𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑮𝑰𝑹𝑳 | ᵍʳᵉʸˢ ᵃⁿᵃᵗᵒᵐʸ

⁰²⁴ 𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫

The classrooms were different, but the stares were the same. Strange and curious, yet somehow haunting enough to affect my soul.

The scent of fresh printer paper and musty books, mixed with the overpowering fragrance of teenagers trying to hide behind a facade of maturity, filled my nose.

"Hey, you're the new one, right?" called a girl with long blonde hair - obviously extensions - and uncomfortably icy blue eyes. Her voice was sweet, but her gaze sparkled with a certain glee.

"From the East Coast? New York or something?"

"Yeah, that's right," I replied reluctantly, trying to resist the urge to run or hide.

"Oh, this is going to be fun." She smiled mockingly and whispered something to her friend. They both giggled.

I sat alone in the cafeteria, the noise around me forming an invisible wall.
It was both overwhelming and fascinating how all these lives intersected and then separated.

My phone buzzed as I dragged myself back to my classroom after lunch. A message from my mom.

'How's your first day going, sweetie?'

I stared at the words, wondering how much honesty I could squeeze into as few characters as possible for a short answer.

And then, as if the universe wanted to give me a crash course in local school life, I noticed the invisible lines that divided us all.

The hierarchy of popularity. It was a game where everyone knew their place, and me? I was at the bottom. The newcomer. The girl with no history.

Someone bumped into me from behind and I stumbled a little. "Watch where you're going," a boy with dark brown hair called after me. I bit my lip and kept walking.

But it wouldn't end there.
No, it was going to get much, much worse.

"Why don't you read to us, New York?" the blonde girl with the extensions teased.

They know.
Damn it, how did they know?

I felt my heart pounding in my chest.
My dyslexia had been my secret, my little burden. I had never wanted anyone to find out about it, let alone be bullied about it. Once again.

And suddenly I was five years old again, unable to even read my own name. My vision blurred, the text blurred, the words seemed to move and dance, and all I heard was mocking laughter.

"Come on, it's not that hard," the boy who sat behind me snapped, his fingers drumming on the table.

My eyes burned and I felt my cheeks flush.

Without a word, I grabbed my bag from the chair and ran toward the door. Every hallway, every footstep, every sound seemed to suffocate me as the shame and desire to disappear overwhelmed me.

"Run, run, run..." my inner voice whispered as I left the school grounds.