“Why aren’t they standing up for me?” Liam thought to himself.
The school bully had invited himself into the lunch group and had started publicly picking on Liam.
Liam sat there looking to his friends to say something.
They didn’t.
The bully was building up steam whilst Liam sat there quietly taking it and Liam’s friends averted their eyes.
Liam didn’t say it but he was really disappointed with his friends, how could they let him suffer like that?
Had Liam been able to see beyond his own self pity he would’ve noticed that his friends were keeping low profiles to avoid being targeted themselves. That to stand up for Liam would mean putting themselves in the firing line and they hated confrontation as much as Liam did, it was simply easier to pretend they couldn’t see it.
The sooner Liam realises that no one is going to stand up for him, the sooner he can start acquiring the confidence to stand up for himself.
Thomas Duggan 