Hey.
Slow down.
Take a seat.
I have something to say to you.

Dear the abandoner,
I look at you in the hallways
Everyday walking to math class.
I think about before the makeup
And heels and miniskirts.
Do you even remember my name?
Let alone the make believe games,
Harry Potter, Nancy Drew?
Does it mean anything to you?
But that’s not even the part that matters.
A summer of sexual abuse
And not a shoulder to fall back on.
You left me, abandoner.
You traded Harry Potter and Nancy Drew
For Vera Bradley and Forever 21.
I didn’t have anyone.

Dear the envious,
I see you at the lunch table,
Skinny jeans and American eagle.
Given up on the musicals we used to treasure.
The songs, the dances.
All gone.
The memories torn apart and sent back to me as razors,
Ripping apart my innocence, the last bit anyway.
Denying it won’t make it go away.
Once you hit send,
It’s sent forever.
You can never take back that hit.
Thank you for all you did for me.

Dear the pusher,
I hear you yapping to you friends.
The same ones who call you slut and whore
When you get up to go to the lunch line.
You hear threats of lockers on TV and in books,
But never in real life.
At least not till now.
I wasn’t in your way.
I didn’t do anything to you.
I don’t call you slut or whore.
The locker and my face became well acquainted.

Dear bully,
You made my life hell,
You know that?
But you know what else I have to say?
Thank you.
Thank you for making me
That much stronger.

Hey.
You can go now.