Attachment

After graduation, he hugged me, just to get to her. Whatever. I just wanted to hug whoever he was attached to.

Senior year was ending, and everyone was crying about leaving. I didn't get it. Standing in the junior hallway, I watched the spectacle with detached amusement. Graduation. I couldn’t wait to get out of this hellhole. Why would anyone be sad to leave?

The warning bell rang. I went back to my seat. A few girls in the back row glanced at me and snickered. They were always like that, whispering about me, pulling other girls away whenever they tried to befriend me. It hadn't always been this way. I’d been invisible, until this semester, when I got assigned to sit next to Ethan Bell, the class genius. He and Brittany Ashton, the head cheerleader, were everyone's favorite couple. Now, I was the "skank" trying to steal their bestie's man.

"Anyone who didn't turn in their weekly essay, stand up!" Mrs. Davis slammed the stack of papers onto her desk. "Did summer break fry your brains?"

The room went silent. Brittany, the class rep for English, glanced at Mrs. Davis, grabbed her notebook, and walked to the front. She started reading the names. A couple of guys, the usual suspects, hadn't turned theirs in. Then, she said my name: "Violet Hayes."

Mrs. Davis glared at me, her face a mask of disappointment. Impossible. I'd turned it in. I looked at the group leader. She avoided my eyes.

"Mrs. Davis, I turned it in." I stood.

Mrs. Davis raised an eyebrow. Brittany, with a look of pure innocence, said, "Mrs. Davis, she really didn't."

Mrs. Davis frowned. "Lying is pointless, Violet. Don't waste everyone's time."

"I'm not lying."

"Fine. Come up here." She tapped the desk. "All the essays are here. Find yours."

Under the scrutiny of the entire class, I walked to the front. I searched through the pile. Over forty essays, but mine was missing.

"Find it?" Mrs. Davis's voice dripped with sarcasm. The whispers started.

"I really turned it in." I was desperate. I looked at Brittany. She stared back blankly, clutching her notebook, her chin held high.

"You're the only girl in the class who didn't turn in her work. Aren't you embarrassed?" Mrs. Davis gestured to the boys standing at the back. "At least they're honest. What about you? Can't you even come up with a believable lie?"

"I turned it in."

"Still lying? Too proud to admit you forgot? " She threw the stack of essays in my face. "Go stand outside. Let the whole school see where your essay went!"

The silence in the classroom was unnerving. The quieter it got, the more I felt like I was being judged. By everyone. Including Ethan. He watched me with an indifferent expression, then looked away when our eyes met.

Ethan and I had been neighbors since we were kids. We held hands on our way to kindergarten. But high school changed things. He was popular, good-looking, smart. I was just… me. The quiet, awkward girl on the fringes. He pretended not to know me.

I stood outside for four periods. Mrs....