If you want to save face, keep a casual, light tone. “Seth is being so annoying lately. Every time I see him, he’s like ‘hey, freak!’ and all this stuff. Can you just ignore him with me so he knows how stupid he’s being?” “He keeps threatening to beat me up, which I don’t really believe at all. But just in case, can you be my bodyguard for this week? I promise it’ll be worth it to watch him get all frustrated.” Be specific about what they can do to help. “You’ve seen how crazy she’s been lately, right? I’m gonna ask her to stop if she does it again, will you just stand with me and back me up?” “For some reason I just freeze up whenever he says anything mean to me. It’s really frustrating. Could you just like tell him to go away or something next time?” Don’t be afraid to be honest if the bullying is getting serious. “It wasn’t a big deal at first, but now she’s just calling me names and laughing at me all the time. You’ve noticed that too, right? Could you just stick with me at lunch so she leaves me alone?” “All week he’s been saying how he’s gonna beat me up, and at first I didn’t take it seriously, but now I’m actually kind of freaked out. I don’t think he could really do anything, but I still don’t want to get beat up, you know? Could you just hang out with me after school tomorrow so he doesn’t try to start anything?” Ask them if they have any ideas to make the bullying stop. “I’ve been thinking about telling a teacher, but I don’t want her to call me a snitch. I don’t know what to do. What do you think?” “I’ve tried ignoring him and laughing and all that, but it honestly hasn’t done anything. I’m out of ideas at this point. What do you think I should do?”