I didn't know he was Mindy's. I was new here. And he never told me. He always acted like it was just me and him. Like we were together. But not in front of other people. He said it was better not to cause talk, that he was private about these things. So how was I to know? To know that he was Mindy's. And that everybody knew that. Everybody but me.
But of course she found out and then someone told me she was angry and when I asked why, they said, “Like, duh-uh. He's Mindy's. Everybody knows that.” And all of a sudden all her friends, which is like all the kids that matter, they all hated me too. Now even kids who don't know me, who've hardly ever seen me, even, they call me names. No one wants to eat with me or sit next to me. Someone even put tampons in my locker. Used tampons.
So I don't want to go to school. Not anymore. My mother says, “Oh honey, you just got there. You have to give the place a chance.” But she doesn't understand. And I can't tell her. I can't tell her how bad it is. She'd just get upset and make things worse.
She thinks I'm just starting out, that it's just me being in a new school. “You've got your whole life ahead of you,” she says. But she doesn't understand. She doesn't understand that my life is already over. I just got here and already my life is done.

Copyright 2012 James B. Chevallier