Misjudged

300 Word Story

            She wouldn’t come to class that day. Or the rest of the week, for that matter. Eyes puffy and burning, she hid he face by never looking up from the floor. Tears still threatened even after what seemed like hours of letting everything out. But she fought it all back with very little success.

            A voice called out her, a friendly greeting that would’ve been warmly welcome if it came a day or two earlier; it was too late for warmth to penetrate her. So she continued to sit in silence, waiting desperately for the counselor to return with her official excuse note. No homework, no school, no stress for one mere week. “A healing week,” the counselor gently called it, careful to think about whether or not it was appropriate to reach out to her. The woman decided�"wisely�"against it.

            She toyed with hospital tag wrapped tightly around her wrist�"or, at least, as tight as the gauze would allow. Everything sucked. This sort of complete and total embarrassment sucked. Her life sucked.

            “Hey!” A perky voice chirped, letting the door slam behind her. The teary-eyed girl finally looked up to see a girl about her age with waist length ebony hair signing in to the “Office Aide” attendance chart. She had never seen this girl in her life, and this image�"the teary-eyed, sad excuse for a girl�"would be her first impression. Fantastic. Her eyes met the floor again, praying that the other wouldn’t notice her. Well, no one usually did so she had good odds. She let out an appreciative breath when she saw the other girl sit at the round desk and start in on assignments from her other classes.

            The counselor returned, an excuse waiver in hand. No one would miss her anyway.