In the last couple years I've been feeling like crap. I'm still a kid and gone through so much that I feel like an adult at this point. When I was little I was very stupid. I thought that I could trust anybody and told a lot of people my secrets without even getting to know them. Because of that, my "best friend" spread rumors around the class. Let's just call her... Emily for now. So Emily was my first actual good friend. I thought that I could trust her with anything and I felt safe around her. I thought that I finally made a good best friend! Until things started to go down hill. Emily started to bully me. She got physical with me and used me to cheat on tests. She also framed me for something bad she did too. Whenever I go home, I hear my parents fighting and yelling. After they're done fighting my mom usually takes her anger out on me and mentally abuses me. And i was only 6 at that time so I took every word she said seriously. My dad also sexually harasses me, touching me in places and giving me hickies. My life was hell. No one knew about this. I was too scared to tell anyone. I was too weak.
One grade later, I met this guy. Let's call him Isaiah. So isaiah was a quiet dude. He didn't really speak that much and he was an introvert. He did talk to his friends from time to time but other than that, he never spoke. One day our teacher partnered us together for a project. It was really awkward at first, but we got along quite well. We kept on talking and talking about stuff other than the project and he became a good friend of mine. Then one day Isaiah found me crying my myself after school. He asked me what was wrong and decided to sit beside me. Subconsciously, I told him everything. After hearing that, Isaiah gave me a hug. He said "don't worry. I'm here for you." and that was the first time I thought that I finally got a real friend.
Isaiah gave me the courage to speak up to my parents and tell them that I'm going to call the police if they keep on doing things to me and also tell the teacher and principal what's happening. My life went better after that. I felt really happy for the first time. I felt like I was finally normal. I really wanted to somehow return the favor to Isaiah for saving my life.
The next grade me and Isaiah weren't in the same class which made me feel kind of sad but luckily Emily wasn't in my class! The year went by like a flash and next grade came along.
I'm 10 now and I'm having the best life ever. I found out that Emily got expelled (for some reason) and she's not in our school anymore! I was extremely happy. But Isaiah wasn't in my class AGAIN. That made me really upset. One school morning I decide to go up and talk to Isaiah. I waved and said hi, his reaction was something that changed me life forever. He gave me a disgusted look and said "what do you want?"
I didn't want to make things worse so I just said "oh sorry nothing!" And walked away. That night I spent the whole time crying. I couldn't sleep at all. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know my meaning in life anymore. That's when i started self harming. Cutting myself, hitting my head, not eating nutritious food, hoping I would die soon.

In February I was sitting down at my desk drawing. It was for an art assignment and while I was drawing I noticed something.
"Wow! You're really good at drawing."
I looked back and saw a short boy looking at my drawing. It was Isaiah's little brother. Let's call him Len. Just like Isaiah, he was the quiet boy and didn't really talk that much. He was one grade younger than me and looked exactly like his older brother.
"Uh... Thanks?" I answered him.
Then we started talking quite a lot, but we never became friends. Len's friends made fun of us for talking and called us "love birds" or something. It was so f*cking annoying. It was a shame that I couldn't be friends with him because he was a really nice guy. He isn't annoying or loud (like other boys) and he never makes fun of me (like other boys) Another grade passed before I knew it and now I'm in grade 5. There were these boys who called me names, also called me ugly, and made fun if my insecurities. I really didn't like that class. Then in March, covid came. And we switched to online classes. The app we used was this thing kind of like Discord. We were able to hat with other classmates and even people from other classes. Then one day when I was in class, I got a message form Len. And we always talked even at night and it was very fun!
Then a year passed and now I'm an 11 years old in grade 6. Our class was the worst. It was filled with all the trouble makers in our school and we were known to be the worst class ever. Sadly me and Len weren't in the same class and we never talked physically at all. But we did talk on the school app. We became pretty close and I talked about all my problems with him and he always just listened instead of giving me useless advice. Since I was really good at drawing, for his birthday, I drew his anime crush and him together for him ! He was super happy. And we started to get closer.
Now it's the summer of 2021 and I'm still talking to him. A few days ago we were texting and... We became friends! I was waiting for this moment to come and now I'm super happy! Now we're just like brother and sister and I'm having the best day of my life. It feels really long for only 12 years but I'm happy that I finally found a person to be with. Thanks for reading and I hope this motivates you that things will always get better!

Hello random kid. I found your story very motivating. Even though we haven't met, i'm really proud of you. I wish i had the same motivation as you as an eleven year old. I'm really sorry about what you've been through. Sometimes we have terrible parents, and meet terrible people at school. But like you recently noticed, there's a lot of nice people out there! like Len. Keep your hopes up! You are still very young and your path in life will surprise you with a lot of beautiful people that you still haven't met yet. Being a kid is rough and makes you feel vulnerable all the time- I'll share a little of my story-
When i was a kid primary school was extremely hard for me because i had a lot of trouble at home and i used to disocciate in class so i didn't get the knowledge right. All my classmates made fun of me because i had the lowest grades of all and they called me stupid all the time (bullied me everyday too). So i started to believe that i wasn't capable like all of them. With time and therapy i realized that i was smart and raised my voice. No one ever again approached me saying i was dumb, in fact they asked me for help to finish their assignments lol (of course i rejected all of them). And i never bullied anyone. You are an example of success. The process is hard, but never impossible. Keep your head up and never let anyone disrespect you like that.
I hope you are doing better now. And yes, things always get better~