{"id":1570,"date":"2021-07-28T00:51:17","date_gmt":"2021-07-27T23:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/?p=1570"},"modified":"2021-07-28T00:51:33","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T23:51:33","slug":"it-gets-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/","title":{"rendered":"It Gets Better"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"1570\" class=\"elementor elementor-1570\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-509d393 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"509d393\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-cd44556\" data-id=\"cd44556\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-442969b elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"442969b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h5 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">By Lilly Nick<\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-2887871 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"2887871\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-2ccb43e1\" data-id=\"2ccb43e1\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7138d48c elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"7138d48c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<p>I had never been \u201cThe Popular Kid\u201d at school. In fact, I was quite the opposite. Shy, reserved, introverted, and few friends. It was a couple of months after I started high school when things got really bad though. My old primary friends had all split up and gone to different secondary schools, meaning I was all alone. I found people to \u201chang out with\u201d during break times but, none that, I think, would ever actually regard me as their friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The others began to pick up on this. First, it began with a few insults and some pretty rumours. My name was Khadijah, but most people just called me \u201cidiot\u201d or \u201cmoron\u201d. In fact, some days it felt as if nobody had even known my name at all. Skip a few weeks, and things began to escalate. People would follow me around and tell me what a horrible person I was. Threats were made against my family. Some people had even made racist remarks against my headscarf. Latisha and Tyler in particular were the worst though. They`d constantly talk about me, say horrible things about me, just hoping I would overhear them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, one day, Latisha approached me and gave me my daily reminder of what a terrible excuse for a human being I was (which was nothing out of the ordinary by now). Only this time, she started getting progressively more violent. The \u201cconversation\u201d was brief and eventually, it ended up in a fight, or rather, her fighting me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To make matters worse, Tyler had recorded the entire thing and posted it all over social media. I felt ashamed. So, \u201cis there a happy ending to this story?\u201d you may ask. \u201cDid anything good come of it afterwards?\u201d. Well In a way, yes. Once the video was uploaded, I of course got many hateful and negative messages, but surprisingly, I also received many incredibly kind and supportive messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Latisha was expelled from the school and Tyler was excluded for 5 days. Tyler, along with many others who had taken part in insulting or spreading rumours about me, had given me a sincere apology for what they did. For the most part, all of the name calling had just stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For anyone who is being bullied right now &#8211; don`t give up! There is a light at the end of the tunnel! It gets better.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lilly Nick describes what it is like to be bullied at school by other pupils. Wearing a hijab, Khadijah finds herself being picked on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[25,52,65,53,59],"series":[56],"class_list":["post-1570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-short-fiction","tag-abuse","tag-bullying","tag-name-calling","tag-racism","tag-school","series-phoenix-collegiate-student-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>It Gets Better - DESIblitz Arts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lilly Nick describes what it is like to be bullied at school by other pupils. Wearing a hijab, Khadijah finds herself being picked on.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It Gets Better - DESIblitz Arts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lilly Nick describes what it is like to be bullied at school by other pupils. Wearing a hijab, Khadijah finds herself being picked on.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DESIblitz Arts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-27T23:51:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-27T23:51:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/It-Gets-Better.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Phoenix Collegiate\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Phoenix Collegiate\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Phoenix Collegiate\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#\/schema\/person\/69628855c2f66f216d8790aa6f1456c4\"},\"headline\":\"It Gets Better\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-27T23:51:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-27T23:51:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/\"},\"wordCount\":403,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/It-Gets-Better.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"abuse\",\"bullying\",\"name calling\",\"racism\",\"school\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Short Fiction\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/\",\"name\":\"It Gets Better - DESIblitz Arts\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/It-Gets-Better.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-27T23:51:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-27T23:51:33+00:00\",\"description\":\"Lilly Nick describes what it is like to be bullied at school by other pupils. Wearing a hijab, Khadijah finds herself being picked on.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/It-Gets-Better.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/It-Gets-Better.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":750,\"caption\":\"It Gets Better\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"It Gets Better\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/\",\"name\":\"DESIblitz Arts\",\"description\":\"Where Arts meet Diversity\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#organization\",\"name\":\"DESIblitz Arts\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DESIblitz-Arts-Logo-350w.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DESIblitz-Arts-Logo-350w.png\",\"width\":350,\"height\":100,\"caption\":\"DESIblitz Arts\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/desiblitz\/?originalSubdomain=uk\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#\/schema\/person\/69628855c2f66f216d8790aa6f1456c4\",\"name\":\"Phoenix Collegiate\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/phoenix-school-author.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/phoenix-school-author.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Phoenix Collegiate\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/author\/phoenixcollegiate\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"It Gets Better - DESIblitz Arts","description":"Lilly Nick describes what it is like to be bullied at school by other pupils. Wearing a hijab, Khadijah finds herself being picked on.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"It Gets Better - DESIblitz Arts","og_description":"Lilly Nick describes what it is like to be bullied at school by other pupils. Wearing a hijab, Khadijah finds herself being picked on.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/","og_site_name":"DESIblitz Arts","article_published_time":"2021-07-27T23:51:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-27T23:51:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":750,"url":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/It-Gets-Better.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Phoenix Collegiate","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Phoenix Collegiate","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/"},"author":{"name":"Phoenix Collegiate","@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#\/schema\/person\/69628855c2f66f216d8790aa6f1456c4"},"headline":"It Gets Better","datePublished":"2021-07-27T23:51:17+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-27T23:51:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/"},"wordCount":403,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/It-Gets-Better.jpg","keywords":["abuse","bullying","name calling","racism","school"],"articleSection":["Short Fiction"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/","url":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/","name":"It Gets Better - DESIblitz Arts","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/It-Gets-Better.jpg","datePublished":"2021-07-27T23:51:17+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-27T23:51:33+00:00","description":"Lilly Nick describes what it is like to be bullied at school by other pupils. Wearing a hijab, Khadijah finds herself being picked on.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/It-Gets-Better.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/It-Gets-Better.jpg","width":1000,"height":750,"caption":"It Gets Better"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/short-fiction\/it-gets-better\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"It Gets Better"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/","name":"DESIblitz Arts","description":"Where Arts meet Diversity","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#organization","name":"DESIblitz Arts","url":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DESIblitz-Arts-Logo-350w.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DESIblitz-Arts-Logo-350w.png","width":350,"height":100,"caption":"DESIblitz Arts"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/desiblitz\/?originalSubdomain=uk"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#\/schema\/person\/69628855c2f66f216d8790aa6f1456c4","name":"Phoenix Collegiate","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/phoenix-school-author.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/phoenix-school-author.jpg","caption":"Phoenix Collegiate"},"url":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/author\/phoenixcollegiate\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1570"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1845,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1570\/revisions\/1845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1570"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiblitz.com\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=1570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}