Great story, @jayna. Poignant in every passage. Belieavable characaters and a very controversial topic keeps driving our society upside down.
As a parent and teacher I never had problems identifying the bully. It has always been commonsensical to me. It is amazing that characters like Ms Worland or Mr Swank actually exist and allow bullies to get away with anything.
Mr Swank himself is a bully and represents the result of our societies' inability to tackle the problem.
The bullies move from the playgrounds to the homs, streets, job market, city halls, congress hall and even oval offices.
One thing that infuriates me is when people minimize the gravity of the practice under the "argument" that all kids are the same and that it is normal that kids act like that. "Give them time; they'll get over it"
Then we complain about a violent, absurd, and unjust world. It all starts in a playground.