Source: Pexels/Reddit

One of the worst parts of the average school experience is being stuck with a classmate you don’t get along with all day, or worse, one who bullies you. Kids can be cruel, and sometimes no amount of teacher intervention can help that unfortunate reality.

What would you do if you discovered a clandestine way you could get back at your bully? With almost no way of them tracing it back to you? One person recently shared a satisfying story about this on Reddit. Here’s what happened.

The Bully and her Book Report

I had a bully, “Jackie” who was a terrible person.

Beyond just a “Mean Girl”, she was one of those popular kids who would go out of her way to be deliberately cruel, and she loved to pick on me.

Catholic school, so we had the same classmates all 8 years, and she rode my bus, so there was no escaping her.

Anyone who went to Catholic school is familiar with this experience.

She was also dumb and lazy.

I was an extremely shy and quiet child, almost completely silent and I used to read A LOT, so I was reading several levels above my grade.

Our sixth grade teacher, Sister Louise, assigned us a monthly book report.

If it’s assigned by a nun, you know it’s serious.

You could either hand in a written report or do a little craft thing (like a diorama) and a short presentation.

Papers were due on a Friday, but presentations were during our English period for the week preceding the Friday due date.

A couple of months into the school year, at the beginning of the week, Jackie did her presentation of a book that was maybe a 4th grade reading level.

Seems typical based off what we know of Jackie.

BUT she had obviously never read the book or even the synopsis on the back cover, so her presentation was a story she made up based on the picture on the front cover.

That same day, it seemed like she was especially horrible to me on the bus going home, and I was angry at that and her blatant cheating.

She couldn’t even bother to read a little kid’s chapter book?

Books sound like they may have been Jackie’s bully.

I had read that book a while ago, so I remembered the story, but I also checked it out from the public library and skimmed it to refresh my memory of certain points.

I then did my very in-depth book report on that same book, pointing out minute details & making sure that it was obviously not the plot Jackie had presented.

I got a 100% on that report & Jackie got a 25% (because she had at least done the diorama) and her mother had to have a meeting with Sister Louise.

Oh this plan had layers…

And Sister Louise then decided that we had to choose a book from the 6th grade reading list or get our book pre-approved.

A lot of the other kids were mad that they couldn’t choose an easy book now because of Jackie.

Jackie was ranting on the bus that someone else did a report on the same book, but I don’t think she ever suspected me because I was the kid who always had my nose buried in more advanced books and I think they assumed I had done a report on one of those.

An extremely safe assumption.

Sister Louise knew exactly what I had done because I had to get my next book approved and she gave me a very pointed look and a smirk when she said “Yes, this seems to be a book that is more in line with your reading level.”

I’d like to think she was kind of proud that I fought back in the only way the quietest shy kid knew how.

Petty revenge in a way that’s true to yourself? That’s a story for the ages. Let’s see how the Reddit comments chimed in here.

The comments immediately commended the OP.

And could relate to the feeling of being the shy, quiet kid.

A few even commended the nun in the story.

One person called out the all too familiar hypocrisy from school officials.

But everyone felt the same disdain for Jackie.

She’s about to learn the hard way how to read between the lines.