Keep in mind that we as the viewers are aware of Angela’s bullying of El, but the police are not. From their standpoint, a girl has been attacked with a skate for no reason and has a cut on her face. That’s potentially a case of assault and is cause for arrest. Also, even though Angela was treating El horribly, I don’t think that was an appropriate response. If Angela attacked her physically then I’d say fair enough, but one of the things that El needs to work on is not getting so aggravated by what people say. It was understandable for her to be angry at Angela, as I have been bullied before and I know what it feels like to have people saying horrible stuff about you. But, my parents always taught me that the best way to combat bullying is to confide in the people you care about, ignore the bullies (because eventually they’ll realize you’re not giving them any attention and move on), and most importantly, never EVER get violent unless it is in self-defense. I wish El took this advice and didn’t lie to people close to her like Will and Mike. I feel that if she had told them earlier, then she would’ve gotten proper advice from people who have been through bullying before and know what to do to fight it. Hitting Angela was just unnecessarily violent and got her in trouble.
