Every morning, Brittany Geldert stepped off the bus and bolted through the double doors of Fred Moore Middle School, her nerves already on high alert, bracing for the inevitable.
"Dyke."
Pretending not to hear, Brittany would walk briskly to her locker, past the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders who loitered in menacing packs.
"Whore."
Like many 13-year-olds, Brittany knew seventh grade was a living hell.
Bullies are cowards. The kids that killed themselves were not; they were brave as long as they could stand it, and that was longer than any bully ever showed courage (or any other laudable character trait) in his or her life.
