I was born on September 19, 2000 in Oxnard. I grew up and was raised in the Wagon Wheel Trailer Park in Oxnard. I was also raised in Ventura because I had more family living their. When I was little I was very close to all of my family. My cousins were my bestfriends. Although my cousins and I grew up in an environment that didn’t have much to offer, we were all humble kids. I thought we would always be close, little did I know, I was wrong. When it was time for all us to start school I was the only one going a different way. While all my cousins went to the Oxnard district, I went to the Ventura district. Although me and my cousins went to different schools we still lived by each other, we could literally walk to each others houses. We were all still really close. That was until the first grade when I turned 6 I moved to Ventura. That separated only me from the rest of my cousins. Elementary and middle school flew by and I never really noticed how my cousins changed until I was in the 8th grade. By that time it was too late, my cousins were hanging out with the wrong crowd. I would visit them and it wasn’t the same, they weren’t the same. I thought it was just a phase that they were going through. They thought they were too cool for me because I didn’t act, talk, or dress like their friends in Oxnard. They would call me names for being smart because I went to a school in Ventura. I was being bullied by my cousins that I depended on, to defend me, to be there when I needed them, and to just be themselves, the kind, sweet people I knew when I was smaller. At parties it was weird because they would talk about their friends from Oxnard and I didn’t know anything about what they were talking about, so normally I would just sit there on my phone listening to a story about a random person. It kept getting worse and worse, I would get ignored and they wouldn’t even make eye contact with me. 8th grade was over and I knew that high school would only make the problem worse. Most of my cousins did cheer, football, or soccer, this made them feel popular and they ignored me even more. A few of my cousins blocked me on social media, but it didn’t really bother me. I didn’t let them get to me or put me down because I had really good friends at my school in Ventura. To this day I only talk to a few of my cousins and try to talk to the ones who think they’re too cool, but they are never interested in having a normal conversation with me. I still don’t know what I want to do when I’m older, but I know that I want to help kids and teens who are getting bullied in anyway, whether it’s by a stranger, a friend, or even getting bullied by a cousin like me. I always wonder when they’ll change, but they say everything happens for a reason.
Elementary and middle school flew by and I never really noticed how my cousins changed until I was in the 8th grade. By that time it was too late, my cousins were hanging out with the wrong crowd. I would visit them and it wasn’t the same, they weren’t the same. I thought it was just a phase that they were going through. They thought they were too cool for me because I didn’t act, talk, or dress like their friends in Oxnard. They would call me names for being smart because I went to a school in Ventura. I was being bullied by my cousins that I depended on, to defend me, to be there when I needed them, and to just be themselves, the kind, sweet people I knew when I was smaller. At parties it was weird because they would talk about their friends from Oxnard and I didn’t know anything about what they were talking about, so normally I would just sit there on my phone listening to a story about a random person. It kept getting worse and worse, I would get ignored and they wouldn’t even make eye contact with me. 8th grade was over and I knew that high school would only make the problem worse. Most of my cousins did cheer, football, or soccer, this made them feel popular and they ignored me even more. A few of my cousins blocked me on social media, but it didn’t really bother me. I didn’t let them get to me or put me down because I had really good friends at my school in Ventura. To this day I only talk to a few of my cousins and try to talk to the ones who think they’re too cool, but they are never interested in having a normal conversation with me. I still don’t know what I want to do when I’m older, but I know that I want to help kids and teens who are getting bullied in anyway, whether it’s by a stranger, a friend, or even getting bullied by a cousin like me. I always wonder when they’ll change, but they say everything happens for a reason.