A few classmates had mocked her hair, calling it a curtain and joking that she used it to disappear. One boy had pulled her braid whenever the teacher turned away. Another had asked whether birds lived in it.
Felix and I had met with her teacher twice. We had also spoken to Principal Susan. Each time, we heard the same careful promises: the children would be warned, the adults would pay closer attention, and the behavior would be addressed.
For a while, things appeared to improve.
Maya stopped coming home with her braid half unraveled. She no longer begged to stay home on gym days. I let myself believe the bullying had ended.
What I did not understand was that cruelty does not always disappear. Sometimes it simply finds a new target.
PART TWO — THE GIRL IN THE HOOD
The afternoon everything changed, I was in the kitchen slicing vegetables for dinner when the front door opened.
