Please do not be angry with her.
She is the kindest person in our class.
Liam
I read it once.
Then I read it again because tears blurred the final lines.
Felix took the paper from me. As his eyes traveled down the page, the rage left his face little by little. His shoulders sank. The phone slipped to his side.
Maya stood between us, crying silently.
I looked at her uneven hair and finally understood.
“You cut it yourself?”
She nodded.
“At school?”
Another nod.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” I asked.
Her answer came in a whisper. “I thought you would say no.”
“We might have asked questions,” Felix said carefully. “We might have taken you to a salon so it could be done safely.”
“I wanted to do it today.”
“Why today?”
She glanced toward Liam’s note.
“Because they made him cry again.”
The words broke something open inside me.
