Three small dots appeared under my mother’s name on the screen. They disappeared, then reappeared, and then finally a single word popped up. Meredith asked, “Again?”
That was her entire initial response to my body telling her that something was wrong. Rick chimed in immediately after, asking if I was just trying to find a way to skip school. Chloe followed up by complaining that they were currently out doing things.
I stared at the screen until the glowing letters began to blur into one another. The pain stabbed me again, and it was so intense that I made a small, involuntary sound. The girl sitting at the desk next to me glanced over with a worried expression, but then she quickly looked away.
High school students are often experts at pretending not to notice when someone else is experiencing a private humiliation. I forced myself to type one more message into the chat. I told them that it was really bad and begged them to please help me.
Nobody responded to that final plea. Mr. Garrison turned away from the board and looked directly at me. He asked if I was still with the class or if I was somewhere else.