Tears begin to gather, but I bite down on my tongue to stop them from falling.The last time I cried, something very bad happened, and I haven’t shed a tear since.I’m certain my tears are the reason I moved to this small town, Hollow Banks, in Texas and have been miserable ever since.
So I refuse to cry ever again.
I grab my lunch box and turn to leave, but abruptly stop.Perhaps my luck is changing after all.
“Oh, golly, I’m so silly.I do know you,” Rebecca sweetly says.
Happiness swells in my belly because I knew she hadn’t forgotten me.We had upside-down cake with Mrs.Bloom’s peach iced tea and spoke about how hot that summer was.We spent over an hour together.There’s no way someone could forget that.
I turn around and smile, relieved.
But that soon turns to dread when Rebecca’s mouth twists into a cruel pout.“You’re the girl I caught in my room going through my underwear drawer.”
My mouth gapes open because that’s not true.“I was not!Your mom told me to pick a dress for the upcoming trivia night the parish was hosting to raise money for the local animal shelter.She said you’d outgrown a lot of them, and what you didn’t want, she was going to donate to charity.”
Rebecca’s blue eyes grow cold.“Last I checked, my dresses weren’t in my underwear drawer.Did you try on my bras too?”
“Did you sniff her panties?”Rachel goads while I turn a beet red.
Rebecca steps forward while I immediately take one back.I dig my fingernails into my palms, the pain calming me somewhat.It’s a habit that confirms I am different from my peers.I was stupid to think I could be anything like them.
“I doubt anything of mine would fit a flat-chested bitch like you.”
Before I have a chance to defend myself, Rebecca pours her carton of milk over my head.It soaks my hair and trickles down my face.My dress is forever sullied.I decide then and there that I hate pink.
Pupils burst into hysterical laughter, pointing their fingers at me.“LOSER!LOSER!LOSER!”they all chant.
Robin rips open her milk carton, spilling it on the floor.Before I can react, Rebecca pulls my hair and forces me down.She then rubs my face into the puddle of milk.“Lick it up like the good little dog that you are.”
I feel those familiar tears burn in my eyes.
I struggle, but Rebecca isn’t satisfied until I do as she orders.I shakily lap at the milk puddle, and only then does she let me go.
I need to leave, and I need to leave now.
I jump up too fast, lose my balance, and slip, falling onto my ass.
This simply has the school bursting into even louder laughter.
Peering up from under my brown bangs, all I see are monsters.
“She killed her mom and dad,” Rachel says, pointing her finger at me.
Rebecca snickers.Her final blow.“They probably killed themselves, embarrassed to behermom and dad.Look at her and her hand-me-down clothes.You’re white trash.You don’t belong here.You never will.”
On hands and knees, I scamper away, slipping and sliding in the spilled milk until I finally find my feet and run from the cafeteria, leaving behind the cruel amusement of the students.
I don’t stop.
I keep running until I burst through the bathroom doors, seeking refuge in one of the stalls.
I slam the door shut and lock it, resting my back against it and catching my breath.I bang my fist against the door, over and over, my heart beating wildly in my chest.
“Stupid,” I berate myself, angry that I thought I was good enough to sit with the popular girls.
This is my fault.
I brought this upon myself.
