I stood before the large oak doors, my palms slick with sweat and my heart hammering in my chest. The hall behind those doors was filled with people—students, teachers, and administrators—all of them waiting. Waiting for me.

I could feel my cheeks flush with embarrassment as I recalled how things had spiraled to this point. It had started as a joke. Well, sort of a joke. I didn't mean for it to g...

Taking a deep breath, I raised my hand to knock, but hesitated. Why should I apologize when I wasn't at fault? Why should I grovel and beg for forgiveness for something that wasn't entirely my doing?

But the pressure was relentless. Friends had taken Haneul's side, casting me as the villain in this drama. It didn't matter that I hadn't started the fight or that Haneul's words had cut deeper than ...

After the issues leading into my sister-in-laws wedding you would think she would apologise. She turned everyone is the family against me. She told them I did not want to be in her wedding. I never said that at all. I actually said “I could not afford the dress, but found one just like in that I could afford.” She had convinced Dad that I would not let my husband, her brother be in the wedding.

...

There’s a nervous bleeding in my veins

A creepy crawler in my brain

What can I do or what can I say?

To make you believe me

My world is turning gray

Agh, my words, they all sound the same

You poke fun and laugh at me

While I’m dying deep inside

It’s like an abyss that goes deeper with each dive

Paranoia will be the death of me

I see you, stop staring please

Why say you’re sorry when you don’...

“Say sorry,” she had her arms opened wide waiting for me to come closer so she may pull me into a warm loving embrace. Would it really be loving though? Were the words she said earlier loving? No.

How could she act so calmly? Like nothing ever happened? Why isn’t she angry anymore?

“Why can’t you be like that girl from church?”

She’d say.

“Why can’t you be smart like your broth...

“You apologize right now!” The principal yelled at me.

I grimaced and turned to the girl beside me.

“I’m… sorry.”

She glared at me.

“For….?” The principal prompted.

I huffed and frowned. “For punching you…”

“And?”

“And shoving you down the stairs.”

“And?”

“And throwing a chair down after you…”

“And?”

“Frick, you told them everything I did?” I asked the girl.

She just held her glare.

“...

"Apologize."

Her voice cuts across the space between us, slicing through the words I'd just spoken. Her tone, cold and unforgiving, made me consider it, and her face simmered with suppressed anger.

I tilted my chin up, meeting her eyes. "No."

In a heartbeat, she was in front of me. "I said," she hissed, "apologize."

“No.” I said it forcefully, not backing down. “I meant what I said.”

She glar...

It won’t feel genuine to her, but I want it to. She’ll say it’s a lie, or our mum is responsible for this apology. She had no right telling me to though. It doesn’t matter anymore, none of it matters. She deserves to know I love her. I want her to feel it, see it, smell my perfume when I embace her.

You deserved my yelling, my anger, my rants. You weren’t there for me when I needed you most...

I held my hair and screamed, the dumping rain ruining my crown of allium. My throat felt like fire. Then I was on my knees, the cobblestone cutting into my scarred skin. I held my head in my hands, the sticky, warm substance coating my face, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t. Not when it was my fault. Not when caring would mean…I could still feel his warmth when I pulled him close, I could still remem...

A few weeks later...

A teacher pins a poster to a wall near his classroom. It reads:

𝓘𝓽'𝓼 𝓪𝓵𝓶𝓸𝓼𝓽 𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮! 𝓟𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓲𝓼 𝓪𝓵𝓶𝓸𝓼𝓽 𝓾𝓹𝓸𝓷 𝓾𝓼! 𝓞𝓷 𝓣𝓱𝓾𝓻𝓼𝓭𝓪𝔂, 𝓐𝓹𝓻𝓲𝓵 4𝓽𝓱, 𝓫𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓼𝓹𝓮𝓬𝓲𝓪𝓵 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓟𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓪 𝓫𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓽! 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓶𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓦𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓦𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓭, 𝓼𝓷𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓭𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓴𝓼 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓹𝓻�...