She described the way the girls laughed when she entered a room and how one of them had once deliberately knocked her books to the floor before telling her to watch where she was going.
She explained that she had started arriving at the bus stop with a knot in her stomach.
Sometimes she felt sick before she even left the house.
Sometimes she cried in the bathroom at school because she couldn’t bear the thought of walking into another classroom.
As she spoke, Mrs. Reynolds took notes.
She didn’t interrupt.
She didn’t tell Emily to ignore the girls.
She didn’t ask whether Emily might have misunderstood their intentions.
When Emily finally finished, the counselor put down her pen.
“Thank you for telling me,” she said. “I know that was difficult.”
Emily shrugged nervously.
“I should have said something earlier.”
“No,” Mrs. Reynolds replied firmly. “You should not have had to endure this for as long as you did. And you are not responsible for other students choosing to treat you cruelly.”
