** This article is a work of nonfiction based on actual events as shared with me by a friend who experienced them firsthand; used with permission.
High school can be challenging for any teen. My friends and I were no exception. One afternoon the school bully, who also happened to be one of the jocks, showed up in class with bits of his hair falling out. Naturally, he was concerned as most of his self-image relied upon his hair; he was always combing to show off for the girls.
Over the course of a few more days, he lost all of his hair. He started wearing baseball caps and beanies to class and refused to remove his hats even when the teacher requested. Finally, in desperation, he sought out some medical advice and went to see his doctor about why he was suddenly losing his hair.
A few days later, he returned to class and was very upset. He told his guy friend rather loudly that someone was going to pay. By this time, my friends and I had found out that he had been sabotaged, or rather, his shampoo had been sabotaged in the locker room.
It turned out that another classmate, tired of being bullied, had retaliated and put some hair remover cream into his shampoo bottle. Thus, after he showered each day, he would lose more hair. This had gone on for several days before anyone in the school found out about it. While technically this is assault, we all had to hide our smiles as the school bully definitely had it coming.
When it came to the attention of the principal, we were all assembled in an auditorium, where he proceeded to talk to us about bullying and retaliating. The principal explained that this was assault, and even though the bully had been bullying others, this wasn’t the way to get even. He went on to explain to us as students that sometimes people can have allergic reactions to things, so it’s best not to go this route.
We never did find out who it was that came up with the idea of hair remover cream in the bully’s shampoo, but the school bully was more mindful of who he was bullying after that and seemed a lot more pleasant to be around. Perhaps since he never found out who actually sabotaged his shampoo, he decided that it was best to treat others as you want to be treated simply. What do you think? Did he learn a lesson?
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