Friday, March 27, 2009

The Schoolyard Bully



Many people can probably remember a schoolyard bully from their childhood. Perhaps they sometimes wonder what happened to this seemingly omnipotent individual who inflicted so much terror on so many. Does he occupy a position of power somewhere in the dirty corporate world? Did she drink herself to death? Is he working in the paint department at Home Depot? Is she a schoolteacher? Is this person writing traffic tickets for a living? If you grew up in a big city then you probably have no way of knowing. Similarly, if you left your hometown for another city then you also may not have the access to the info. I have no idea what happened to the bullies from my youth. My friend Luisa, however, grew up in a small suburb of Los Angeles, still lives there, and continues to socialize with many of her childhood buddies. Recently she was showing me some old class photos that spanned from grade school to high school. The faces of all the kids in her fifth grade class smiled up at me from their page in history. All except one of them, that is. Someone had taken a ballpoint pen and savagely scribbled all over the head of one little girl.

"Why did you do that?" I asked Luisa.

"She was my archenemy back then." Luisa said. "I hated her and feared her. She made my life a living Hell. She lived in the building next door to mine. I used to climb out my bedroom window instead of walking out the front door just so Alexis wouldn't know that I was going anywhere. I was scared to death of her. Then one day I beat her up and we became friends."

I smiled and peered down at the young girl's photo again. It really held my attention for some reason. Although it was difficult to discern her features through all the pen marks I felt a strange stirring in my gut. Why? I didn't grow up in LA or go to school here. Why would some little kid look familiar to me?

"What did you say her name was?" I asked Luisa.

"Alexis." she responded. "Alexis Taylor."

All the little hairs stood up on the back of my neck.

"Alexis Taylor?!" I shrieked.

"Yeah, why?" Luisa asked, a bit startled by my reaction. "Do you know her?"

"Yes, we've worked together tons of times, but we haven't gotten along well in recent years." I said.

"Come to think of it I heard that she was involved in movies or something.." Luisa said, "but I though that she never took her clothes off."

I rolled my eyes. Luisa stared at me.

"So you settled your differences with her by beating her up back in fifth grade?" I asked, a plan slowly starting to take shape in my head.

"Yep." Luisa said with satisfaction.

That is when I realized what I needed to do. It didn't take me long to track down Alexis. Click here for a preview of the resulting fracas.

Were we able to straighten out our past issues with one another? Which woman proved to be victorious on that fateful day? Join TanyaDanielle.com to see the entire Wrestling with Alexis gallery and find out now!


XO Tanya




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