Ugh, that's awful. The most violent things that happened to me were more minor (handfuls of tacks down my pants, stuff put in my hair, that sort of thing).

Agreed on the books. There was one time I accidentally turned the teasing around: I had been reading and someone dropped a book down next to me and told me I should read that instead. Title was I Am The Cheese or something like that. It seemed interesting, so I said that I should. It deflated whoever it was.

I know what you mean on the fear thing. My chest gets tight and it's so hard to breath when I meet new people.

I'm glad the books made it better.