Loribelle Spirovski

And I was expecting to be bullied.

It's so strange.

I was like, okay, prepare yourself.

I'd never been bullied before.

I don't know where I even got the idea from.

I'm pretty sure I saw it on some like Saved by the Bell episode.

I was like, this is what's going to happen.

There are a bunch of white kids.

They're going to bully you.

And...

It really wasn't that at all.

It was pretty multicultural.

I was the only Filipino there, but it was sort of like just a mix of everyone.

And I think I just became a little nerd.

I just was like, I was always just there for the teacher.

I am such a teacher's pet and I love learning and I love being a model student because I guess they were like my surrogate mum and I wanted to make life easier for them.

I think strangely, one of the things that helped was that my mum got pregnant pretty much immediately.

And...

I don't know what it is, but I tethered my adjustment period, let's say, to my mum giving birth.

The larger and larger her stomach got, sort of like biding my time, that by the time this whatever, I guess a baby is going to come out, however that works...