SOUTH HAVEN | A 15-year-old Portage High School sophomore said she was just three rows behind the driver of her school bus when, day after day, an older boy would slide in next to her and begin grabbing her legs, crotch and breasts, and even reach into her shirt.

She said for months she didn't say a word to the driver, school officials or even her mother because she feared the 17-year-old boy would retaliate.

The girl even stayed mum when one of the three boys recently charged by prosecutors made another sexual advance toward her off the bus in September.

"I was very afraid of him," she said Saturday during an interview at the office of her attorney, Larry Rogers.

She said it was not until another of the three boys accused of terrorizing students on the bus threatened to kill her that she slipped a note to the driver. The boy who made the threat received a couple hours of detention and was immediately back on the bus complaining that she had turned him in.

While all three boys have since been locked up and are facing felony charges and a possible waiver to adult court, the girl said she still feels unsafe.

"I'm afraid if they get out, somebody will find me and beat me up," she said.

Her mother, who said she did not learn about the abuse until six days after her daughter was questioned by police last month, has since installed a home security system, has greatly curtailed her daughter's social life and is considering taking a self-defense course and even buying a gun.

"You send your kids to school thinking they're safe, and they're not," she said.

Rogers said he is preparing to file a civil lawsuit against Portage Township Schools and the bus driver on behalf of the girl and her family.

The girl claims the school was made aware of the problems on the bus when one boy received detention and another was suspended for a fight. Yet police were not called in until another girl called the sophomore's stepfather after one of the boys attempted to push her face into the exposed genitals of his friend on Feb. 5.

"I believe the bus driver was actually scared of him as well," the girl said.

Superintendent Michael Berta said Saturday that Portage schools follow a progressive disciplinary approach aimed at improving a student's behavior, unless the offense is serious enough to warrant expulsion.

"That is what I would expect we'd do," he said when asked about the action taken in response to the boy's earlier offenses.

The bus driver, Terry Burch, 67, was fired and since has been charged with felony child neglect.

When contacted Saturday for response to the girl's claims, Burch referred all questions to his attorney, Gregory Sarkisian. Calls to Sarkisian for comment were not returned.

While the young girl downplayed the impact of the abuse that reportedly went on since the start of the school year and now just wants to move on, she acknowledged her grades have slipped because she has had difficulty paying attention in school.

Her mother said the girl also repeatedly sought to avoid the bus before the abuse came to light, and now she exhibits a lot of anger toward her brother.

The girl said she is back to enjoying her bus ride and other students, including friends of the three boys in custody, seem happy the girls reported the abuse.

"A lot of people are happy about it, about them being arrested," she said.

She hopes the boys are waived to adult court and spend as much time in jail as possible.

"They're very immature for their age," she said.