"So materialistic at such a young age, her mom selling fish for her education, and she's out there glomming onto sugar daddies."
After a period of time, I became synonymous with superficiality and avarice, the object of scorn and whispers in school.
Even a maliciously Photoshopped picture of me appeared on the school forum.
But I'd never been one to concern myself with such matters. Consequently, I remained ignorant of this popularity-gone-awry.
When I showed up for gym class, I noticed my classmates looking at me with strange expressions.
The teacher allowed us to form groups, but no one wanted to be paired with me.
Even the few girls who had been friendly with me now looked at me with disdain and disgust.
Confused, I grabbed one of the girls by the arm and asked, "What's going on? Why is everyone acting like this?"
As soon as I touched her arm, she screamed and shoved me away.
"Get away from me! I don't want to catch any of your dirty diseases from a girl like you who can't keep her dignity!"
Fury flared inside me. I was about to fire back when a familiar voice cut through the tension.
"Lillian."
The voice belonged to my boyfriend, Lawson Pirelli, whom I'd been dating for a month.