Bullies mocked me for joining their game club. They didn’t know my dad designed it.

Reporting the Incident

The silence stretched so thick you could cut it with a knife. Then the door banged open and Kurt Pearson walked in carrying his coffee mug.

He stopped dead when he saw dad standing there with the metal briefcase and me by the door. Grayson’s hand was still frozen mid-signature.

“What’s going on here?” Kirk asked, looking from dad to the terrified kids to me. “This can’t be a club activity without my approval.”

Dad closed the briefcase with a snap that made everyone jump. “Just showing the kids something.” He said calmly.

Kirk set his mug down and looked around the room more carefully, noticing the tension and fear on everyone’s faces. “Everyone sit down right now,” He said in his teacher voice that meant business.

While the kids scrambled to their seats, Dad bent down and started picking up the torn pages of my notebook scattered across the floor. I walked across the room to grab my inhaler from where it had rolled under a desk, my ribs aching with every movement.

Kirk watched me move stiffly and his eyes narrowed. “What happened to you?” He asked, pointing at how I was holding my side. “You need to report this to the office immediately.”

Grayson jumped up from his seat. “It was just jokes, Mr. Pearson.” “We were just protecting the club from posers who don’t really know the game.”

Dad stood up, holding the torn pages, and looked at Kirk. “This needs to go through proper school channels, not threats about game bans.”

My chest started getting tight from all the stress, and I fumbled with my inhaler, taking two quick puffs while everyone watched. Kirk’s face got serious when he saw me struggling to breathe.

“I’m calling the nurse right now,” He said, picking up the classroom phone.

While Kirk dialed, Dad pulled out his phone and started taking pictures of the projector screen. It still showed the group chat with all the messages about me.

He was careful to zoom in on just the text, not catching any of the kids’ faces in the photos. “How do I submit this evidence to the administration?” Dad asked Kirk when he hung up the phone.

Kirk looked at the screen and his face went pale when he read the messages calling me names and threatening me. “We need an emergency meeting with administration,” Kirk said, dialing the front office.

“Yes, this is Kirk Pearson; I need to schedule an urgent meeting for tomorrow morning about a serious bullying incident.” He said.

After he hung up, he turned to us. “Let’s go before this becomes more of a scene.”

Dad picked up my torn notebook and the briefcase while I grabbed my backpack. We left the lab with all the kids still sitting there in shocked silence.

Professional Consequences

At home that night, Dad made us both hot chocolate and we sat at the kitchen table. “I’m worried everyone’s going to see me as the kid who needed his dad to fight his battles.” I said, staring at my mug.

Dad rubbed his face with both hands. “I shouldn’t have done that stunt with the game; it was emotional and unprofessional.” “We need to handle this the right way now.”

His phone rang and he looked at the caller ID with a frown. “It’s Leroy Holland from HR,” He said before answering.

I could hear Leroyy’s voice through the phone telling Dad he couldn’t threaten IP bans or bring unreleased builds to schools without permission. “There could be disciplinary action if you don’t follow company policy from here on.” Leroy said loud enough for me to hear.

Dad apologized and promised to follow proper procedures. Then he hung up and looked at me.

“What do you actually want from all this?” He asked. “Do you want to feel safe at the school, get your lunch money back, or be able to join the club?”

He leaned forward. “I want you to decide your own goals here, not just react to my anger about what happened.”

Collecting the Evidence

I thought about it while sipping my hot chocolate, then went to my room and started organizing all the evidence on my phone. I took screenshots of the group chat that Greg had posted on his Instagram story earlier that day, showing all the messages about me.

I photographed each torn page of my notebook, making sure the timestamps were visible. I pulled up my game history on the Eternal Kingdoms website, showing I’d been playing since I was 8 years old with thousands of hours logged.

I created a folder on my phone called “evidence” and another backup on my laptop, making sure everything was organized by date and type of incident. What’s making Grayson so defensive about his club?

Is he really that worried about fakers, or is something else going on here? The way he immediately shut down a new member when the poster says everyone’s welcome makes me wonder if there’s more to his gatekeeping than just protecting the game’s reputation.

My phone buzzed around 11 that night with a message from an unknown number. It was Ignasio from the club saying he felt bad about not speaking up when they were pushing me around.

He typed out this long message about how he saw them take my lunch money and shove me into the desk, but was too scared to say anything. He wasn’t sure if he could officially report it but wanted me to know he felt guilty.

I saved the message to my evidence folder and went to bed feeling slightly less alone. The next morning at school was weird.

Kids I’d never talked to before were staring at me in the hallways. Some sophomore I didn’t know called me a snitch when I walked past his locker.

Another group was saying I was going to get the whole school banned from playing Eternal Kingdoms. By second period, the story had changed into me threatening to sue everyone or my dad buying the school or something equally stupid.