Principal Mom Killed Me to Avoid Favoritism
I'm born with severe allergies, the kind where a whiff of pollen can trigger a full-blown asthma attack.
But my mom, who is also the principal of my school, insists that I go on a field trip to the botanical garden with the rest of my class.
I plead with her, my eyes reddened, but she stays as cold and hard as ice.
"You've got all your meds, don't you? It's just a little thing. Why are you being so dramatic? I'm the principal, so I have to treat every student the same. If anything, you have even more reason to go, so people don't think I'm playing favorites!"
To show what a good relationship I have with my classmates, she publicly commands me to get into the flowerbeds and pick flowers to be given to the top student in our grade, Rachel White.
The moment I get close to the flowers, I start coughing and wheezing violently. A crushing sense of suffocation floods over me.
Mom doesn't look worried in the slightest. Instead, she bites out, "Penelope, how long are you going to keep this act going? You're doing this on purpose to cause trouble for me and embarrass me, aren't you?"
She has no idea that my throat is already swelling and closing up. Every breath I take feels like I'm swallowing broken glass.
It looks like I won't be a problem for her anymore.