I'm poisonous? Alright, better get out of the way.
This happened a couple years ago, when I was still in elementary school. The last year of elementary school to be exact, so I was 9-10 years old.
I freshly moved from Vienna to a nice village in Southern Austria, during the summer holidays. I didn't know anyone yet and didn't go out much as well, since it was all new to me and due to bad experiences in the city. So when the summer holidays were over, I was forced to socialize. I was used to being the new kid, since I was in a different school each of the 4 years of elementary school. Not because I moved around a lot, but because of the bad people in those past schools.
Most of the kids were nice, welcomed me to the country side and all. They even asked me how it was growing up in a city and all that kind of stuff. But of course, not everyone was okay with me being here. I came from the city, so some of the boys acted like I was poisonous. They would avoid me and call me "poisonous" and "disgusting" and whatnot. Sometimes they would touch me and chase each other to "poison them". Some of the other kids from my class joined and also chased each other with my "poison".
At first it made me sad and feel unwelcomed, since most of the kids would act that certain way. I had only 2 friends during that time too, so I didn't know what to do. I tried to impress the others, to show, that there is more to me than just "the kid from the city". But that never worked.
I don't know why, but at one point, it struck me.
I'm poisonous? Alright, two can play that game.
One of the boys were in the way for someone? I would walk straight to them and touch them, watch them run away screaming that they were poisoned. During recess I would purposefully chase them if they upset someone, make them regret they were here at the wrong time in the wrong place. They would always stay as far away as possible, terrified of the power they have given me.
Before I even knew it, the school year was over.
In the village I lived, the elementary school and the middle school are in one building, so most of the kids directly go into the middle school from our village. I never understood why, but the classes got mixed. The girls were still in one class but the boys in another. We got new girls and boys in our class, but most of the elementary class stayed.
The boys that bullied me? They would still avoid me, even during middle school.
So, my advice when it comes to bullying? Return the favor.