I froze there

for two seconds.

Then I ran out of the room, too.

I had to follow Pearl and Ainsley.

I had to apologize.

I figured they’d probably be in the bathroom.

So I ran there first.

A kindergartner was standing on a step stool,

washing her hands.

I rushed past her

and checked all of the stalls.

They were empty,

except the one farthest from the door.

I looked under the door of that stall

and saw two pairs of feet:

Pearl’s sneakers

and Ainsley’s glittery flats.

I felt a tiny bit of relief,

seeing those four feet together.

Maybe Ainsley won’t hate Pearl forever

because of me, I thought.

Then I banged on the door.

“It’s Eleanor!” I said loudly,

so they’d be sure to hear me.

“I’m so sorry!

I am so, so sorry!”

I heard a sniffle.

Then I heard someone whisper something.

It sounded like “oh away.”

Then Pearl called through the door,

“Ainsley wants you to go away.

I want you to go away.”

I felt like I’d been punched in the face.

Then I started crying.

My best friend,

Pearl,

wanted me to go away.

And it was all my fault.

“I didn’t mean to do it!” I said

in a high and shaky voice.

I squeezed my eyes shut

and tried to think

about how I could fix this.

“I’ll keep taking it back,” I said.

“I’ll tell everyone I didn’t mean it.

I’ll put up posters

saying Ainsley barely even knows Adam.”

That made Ainsley cry louder.

“I want to move back to Orlando!” she wailed.

“Eleanor, you have to go away!” Pearl yelled.

And so I turned to run away.

I saw then

that the kindergartner was still on her stool,

with water still gushing out of the faucet.

She was staring at me with huge eyes

through the mirror.

“You’re wasting water!” I told her,

in a voice that was much too mean.

Which was another bad thing I did!

Because I was upset!

She turned off the water, quick,

and I finally ran from there.

I didn’t even bother going back to class.

I went straight to the school nurse instead.

I needed her to send me home.