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She turned on her heel, but not before we all saw the tears forming in her eyes. The people next to me---the ones I called my friends---they laughed, but I didn’t join in. I couldn’t help but see the girl’s hazel eyes fill with tears, her long eyelashes fluttering to keep them contained. Her freckles had disappeared when her face squished up, and her bag slapped her leg as she ran down the hallway and disappeared around the corner. I sympathized with her; the things my friends had said were nasty.

“Did you see her face?” A blonde with bright blue eyes named Rebecca imitated the poor girl, scrunching her face up and acting flustered. “It was priceless.”

“Yeah, I know!” Another said. I recognized her as Liz, Becca’s best friend. “She was like, ‘don’t call me that!’” I rolled my eyes, keeping my mouth shut.

“Guys, seriously, you need to stop,” I said. I was surprised I said something at all; normally I kept quiet, not participating in the bullying but not helping in any way.

“Since when did you help them, Cassie?” Becca said, turning on me. She put her hand on her hip, and stared at me with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s just really mean,” I mumbled, refusing to meet Becca’s glare.

“They deserve it,” Becca huffed, turning away from me.

Suddenly I had a flashback. I escaped from that hallway, from Becca and Liz, and found myself in a different hallway. Tons of little kids ran past me, but no one seemed to notice me. I looked around, recognizing it as the elementary hallway. A small group of kids in particular caught my attention. I stepped closer, watching as a young blonde was crying in the corner. A group of three surrounding kids---two girls and a boy---laughed and pointed at her. The blonde was Becca. I looked around, wanting to alert someone but realizing that no one could see me. Then, a brunette girl with green eyes and dimples pushed past the three kids bullying Becca and wrapped her arms around Becca. I recognized the little girl as me.

“It’s okay,” young-me said to Becca. “Those kids are mean. You aren’t like that.” The flashback ended, I snapped back to reality. I saw Becca plotting with Liz, carefully choosing her next victim.

“Becca,” I said, my voice strong and not weak like it was before. Becca turned, waiting for me to continue. “Becca, just because you were bullied doesn’t mean you need to bully others. You need to stop.”

“Who says?” She sneered. “They ruined my life. Now I’m ruining others’.”

“It’s wrong.” I said. I turned, not waiting for a response from Becca, and jogged down the hallway. The girl was sitting in the corner. She didn’t appear to be crying, but as I got closer I saw the tears. I knelt down beside her.

“It’s okay.” I said. “You aren’t like that.” I paused. “Hi, I’m Cassie.”