“Emmy, you said we were going to be honest with her.”
She swallowed hard.
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can,” he said gently. “You don’t have to explain everything perfectly. Just start somewhere.”
Emily shook her head.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then help me understand.”
She looked at me, and I watched something inside her finally give way.
“The girls hate me.”
The words were so quiet that I almost didn’t hear them.
“What girls?”
“Everyone.”
She wiped her nose with the sleeve of her hoodie.
“Not everyone, Emily. Tell me what you mean.”
She laughed bitterly.
“That’s what you always say. You think there’s always someone who likes everyone. But you don’t understand what it’s like when you walk into a room and everybody suddenly stops talking.”
My chest tightened.
She continued, speaking faster now, as if she had been holding the words inside for so long that she couldn’t stop them once they began.
