead we found this group of big boys who laughed at us & called us names,” said Nicky.
– “They laughed at us ‘cos we look different!!!” whispered David.
– “Please don’t cry,” Julia bent down to comfort Nicky and gave her a big hug. “There is nothing wrong in being different.”
– “You don’t know. You are not different and kids don’t pick on you ‘cos you don’t look normal, like everyone else and you don’t talk like everyone else,” said David who was visibly upset.
– “Well, actually…” started Mikolay, which caught David & Nicky’s attention right away. “Julia & I are a little bit different.”
– “We are wizards,” finished Julia. This sentence sparked immense curiosity on Nicky’s and David’s faces.
– “What does it mean?” asked David who seemed to be a bit confused.
– “Well, we can do magic,” confessed Mikolay.
– What kind of magic?” Nicky was curious to know.
– “We can do spells, we can travel to places using different devices and we go to magical school as well,” tweeted Julia.
– “But how can kids bully you? You can do magic so you can turn these bullies into little worms any time you want?!” asked David.
– “Not really. We can’t use magic outside of school and we aren’t allowed to have wands yet,” Julia gave the official statement of what they were not allowed to do.
– “You know, other kids laugh at us ‘cos Julia and I are a bit eccentric. We don’t belong to any group or organization. We always wear cowboy boots and old-fashioned 2nd. hand clothes and people don’t really like Julia ‘cos she is very smart. Much smarter than the rest of them.
She is like the smartest person I know so I always have to fight other boys when they laugh at her,” finished Mikolay being truly proud of his friend. For the first time since Julia knew Mikolay, he admitted that she was very smart, that made her feel extremely precious.
– “How do you feel when you are bullied?” asked Nicky turning to Julia.
– “Well, I want to cry and hide in my mum’s arms so she can protect me. Sometimes I feel very angry and want to punish the kids who laugh at me and call me names. But I know I can’t because I have to be better than them. Sometimes I feel like… I feel like rubbish,” finished Julia sadly.
It was the first time she spoke about being bullied. And it was the first time Mikolay realized how horrible she must feel each time the horrible kids called her names.
After hearing about Julia’s experience, Mikolay didn’t mind being in trouble at home and at school for getting into fights. He knew he had to protect her with all his power. At the end of the day, she was his BFF.
– “I don’t think there is anything wrong in wearing cowboy boots or looking different or being different,” added Julia.
– “But I can’t fight.” David looked sadly on his legs.
– “I still could show you a few moves with your fists,” suggested Mikolay.
– “You can’t fight, you have to tell your parents or teachers when someone bullies you,” argued Julia “Fighting is not a solution.”
– “Julia, there is not always time for that. You know it yourself,” said Mikolay in a very serious manner.
– “I know.” Julia was too smart to argue when she knew that Mikolay was right.
– “Let’s walk with Nicky & David to school,” suggested Mikolay.
– “When will you teach me the moves?” asked David who was very keen on learning.
– “We could arrange to meet up one day after school,” suggested Mikolay.
– “You would like to meet up with us?” Nicky couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
– “Why wouldn’t we?” Julia was puzzled.
– “Because… because we have physical disabilities and we look different and people will laugh at you when they see you with us,” panted Nicky.
Julia looked at Nicky with her kind and loving eyes. She took Nicky’s hands in her hands and said:
– “I think you are very pretty. I love your blond hair and if you would like I would love us to be best friends.”
– “I never had a best friend!” Nicky’s confession made Julia and Mikolay feel very sad.
– “Shall we?” asked Mikolay and the four of them started making their way back to Nicky & David’s school. On the way to school, they chatted and laughed a lot exchanging stories.
However, as it often happens with the bullies the horrible boys didn’t go away but waited for Nicky and David to come out from their hiding place.
When the bullies saw the four of them approaching, they started calling them nasty names.
At first, Mikolay thought of fighting the boys but then he changed his mind.
He looked at Julia and to his greatest surprise, she already had her wand out.
They both pointed their wands towards the boys, who started laughing even harder than before while running towards the four of them with sticks and stones.
Mikolay said three times “La fistux” for the protection shield so the stones and sticks weren’t going to hit them.
At first, the boys got confused (The bullies aren’t smart or clever ‘cos no smart person would bully another person. For whatever reason.) and stood there watching the stones dropping to the ground.
But once Julia started turning their hands into hooves and small human ears into rabbits ears the boys got seriously scared and were off running away screaming and crying and calling their mummies for help.
– “That was so cool!!!!” shouted Nicky.
– “Yeah, it really was,” even Julia had to admit that.
– “I think they should leave you alone for good now,” said Mikolay who was very impressed with Julia’s spell.
– “We could walk from school together every day if you like,” suggested Julia who wanted to spend a lot of time with her new friends.
And this is how the great friendship between the four of them began and was going to continue for many years to come.
However, later that day when their mummies came back from work they weren’t that impressed with Mikolay & Julia’s use of magic and misbehaviour.
Julia tried to argue with them and as much as mummies understood their side of the story giving kids pointy ears and hooves was unacceptable.
Mikolay & Julia weren’t allowed to watch TV and eat sweets for the whole week.
But Julia didn’t mind paying a very small price for teaching the bullies a lesson & making two new wonderful friends.
Find Out
1. Find out how you could help kids who are bullied.
2. If you see someone being bullied inform the grown-ups about the situation. If that grown-up won’t listen, find another grown-up who will.
3. Remember that being smart, different or looking differently doesn’t make you worse and it shouldn’t be a trigger for bullies. Always be yourself & be proud of who you are.
4. Bullying people isn’t cool. It’s a horrible, horrible thing to do. Bullies are not heroes. They are scared, little children.
5. Bullies are not clever ‘cos no one who is clever & a hero would be nasty to other people. Heroes are kind & protective over others.
THE END