When the Rome Middle School student’s classmates were telling
her she was too ugly, too fat and didn’t deserve to be alive,
the 14-year-old said she felt so trapped, she took to the razor
for relief. “They’re saying I don’t deserve to be at the middle
school and that I’m an outcast,” Taylor said. “Because of the
bullying, I’ve been cutting. I’ve stopped the cutting, but I’m
still dealing with the bullying. I’m trying to stop the bullying
the best I can by telling them to leave the other kids alone.”
But when Taylor turned to her teachers and counselors for
guidance, she said she kept hitting brick walls. “I’ve gone to
the teachers and counselors about it, but they haven’t really
done anything,” she said. “They’re saying they’ll handle it, but
then the kids go up there and are making up different stories,
and I almost get in trouble because of it.” When her counselors
learned that Taylor was depressed and cutting herself, she said
they told her to consider therapy or institutionalization rather
than fixing the