Under My Skin (Bajo mi piel)

After surviving years of school bullying, Mara tries to rebuild her life through therapy, new routines, and an environment that knows nothing about her past. When Adrián reappears—the friend who abandoned her at her lowest point—her fragile balance begins to falter. Old wounds resurface, along with guilt and, perhaps, the possibility of love. Together, they must confront what happened in order to discover whether it is possible to start again without falling once more. The novel that marked a turning point in the fight against bullying in Spain.

Mara was sixteen years old when her world collapsed. This novel begins with a case of school bullying that pushed her to the brink of suicide, but it does not linger on the fall: it moves forward toward resilience, reconstruction, and the not-guaranteed possibility of trusting again. It is a harsh yet deeply hopeful story about responsibility, healing, and second chances.

The story unfolds along two interwoven timelines. In the present, Mara is trying to rebuild her life: she attends therapy, establishes new routines, and struggles with anxiety and panic attacks. Horse riding becomes her emotional refuge, and a new environment offers her the chance to start from scratch, far from the stigma that marked her at her former high school. This fragile equilibrium is shaken when Adrián reappears—her childhood best friend and the person whose absence left her completely alone during the bullying. Adrián wants to repair what he broke; Mara does not know whether she can allow herself to trust again. Their bond—tender, awkward, and shaped by guilt and fear—is not an idealized romance, but a shared process of healing between two wounded young people trying to find out whether it is possible to walk alongside each other without dragging one another down.

The past timeline reconstructs with precision how the fall occurred. Silvia, the charismatic and manipulative leader of her group, orchestrated a systematic campaign to destroy Mara after she dared to stand up to her. Forgeries, viral humiliations, a nickname that spread like wildfire, physical assaults, and teachers who chose to look the other way gradually cornered Mara until she was completely isolated. Adrián’s betrayal—unable to support her and trapped by his own fears—was the final breaking point. The most serious assault, recorded and shared, triggered a complaint, a tense trial, and an emotional deterioration that drove Mara to rock bottom.

After a failed suicide attempt and a long recovery, the novel takes a leap forward. Four years later, Mara is studying psychology, has learned to live with her scars, and has built a fragile but genuine sense of calm. From this brighter future, a new reunion with Adrián does not propose a return to the past, but rather the uncertain and honest possibility of building something different.

A story of trauma, courage, love as a process of repair, and survival. A journey toward the light, told by someone who chose to stay.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Nidia Represa is a writer, screenwriter, entrepreneur, and activist against school bullying and cyberbullying. She is the co-founder and CEO of Good Game Project, an educational initiative focused on prevention, training, and awareness around mental health, emotional well-being, and digital safety. She combines her creative work with outreach as a speaker and specialist trainer in school bullying.

Bajo mi piel is her first novel, originally published in 2015 and reissued in 2025 to delve deeper into new issues associated with bullying. The book has become a benchmark in anti-bullying literature in Spain and is widely used as an awareness and prevention tool in educational settings.

Through an intimate and honest narrative, the novel explores pain, resilience, and the recovery processes of victims, while also incorporating a love story understood as emotional support and repair. Bajo mi piel was awarded the 2025 Círculo Rojo Prize for Best Romantic Work.

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Miniseries, Feature Film, TV Movie.

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish.