Jill’s first day of high school was a hopeful one. After two and a half years of torment by the hands of three girls in middle school, Jill was finally free of the daily feeling of dread she had been experiencing. The three girls were her friends when she was in the sixth grade, but the relationship turned sour when Jill was selected to be on the dance team, and the alpha-member of the three was not. Everything changed for Jill on that day. The exclusion during recess and harsh looks didn’t end at school. Jill was subjected to ridicule on social media. Her evenings and weekends were filled with anxiety. She would lay in bed at night unable to sleep wondering what were they saying about her now on Instagram.

Jill felt like all that was behind her now.  She turned the corner in the hallway to her first class, and there they were. The three girls that had been the source of her torment were standing in the middle of the hall as if they were waiting for her. They burst into laughter when they saw her. Jill could feel her insides melt. There it was, the old feeling of despair had returned. The tightness in her chest threatened to choke her. She pushed past them and winced when she heard “bi**h…sl*t” uttered under their breaths.

I found Jill in the counselor’s office, sobbing uncontrollably. All she could say was, “I wish I were dead, I don’t want to be here,” over and over again. Sadly, Jill’s story is not unique.

In a recent study from Rutgers University, girls are more often bullied than boys and are more likely to consider, plan, or attempt suicide.

You may be asking, aren’t boys bullied? How is this different? Yes, boys are bullied. Bullying among boys is often physical. Schools are cracking down on physical bullying which people can see — making them more preventable by school officials.

Among girls, bullying is often the kind that’s not visible. It’ ...