By thirteen, I’d learned that silence was safer. Melissa’s spotlight cast long shadows, and I lived in them. But when high school hit and her social circle collapsed, she turned her bitterness toward me. She accused me of stealing, cheating, lying — and my parents believed every word. My friendships shriveled under her sabotage. I was alone, but not broken.
I studied hard, plotted my escape, and earned a full scholarship to a college far away. I cried in the bathroom when the acceptance came — not sadness, just relief. I was finally free.
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