Breanna East has one of those stories. She's a freshman at Christiansburg High School, who spent all of middle school being bullied.
When NEWS7 first talked to her last month, she was excited for a fresh start, even going so far as starting a school-wide club to help prevent bullying.
But now, just a month later, her optimistic, excited attitude is no where to be found.
"She hit me three times, and I hit the ground and she kicked me," remembers Breanna East of the most recent bullying attack.
Her bruises have mostly healed, but the wounds are far from gone.
"I was like, I can't believe this is happening, again," she said.
After dealing with bullying throughout middle school, freshman Breanna East had hoped it would end when she got to high school.
"I depended on these people in that building to help me," Breanna said as she pointed disappointingly to Christiansburg High School.
But just last week, she says she was attacked again.
"I come up here and took her straight to the emergency room," said her mother Tina Rosenbaum.
Breanna had a mild concussion and some bruises, but what was really hurt was Breanna's faith that she could make a difference and stop bullying.
"I have no hope that things will get better now," Breanna said. "I don't have any hope at all that things are gong to change, because if things haven't changed by now, it's not going to."
Last month, Breanna started STAND at Christianburg High School. It's an anti-bullying club run by students. But now, after this most recent attack, she isn't sure if it's worth it.
"I can't ever give anyone advice, ever, because I can't even help myself," said Breanna.
Her mom, Tina Rosenbaum, says sending Breanna to school every day is terrifying.
"Every time I see a Montgomery county number come up on my phone, I have to take a deep breath," said Rosenbaum. "What is it this time?"
Rosenbaum says she's followed every procedure on the books in Montgomery County schools to stop the bullying against her daughter but nothing seems to be working.
"I don't know what the answer is to this problem, but it is a major problem," she said. "The school system is not stepping up to the plate to take care of our children. We, as parents, need to rally together, be more involved in our children's lives and know what’s going on, because Breanna is not the only child in this county, or the surrounding counties, going through this."
Montgomery County school officials didn't want to talk about this incident or about what they are doing to prevent bullying in schools.
The student code of conduct defines bullying and leaves it up to the individual principal to decide on the appropriate punishment.
As for Breanna, she's taking charges to the police. Her family is hoping this will make the schools see that what they are doing to stop bullying isn't working. She hopes changes will be made in school policy to really address the issue of bullying.
