She aped the styles of those above her, Tina Meier said. She favored clothes like those from Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch. Sometimes she applied so much mascara that she resembled a raccoon. Occasionally she would gleefully accept a soccer girl's invitation to sit at the popular table during lunch, Laura said.
These moments of success faded during gym class, when Megan had to trade her plus-size designer clothes for athletic shorts and T-shirts. "People in PE class called her fat every day," Laura said. "I'd see her in the locker room crying."
After a difficult year, Megan's parents transferred their daughter to Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Dardenne Prairie. The school had strict policies aimed at avoiding cliques. Students wear uniforms, and they are assigned lunch tables so they can socialize with everybody.
"There aren't really cliques there at all," said Rachel Garzon, 14, who befriended Megan. "You might be closer friends with some people, but you can walk up and talk to anybody and they'll be nice to you."
Megan, who had escaped the old cliques, retained her old MySpace page. "She technically wasn't old enough, because you have to be 14," Tina Meier said. "But I was the only one who knew the password. I read every message she received or sent. I thought I could keep it safe, and Megan could meet some friends."
MySpace uses algorithms and people to strike harassing or bullying images and content, the company said in a written statement, and the site offers users opportunities to report cyberbullies.
But controlling the Web can be almost impossible, experts on children say, and most adolescents are simply not mature enough to handle the virtual world and its anonymous attacks. For instance, "Adolescents take what is said online as the literal truth," said Justin Patchin, assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, who studies cyberbullying.
And, as in the Megan Meier case, the victim of cyberbullying is often isolated, yet never free from attack. "The target sees this entire cyberuniverse where everybody is against them, and no one will come to their defense," said Walter Roberts, professor of counselor education at Minnesota State University, Mankato. "The harassment is not limited to the portion of the day when the kids are in school. The targeted kids have no escape."
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