Principal Mom Killed Me to Avoid Favoritism

I shook all over, my voice breaking. "Mom, I really don't feel good… I can't breathe…"

The pollen had my throat in a chokehold, like a pair of invisible hands were squeezing it tight. My chest felt so heavy it was about to explode.

Mom looked impatient. "All I asked was for you to pick a flower to be given to Rachel, and you're acting like it's the end of the world. You're just jealous she's top of the class, aren't you?

"If you can't measure up to her, the least you can do is be nice to her, even if it's just on the surface. You won't even do that? You're such a disgrace!"

As she spoke, she reached out and shoved me hard, forcing me deeper into the sea of flowers. "I don't expect you to be an exemplary student, but you can't even get along with your classmates? How did I end up with such a selfish daughter?"

I stumbled and fell into the flowers. Pollen swirled up all around me, and I fumbled frantically for the allergy meds in my pocket. But the bottle was empty—I'd already finished every last pill.

I collapsed and tilted my head up to look at Mom. Tears mixed with cold sweat as they slid down my face. "Mom, can I have one more pill? I really can't take it anymore…"

By then, angry red rashes had started to spread across my skin in big patches, itching so badly they felt like they were burrowing under my flesh.

I couldn't stop myself from scratching hard. In no time, I'd raked bloody lines down my arms, burning pain tangled up with the itch and flooding my whole body.

Seeing this, Mom only got angrier. Her voice jumped an octave as she snapped, "Penelope Lakeworth, do you think the school belongs to us? In public, I'm the principal, not your mother! Stop putting on a show to fish for sympathy. No one here is going to baby you!"

She kept yelling while my breathing grew more and more labored. Foam started to leak out from the corner of my mouth, and my mind began to blur.

The classmates gathered around started laughing while pointing at me. One of them mocked, "Penelope, are you auditioning for some tragic drama or what? You're acting like you're about to die. I've gotta say it's pretty convincing!"

Everyone else howled and made exaggerated choking noises, deliberately mimicking the way I was gasping for air.

Mom, feeling humiliated, was convinced I was doing this on purpose just to embarrass her. She grabbed me and shoved me hard to the ground again. "How dare you clown around like this? You're stirring up trouble on purpose—I swear you're just asking for a good beating!"

A dense cloud of pollen rushed into my lungs, ripping through them with searing pain.

I lay on the cold ground, my body convulsing uncontrollably. The swelling in my throat was getting worse, and even the strength to struggle was draining away bit by bit.

I kept telling myself that every other time I'd felt awful, I'd just gritted my teeth and gotten through it. This time had to be the same.

But the agony hadn't gone on for long before I suddenly felt a kind of lightness I'd never known before.