As her school bus navigated the back roads of rural Rhine, Ga., little Vee Norwood had a knot in her stomach.

The rumor at her middle school was the Gaines kids were planning to beat her up. With large gold rings on each of her fingers, Norwood was ready to fight back. At 5-foot-nothing, she always had been an easy target for bullies, but her mother taught her to stick up for herself.

"My mom always told me, 'You should never start a fight, but you always finish it,'" Norwood ...

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