When they told me, it were like before Christmas. I didn’t eat any chocolate at all during Christmas. I stopped myself and that. I had the odd, the odd few crisps and the odd few sweets. But it’s like you don’t have that much and you cut down on a lot and you just stop yourself from eating. Because you know if I, well if you see it, if you’ve been told it, and it’s like a wake-up call. And you just wake yourself up and you’re just like, Well, I don’t want to do that and, and I really don’t want to have medication all, for the rest of your life. And you just stop yourself from there and then. It doesn’t matter if you get hungry and that, because you just stop yourself and that because you don’t want to become diabetic and you don’t want to be on medication for your, rest of your life. And you, it, you are, I do cut down. It’s like I always used to drink fizzy pops and that, but I stopped from drinking fizzy pop and like orange juice. I have, I do, the only fizzy pop I drink is Diet Coke. And, it’s like, I try and avoid sugars and that, but sometimes on the odd occasion I’ll probably have something which I know I shouldn’t do. But some, well, like I said, it is hard. But cracking down on it, it’s just, you just, it’s like a wake-up call and you know you shouldn’t be doing it and it’s hard to, it’s hard to give up. But you don’t want to be on medication and you don’t want to like do this. So you just continually do it. So you just try and stop yourself and help yourself.

It was like people like me, but they didn’t bully you or force you to do it. They asked you nicely and if you didn’t want to do it you could just sit out. But it, it, like everyone wanted to be your friend and everyone wanted to get along with each other. And no, nothing horrible was said to you. And they were just like being polite and being nice. And we learnt a load of stuff about fruits that we’ve never heard of, veg that we’ve never heard of, and we just listened to it and did exercises and teamwork. And we just made a load of friends. And it were fun.

And you said that, you know, they didn’t used to tell you what to do and if you wanted to sit out, you, you could. Was that something that you, was important for you?

Yes, because it makes you feel like you’re not forced to do it. Like sport at school and that, teachers yell at you to do it. But you feel uncomfortable to do it for whos watching and that. And eve-, so it’s best to sit out with it. But with this and that, you could sit out if you don’t feel comfortable with it. And it helps you because you don’t feel like you’re forced in it. You don’t think they’re making you do it. And the more you did it and that, the more, there were like stars that you get prizes for, like water bottles, T-shirts. And there was [sport team] tickets. And it were fun. And it was like, it was done during the afternoon, but every Saturday and that, and the teacher, teachers used to give up their time just to take me.

My mum really does support me. And she really, I think, it’s like for my drama and that, she goes to every play that I’ve done and she’s like, Well done [name]. And she’s like, You’ve done fantastic. You were the best person there. And the more she says it, the more, the more best you feel and that. And it really does support you when someone’s sort of saying that you’ve done well and, and that and saying that they’re proud of you.

Yeah. And I mean you said before that you think confidence is the most important thing. Why do you think it’s so important?

Because it’s all does for your self-esteem. It’s how you feel, what you feel like, what you can do. It, it just adds up to everything. It’s like peer pressure and stuff, it, it’s just like you’re confident and that. If you, it’s like if you’re confident on how you feel and how you look, you’ll be a lot more comfortable with everything, the way, self-esteem and that. But it’s just, you’re more comfortable with who you are.

Right OK. And it makes it easier to deal with like bullies and, and things like that?

Yes, it makes it a lot more easier.

And I moved to a new school because my school were joining up, and it was like meeting new people. But the bullying still came on. And the more you got bullied, the more upsetting you’ve done and the more depressed. And you find that eating food and that really does comfort you. And it’s like when you’re bored and nothing to do in your house, you just go to your refrigerator and just pick up snacks and eat them. I’ve been told that I eat out of boredom and eat out of comfort. And I knew I should lose weight and that, but sometimes it gets harder when people are calling you names. And it really got to me when I were told that I’m borderline diabetic. And that there might be a chance that I get heart disease or illnesses or die young of a heart attack. And it really does scare you. But sometimes eating food is like, like if you’re getting, like if you’re just getting cuddled and getting loved. And it’s just something that you can, something that you can just do straight away. But I find it easy if I find an interest in something. Such as I like drama, and since I started drama and that I just enjoy myself and I switch off and I feel like a new person. And its best if you have something like you really like and you’re really interested in.

I started getting bullied when I were in high school, when I first started. I used to get called all names and I had boys slapping my backside and laughing at me and calling me ‘Sexy’ and ‘Fat. And I’ve had things thrown at me. And since high school it’s just carried on. My team leader helped me a lot through a lot of stuff. And I’ve had to join different programmes that really helped me and gained my confidence a lot. And since then the more confident you are the more high self-esteem you get. And well, you just try and find an interest in something.

And it’s best if you’re to ignore bullies and that. Because really it’s what you, whatever I want to do, I just ignore the bullies, and whatever I want to do, well, I just do it, just concentrate on something, just blank people out. But sometimes when you get stuff thrown at you it’s best to go to the teacher, because the teacher always sorts it out. But if they don’t, then you could always go to team leaders and that and write statements of what happened and how it’s done. Because like when I were in Year 8 I’ve had, I had two girls battering me, fighting with me and that. Because I told them to shut up about calling me names and I were… it just really, really annoyed me.