There is a girl

for whom I was afraid.

She was bad news

bad habits

bad values

bad grades.

She was the girl

your mother begged you to stay away from.

Yet she was kind.

She was not bad

although her actions may have been.

Her shirt was lifted just a little bit

and I saw the skin in the middle of her stomach

red and inflamed

surrounding the brand new fake diamonds

that now adorn her body.

We were so young

and she was the very first in our class

to pierce away from her ear.

She never spoke in class

for she was always on her phone

until one day's discussion.

That day she talked and talked

and got so angry when the other girls

were ignorant.

Our teacher said

It makes me so sad that I have to have this conversation with you all, that any of you with boyfriends really need to worry about self defense.

I was looking at the girl

and she was looking down

tucking her hair behind her ear

and tapping her foot rapidly.

Suddenly silent.

Her boyfriend was an older cool boy

who could have any girl in his class

yet he chose her

and took her to his older parties.

I may be overreacting

but I was nervous of her boyfriend.

When she acted so differently that day

nobody else seemed to notice.