—I was, uh, wondering, whether I should tell you about this... but since I doubt I’ll have another chance to talk to you, I think I will. So, uh, please listen just a little bit longer....
She gave a little smile, and her cheeks and lips stiffened. I could tell she was bracing herself.
—Hey! How long are you gonna eat! said one of the boys in my group. Start cleaning up!
When I raised my head, I saw that lunch was over. Everyone looked over at me, staring into space with my spoon in my hand. Half the class erupted in laughter.
—I’m sorry, I said, rushing to start cleaning up.
In my haste, I knocked over my bowl of stew, which was still half full.
—Eww! How disgusting!
—What a klutz!
—Hurry and wipe it up!
—You make me sick!
The comments were like slaps across the face. I ran out to the hall and grabbed one of the cleaning rags near the window. Then I hurried back to the classroom and wiped the desk. As I was rinsing out the rag in the sink, I saw the other lunch-duty girls heading off with the used food containers and milk cases. I quickly wrung out the rag and hung it up to dry. Then I grabbed a crate of dirty dishes and hurried to catch up. On the way, I ran into them on their way back to the classroom. As I was passing them with my head down, one of them stuck out her foot and tried to trip me. I stumbled but didn’t fall.
—So close!
—You almost got her!
The other two girls laughed. As the first girl was pulling her foot back, she scowled and said:
—Why didn’t you fall?
—I’m sorry, I said, bowing in apology.
At that moment, our PE teacher happened to be passing by. When the girls saw him, they quickly wished me good luck and scurried off to the classroom. I didn’t want to give the teacher a chance to question me, so I dashed off to the lunch center. After I dropped off the crate of dishes, I hurried back to the classroom to help with the noon cleaning.
—Sorry to be late, I said, entering the classroom.
I grabbed one of the brooms hanging on the back wall and began sweeping the floor. When I finished, I waited until the boys finished mopping the floor and then started returning the desks that had been pushed to the back. One group was in charge of the classroom; another was in charge of the hallway. Everyone worked very hard, even though they were talking at the same time. They figured that the sooner they finished, the more time they’d have for play. Personally, I wanted the cleaning to continue for a long time, but that wasn’t meant to be. When I finished pushing all the desks back to their proper places, the nicest girl in the class picked up the trash bags and said:
—I’ll throw these away, so you wipe the desks.
I nodded and said thanks. Then I picked up a cleaning rag and got to work. Just as I finished wiping down about half the desks, Mina came over and started scolding me:
—You’re wiping the desks with that rag? Isn’t that the one you just used for the stew? That’s disgusting! Are you doing that on purpose?
At first, I didn’t know how to answer. Several girls rushed over, and one of them asked:
—What? What happened?
Mina answered in an exaggerated tone of voice:
—She used the same rag she used to wipe the stew to wipe our desks! And she did it on purpose!
—What the hell do you think you’re doing?!
—You’re harassing us, aren’t you?!
—The smell’s gonna get on the desks!
—Why don’t you wipe your face instead?!
Battered with comments, I bowed my head and stood immobile. Suddenly, the rag was snatched from my hand and pressed against my face.
—Stop it! said Mina. The rag’ll get dirty!
Everyone laughed. Another rag came flying and hit me in the side of my face. Then someone poked me in the back of the head and demanded an apology.
—I’m sorry, I whispered immediately. That was careless of me.
—We can’t hear you! someone scolded.
I tried to speak louder, but the words got caught in my throat. Struggling to breathe, I ended up not being able to say anything at all.
—You always clam up like this!
—That’s why everyone hates you! ‘Cause you won’t apologize even when you’ve done something wrong!
—We’re telling you for your own good!
—Oh, don’t expect someone like her to understand!
—That’s true. Even when we’re nice to her, she twists everything and blabs to the teacher.
About ten girls had gathered around, and the boys in the room were gawking. After somehow managing to control my breathing, I stood and prayed that the chime would ring.
—We forgive you, said the student council vice president.
—Yeah, we forgive you, said another.
—I guess she didn’t really mean any harm, said Mina.
—Huh? Didn’t you just say she did it on purpose?
The other girls laughed.
—I shouldn’t have said that, said Mina, turning to me, so I’ll give you the rest of my juice.
Then she pushed the orange juice can under my nose.
—But first, we’ll put our friendship in it, so look and see!
Someone yanked my hair from behind, forcing me to raise my head. Standing in front of me, Mina raised the can to her lips and let some saliva dribble down into it.
—Disgusting! someone yelled.
Then Mina passed the can to one of her teammates.
—I’ll put my friendship in, too, said the girl.
Just like Mina, she let her saliva dribble down into the can. A boy who had been watching yelled:
—Wow! I can’t believe you girls are doing this!
Students in the hallway came in to watch, too. When all the girls had finished, the can was passed back to Mina. She gave the can a little shake and
