Do you remember that girl?

 ~ A mirrored pool

Do you remember that girl?
     Who trailed after you
     Longing to be included,
     But was laughed at,
     And told she was too young
     And too dumb
     And a tattletale
     When she had never said a thing?

Do you remember that girl?
     She used to wear 2 plaits to school
     and you would grab them and say "giddy up, horsey".

Do you remember, 
     she got put into B group for writing
     and would disappear into the bathroom
     every time it was writing period.

Do you remember her?
     She got chicken pox that one year
     and when she returned to school,
      there was a new girl sitting
     in her place in class
     and all her friends had abandoned her.

Do you remember,
     she was the only one who had to wear glasses
     and so everyone called her "4 eyes"?

Do you remember that girl
     Who said "Mommy, am i as pretty as [family member]?"
     Who was told "Looks aren't everything"
     Who was told to be smart instead?

Do you remember her,
     she was the last one in class
     to be allowed to use a pen.
To this day,
     she is more comfortable with a pencil.

Do you remember that girl
     who thought she liked a boy
     and that boy started to pretend she didn't exist?
Oh and that year that everyone decided they hated her,
Do you remember that?
Do you remember her book,
     "Comfort Herself"
     that was her only company
     that you took from her
     that you teased her about?

Do you remember
     how you locked her in the toilets
     and wouldn't let her out
     until the bell rang to go back to class?

Do you remember
     how you wouldn't leave her alone
     until she got so upset
     she threw the apple she was eating right in your eye?

Do you remember
     that time you punched her in the chest
     so hard
    it hurt to breathe for a week?
Or when you hit her in the face with a volleyball
     and her glasses almost broke?

When you wrote on her commemorative photo,
     "Don't get any more pimples".

Good times,  right? Those kids just do the darndest things!

And the last year you knew her, do you remember
     how she had no friends?
     And how another boy she liked decided she didn't exist?
     And when she refused to go to school after exams were done
     until the teachers phoned
     to insist
     she come for the awards?
     She scooped up most of the awards in spite of you?

Do you remember
     that new girl in high school?
     She didn't know anyone
     and no one wanted to be her friend
     because she had been
     assigned
     the least liked person as her mentor.

Do you remember
     how she scraped together
     a group of friends
     over the period of 3 years?

Do you remember,
     How she lived in fear of losing them
     when she almost got assigned
     to the second class for physics?
     The anxiety that day was excruciating.

Do you remember the boy she fell in love with?
     How she would have done anything for a kind word or smile
     How she trusted him with her feelings
     How he betrayed that trust
     How he caused her to be ostracized
     And laughed at
     And called "stalker"

Do you remember the second boy she fell in love with?
     How he called her fat?
     But she married him anyway.
     How he betrayed her trust
     But she forgave him anyway.

None of you remember
     "We were young"
     you will say.
     "Just kids"
     "Who remembers such things?"
But she remembers.
     That girl.
     She cannot forget.