Miss Addie said if I sat there, a friend would come.

Sally came and pulled my braids. Leah stuck out her tongue. Bobby kicked my shoe. Danny called me ugly.

When recess ended, Miss Addie sat beside me and placed her hand over mine.

Miss Addie always tells the truth.

Miranda Keskes is a writer and educator whose fiction has appeared in Pigeon Review, EveryDay Fiction, Bright Flash Literary Review, The Drabble, and the anthologies, Heart/h, Hysteria, and 100 Ways to Die. She lives in Michigan with her husband and their two rambunctious boys. Learn more at KeskesInk.com. Follow her on Instagram at miranda_keskes_writer.