Let's call her...Tabitha, because I don't personally know anyone by that name. I met Tabitha in the third grade, and she was my foil, my opposite. I am short, rather stocky, quiet and introverted but in classroom settings I am eager bordering on obsequious. Tabitha was always the tallest girl in the class, with the slender but powerful muscles of a basketball player. In class she was shy and always smiled and laughed nervously when called on to answer a question, save for (surprise!) gym class, in which she put down everyone with her athletic prowess. I danced for a while but when it came to sports I always seemed to have two left feet and little to no hand-eye coordination.
On one hand, this sounds like it could be the classic case of BFFs who are complete opposites in that Abbott and Costello opposites attract kind of way. But there was no way that we could ever be friends, as our interest were so completely divergent, and I was such a prime target for taunting. She could've easily hurt me physically but instead, as is common with females, she verbally berated me when the teacher's attention was elsewhere and I was too much of a coward to stand up for myself or tattle. And what would I be able to tattle her for? It wasn't what she said but the way she said stuff to me, the way she made me doubt myself even when I knew I was right. And that mocking tone she used when she'd ask, "Are you crying?"
It didn't take too long for me to understand why she acted this way. She was the youngest child of her family, with at least one older brother and sister, and her brother acted exactly the same way, with that pompous sneering attitude prevalent among tween boys. She wasn't that bright, nor pretty or sociable enough to charm her way through life, so instead she exploited the weak in various ways through the years. Although I understand on a very basic level why she acted out, I have to admit that I cannot entirely forgive her and let it go. In high school she seemed to have toned it down a lot but in the few instances I was in a class with her I could still see her viciousness surface--toward other people, lucky for me. I'd love to just forgive and forget, but I can still readily recall how hurt my little third grade self felt, and the face of the girl Tabitha who inflicted that hurt on me.
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