I thought it would go away...

A few years ago, there was a guy who liked me. And I mean he REALLY liked me. But I didn't like him. He was always rude to me and he constantly called me stupid, and made fun of me because of my height. Then one day he asked me out. I said no. He asked me out 6 times in one school week.

The next week, all of his friends and all of my "friends" were bugging me about the whole situation. They told me things like, "You're so mean," "He really liked you," and "You're such a bitch. Just give the kid a chance. What's wrong with you?!"

I usually replied with same answer: "I don't like him. I'm not going to commit to someone I can't stand."

He started waiting for me outside the locker room in gym. He waited for me after my classes. I told him repeatedly that i was okay to be friends with him if he wanted, but I needed space. He said okay, but he continued to follow me around, after a while he started staring at me in the classes we had together. He would lean over next to me and breathe on my neck. When I asked my teacher if I could move she said yes, so I did.

He continued to act that way for months. A few of my teachers knew about the situation, and understood my uncomfortable feelings. A few weeks later, he crawled under the lunch table to look up a few girls' skirts.

By this time, my grades were slipping, and I was having trouble concentrating in softball, and band class. Then the end of the school year came. I managed to keep up my grades, and softball ended pretty quickly. I had the whole summer to forget about him and the whole situation. So I did.

The next year it got worse. He was always trying to take pictures of me. He would show up behind me while I was talking to my friends and I would turn around to go to class and he would be mere inches from my face. By this time, I had had the last straw. I couldn't take it anymore. Once again, my grades were slipping, I was having trouble concentrating, and I was having trouble sleeping because every time I closed my eyes, I saw him. Looming behind me. Breathing down my neck. I asked my teachers for a schedule change. They needed a reason why. I explained this whole situation to them, and they agreed that something needed to be done. The next day, I was handed a new schedule. I got through the rest of the year with few issues. We hardly ever saw each other, with the exception of Band class.

This year, it's the same. Few issues, and he has realized that I need the space. He was starting to understand, until I got a boyfriend, I had other relationships last year, but they were very short, and very few in number. He is constantly interrupting my conversations, whether with friends or my boyfriend. He sometimes just watches me from down the hall when I open and close my locker.

I finally confronted him. I told him that I couldn't he it anymore. That I would not just let it continue any longer. I told him that if he couldn't leave me alone, and deal with not having me as his girlfriend, that he needed to find another way to deal with it or I would file a sexual harassment report with the police, which the school had told him the year before was likely to happen if his behavior continued.

He has left me alone since, but I still have issues being around him. I have to take different routes than my friends to all of my classes, because we constantly pass each other if I don't. I have constant reminders of that situation everyday.

It's not nearly as bad as things that have happened to my friends, but it has some of the same damage. Paranoia, concentration issues, self-esteem issues.

If anyone has been through something like this, please listen, it doesn't have to continue, tell someone. ANYONE.