Hanna Combs
She was beyond embarrassed. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before, and to top it all off, the boy had just made matters even worse.
Everyone was staring at her hair, whispering among themselves. The nurse’s loud scream echoed through the crowd as she called for help. The principal wasted no time calling her father, explaining that he had never dealt with anything like this. The girl stood frozen, wondering if it was really that bad.
Dreaming About It
Hanna Combs was just like any other teenage girl. She lived a happy life in Harker Heights, Texas, where everyone was acquainted. She was 15 years old, and she was excited for school to start after a long summer vacation.
People warned her that high school could be tough. She was also told that the school she would be attending had a habit of bullying freshmen. But she didn’t mind, she got on well with strangers! Surely everyone at her new school would love her, right?
Her Hair
During that summer, Hannah would often fantasize and dream about her first romantic encounter with a boy. Going to high school, she was so excited to finally experience her first kiss. But she knew what high school boys could be like.
What if they thought she was too plain, nerdy, or boring? She feared that she would be seen as someone to poke fun at. Recently, a friend told her about a girl at school who had been mercilessly teased for having lice. But Hanna was certain that she could handle whatever came her way.
Preparing Herself
She was determined to do something that would get the boys’ attention. She always loved her hair, she thought it was her best feature. It was one of the only things she liked about herself.
After watching a few Marilyn Monroe movies over the summer, she decided to get some blonde highlights. When she told the hairstylist, she thought it was a great idea. She advised Hannah on keeping her locks healthy and even told her how to handle ‘super lice’ outbreaks.
Without A Hitch
For the weeks before school started, she couldn’t stop admiring her hair in the mirror. She felt so beautiful! Her best friend, Betsy, wouldn’t stop gushing about how good she looked. Those high school boys had no idea what was coming their way!
She spent the week before school getting her outfits ready, making sure the clothes would look good with her new hair color. She was determined to make her first few days of freshman year as good as possible.
The Boy
The first two weeks passed without a hitch, but she also didn’t get any attention from the boys. All in all, there was no excitement worth writing home about.
Every day, during break time, Hannah and Betsy would walk up and down the corridors, desperate to spot a few ‘hopefuls’. Hannah would tell herself that it was just too early to expect something to happen.
He Ruined It
One day, the two girls were having a fun conversation outside the school gates, when a round-faced boy made his way toward them. He crept up behind them and completely messed up Hannah’s hair. “Ewww, gross!” he shouted and laughed in her face. “Bet you think you look great now, loser!”
But why did he do that? What on earth made him do something like that? He was so mean, and Hannah didn’t deserve that. Hannah could feel tears build up behind her eyes, trying her best to hold them back. But it just hurt too much.
The Nurse’s Office
At this point, everyone around them was pointing and staring at Hannah. She wondered if her hair really looked that bad now. She went through so much trouble to make sure her hair always looked beautiful, and now he ruined everything! She turned to Betsy and asked her to look at her hair. “You’ll have to go to the school nurse – now!” She responded.
Hannah noticed that her scalp was starting to feel strange, so she agreed to go to the nurse. Betsy told her not to touch their hair as they made their way to the nurse. What was going on?
Christian
Once Hannah made her way into the nurse’s office, she was surprised to see the nurse’s reaction. “Come here, darling. Just sit down. Everything’s going to be fine. We’ll sort it out.” The nurse’s reaction made Hannah even more nervous
The nurse demanded that Betsy fetch the principal. When he reached the office, he knew he’d have to call Hannah’s parents. The principal had never seen anything like this before.
Head Rush
When her father, Christian, arrived at the school, he was beyond furious. He watched as tears streamed down Hannah’s face, he then looked at everyone else in the room, absolutely incredulous.
Christian was an ex-soldier, and there was no way that he would stand for this. The longer he stared at his daughter, the angrier he got. He was going to make that boy pay.
Livid
Christian demanded to know what was going on, but Hannah couldn’t even stop crying long enough to speak.
She wasn’t just sad about her head but also disappointed that she had been so boy-crazy and even gone so far as to change her hairstyle. She should’ve known how immature and mean the boys her age were. She was mortified.
Going Public
Christian, who was becoming angrier by the minute, began to yell. Who was responsible for this? And why hadn’t they taken his daughter to the hospital yet?
“I’m calling 911,” Christian threatened, but he was met with a terse “take that attitude elsewhere” from the principal’s assistant. He glared back at her in disbelief. Now, it was war.
Demands
After her dad had taken Hannah to the emergency ward, he called the media. It was unbelievable to him that the school refused to reprimand the bully. He demanded that the Killeen Independent School District Police file assault charges.
But that was just the beginning.
Burning With Rage
Soon, word spread and concerned parents and neighbors demanded the school take the matter further, and after that, the boy was conspicuously absent from school. But what about Hannah?
What would become of her and how bad was her injury?
Ruined Hairdo
In urgent care at the hospital, the doctor examined Hannah’s head and discovered she had first-degree chemical burns to her scalp from the high-strength super glue the boy had poured onto her hair.
