Annie Fox for Teens... Hey, Terra!

Annie (AKA Hey Terra!) has been around long enough to have experienced a lot of what Life can dish out. But, it hasn’t been so long that she's forgotten what it's like to be your age. Check out some of the thousands of email questions teens from around the world have sent to Terra. You may learn something useful from her answers:

Bullying:
“My friend yelled at me in front of the whole class!”

Hey Terra,

You always seem to know the right thing to say so please help me with this problem...

In math class people were talking about my friend so I told my friend they were talking about her... then I got yelled at from everyone. What's worse is that one of my other friends thinks that I told everyone that she was the one that told. I NEVER did that! So she comes to my class and yells at me w/ her scary boyfriend laughing and after they leave I just cry in front of my whole class. What should I do? I don't want to go to school. I feel so stupid for crying.

Cry Baby

Dear Cry Baby,

The fact that she humiliated you in public isn't cool. She was using her power (and the presence of her "scary" boyfriend) to intimidate you. That's what bullies do and it sucks!

Don't worry about the fact that you cried in class. It sounds like your were scared and shocked by her yelling at you and crying was a natural way to express your fear in that moment. Now that you've had time to calm down, I suggest that you call up your friend and tell her your side of the story. While you're at it, tell her how you felt about her coming to your class and all of that. As a friend, she deserves the truth from you. Telling the truth about your hurt and scared feelings is the best way to get things straight between you.

I hope this helps.

In friendship,

Terra


Need some advice? Write to Terra. She'll give you a straight answer you can trust without any lectures.

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