The Douglas County attorney's office describes it as bullying gone too far. Two Westside High School students are facing misdemeanor assault charges for an incident that led to a possible hate crime.

He's 17 and he's scared. “It's definitely escalating, it's definitely not getting lesser. In fact, the more we try to punish them or get them to see what they are doing is wrong, the more they try to get back at you."

"Mark" is a student at Westside. We're hiding his identity because on February 1st, his story turned from everyday high school drama into drama far more serious.

At lunch that day, he took a sip of his Gatorade and knew something wasn't right. “I could taste that there was something funny with the drink. It was a little different. At first I thought it was just warm or something 'cause it was a day old. I didn't really think anything of it.”

That "something funny" in his drink wasn't funny at all. Police say two students Mark has a history with put an over-the-counter medicine in his drink. Ipecac is used to induce vomiting. "I started feeling really warm. Then started feeling nauseous and like oh crap, here we go.”

The incident scared Mark's family enough that they got the police involved. For a month, no action was taken until last week when the same students delivered something to Mark that got everyone's attention.

"It's a picture of a now deceased actor, a good actor, it has a swastika on it and a message that says no Jews," says Mark.

Police have now cited two Westside students with assault for spiking his drink. The county attorney is reviewing the case to determine if the message also makes this a hate crime.

Mark says he doesn't think he's brave, but there is a reason he's telling his story. “I don't really know about the courageous part, but people should know what to do, how to act, how to react. Hopefully people will see this and just choose not to do this.”

Westside administrators say they cannot comment on the specific discipline they took on the students, but they did say the students were disciplined on both occasions.

They also say they do take student safety seriously.