Chapter 8
The school opened a formal investigation.
It found more than one tack.
Not physically.
Behaviorally.
Brooke had been targeting me for months.
The costume room incident, when my ribbon went missing.
The practice schedule change I was not told about.
The anonymous post calling me “charity scholarship ballerina.”
The time my music file was corrupted before semifinals.
I had explained each one away.
Accident.
Miscommunication.
Jealousy.
Not a pattern.
But Alicia said patterns are often built from things victims were taught to dismiss.
Lily confirmed most of it.
So did two other dancers.
One said Brooke told them, “Hannah needs one bad night and she’s done.”
Another said Brooke joked that I only got attention because I had a “poverty story.”
That phrase made my mother flinch.
I hated Brooke most for that.
Not the tack.
May you like
Not even the pain.
For trying to make my mother’s sacrifice sound like a marketing trick.
