I looked up.
“This has been happening every day?”
Emily nodded.
“Sometimes it’s worse. Sometimes they just ignore me. But when they do that, it’s almost worse because I keep wondering what I did wrong.”
She stared at the gravel.
“I started thinking maybe I really was annoying. Maybe I talked too much in class. Maybe I shouldn’t answer questions. Maybe if I acted differently, they’d stop.”
She swallowed.
“So I stopped answering questions.”
I felt tears gathering behind my eyes.
“Emily…”
“And I stopped asking people if they wanted to sit with me. I just went to the library because at least nobody laughed at me there.”
She gave a small, miserable shrug.
“I thought if I could get through the year, maybe they’d get bored.”
I couldn’t stand hearing her talk about herself that way.
I stepped closer, but she moved back.