But that wasn’t all that would be found on Hannah’s scalp.
Losing Her Hair
Poor Hannah was in such pain. Her new hairdo was ruined, and she had saved up for so long for it. Now she probably had to cut it all off.
And it was all thanks to a mean teenage boy who thought bullying was funny. And that wasn’t all he did, as Hannah would find out later.
Strange Sensation
Hannah had a portion of her head shaved. She couldn’t believe she’d had to lose one of the most favorite parts of herself – her gorgeous hair. But she resolved to make the best of the situation.
It was a mindset she’d need to maintain to deal with what was waiting for her just around the corner.
“Stop!”
Weeks later, even though the burns had mostly healed, sometimes it still felt like her head was crawling with millions of little creatures.
Assuming the sensation was just her skin healing, she booked an appointment with her hairdresser to see if there was any way to salvage her once-beautiful locks.
Looking Closer
The hairdresser began combing Hannah’s hair, as Hannah hadn’t been able to do it herself for weeks. But when the hairdresser began to pull, there was that strange, crawling sensation again. Hannah yelled for her to stop.
The hairdresser froze, wondering what on earth had gotten into her. She looked closer.
Crawling With Them
“Okay… let’s take a look here,” the hairdresser said, soothingly. She knew about Hannah’s story and wanted to make sure that she wasn’t hurting her.
She patted her gently on the shoulder before pulling her fingers delicately through her hair, parting them. She took a closer look, then she screeched.
Mortified
“Oh my gosh!” The hairdresser cried. Hannah’s scalp was crawling! When Hannah learned what she’d found, she was so embarrassed.
Even worse, her mortifying moment was all caught on the hairdresser’s CCTV camera. She wouldn’t share it with anyone, would she?
Infestation
Hannah was mortified. “Nobody can know about this”, she pleaded with the hairdresser as tears began to form.
The hairdresser found lice in Hannah’s hair — the boy had not only poured an entire tube of superglue on her head, he had also leaned in close enough to transfer the lice on purpose.
No Choice
It had taken the nits a few weeks to hatch, and that explained the crawling sensation that Hannah had been feeling. The hairdresser would have to treat Hannah’s scalp with a powerful insecticide to get rid of the lice. But things got even worse from there.
To make matters worse, she had been infected with ‘super lice,’ a mutated and chemical-resistant version of common lice that can’t be killed by over-the-counter drugs like RID. And then, Hannah got some more bad news.
Fury
Due to the chemical burns, Hannah had sustained, the hairdresser wouldn’t be able to treat the infestation with the medicated shampoo until her scalp had fully healed — she didn’t want to risk irritating the skin even more.
So, Hannah would just have to live with the lice for now. Naturally, Hannah was revolted and mortified. But mostly, she wanted revenge.
Getting Justice
When her scalp had healed enough and she could finally treat the lice, she made another appointment with her hairdresser. She decided to dye her hair red.
Not only did she love the color, but she also wanted it to represent the deep anger she felt. She was still planning to make that bully pay.
Support
Hannah wasn’t going to do it for herself. She wanted to take a stand for every kid out there who had experienced bullying. Bullies shouldn’t be getting away with their actions.
Her mother and father supported her all the way. They started a Facebook community called “Justice For Hannah”, to draw attention to the scourge of bullying. For too long it had been a problem at schools, and they were going to do something about it.
Making A Difference
Hannah began sharing pictures and details of her ordeal. She also revealed that nothing had been done by the school to hold the bully accountable. Over the coming days and weeks, support poured in.
Through the Facebook page, she was also able to get enough followers to sign a petition to get the school authorities to make the bully apologize publicly for what he had done. It also called for his suspension and compensation for Hannah’s hospital bills.
He Wouldn’t Win
“I want to make a difference. I would like people to stand up for themselves. No one deserves to be bullied—it’s not fair for anyone,” Hannah said.
“I’m just a normal kid with strong beliefs. When it comes to bullying, I stand up for people a lot because of it—but it’s worth it.”
Backlash
While that horrible boy had ruined the hair that she had loved so much and had purposefully given her lice, Hannah was determined not to let it affect her confidence. He simply wasn’t going to win, she told herself.
“Bullying is wrong,” Hannah wrote on the Justice for Hannah Facebook page. “Sometimes it’s the bully that really needs the help… maybe this has made him see that he has been doing things the wrong way.”
Revelations
Although some suggested Hannah’s parents pull her out of school, her father believed the bully should have to transfer. “I’m not going to pull my daughter out and uproot her from her life because of what this kid did to her,” Christian said.
“That child that did this to her, uproot his life. He gave up the opportunity to go to Harker Heights when he committed the act.” Then, the school began to take the backlash seriously.
In front of the entire school and parent body, the boy was made to apologize to Hannah. He added that he really liked her, and only did what he did because he hadn’t known how to express his feelings for her.
“Well, if that’s how you express your feelings then I think you have some serious growing up to do,” was Hannah’s reply, and walked off the stage to loud applause.