“Cut it out, you guys,” Sam said, which made me squirm even more than the insults did. I didn’t want him to hear this.

But Missy just ignored him. She pursed her lips. “She’s having a bad hair year.”

Do they rehearse this stuff at home?

Then Missy got a really smug little smile on her face. It was a smile I did not like at all. “Not only is her hair ugly,” she said dramatically, “it’s just really limp.”

The other Princesses cracked up while I fought back tears. My face burned, and my blood boiled like acid through my whole body. I felt like I was going to dissolve.

“Shut up!” Sam shouted.

Missy stared at him. I stared at him. I think everyone was staring at him.

“You think you’re so great, Missy,” Sam went on. “But everyone just hates your guts!”

Well, it wasn’t quite like that. It was more like this:

Missy tossed her hair and said, “Oh, did you overhear that, Sam?” she asked. “It must be because your ears are so big.”

Sam shook his head at her, like she was an annoying piece of toilet paper that kept getting stuck to his shoe, no matter what he did. Then he turned to me. “Are you okay?” he asked gently.

I tried to talk. I really tried. I opened my mouth. I licked my lips. But nothing would come out. Somehow, Sam being nice to me made the Princesses’ meanness worse, and I couldn’t take it. I just couldn’t.

And so I ran.

I Wasn’t Crying About My Hair

I didn’t care about my green hair. Well, okay, I didn’t care about it much.

It’s the other stuff I couldn’t stand.

You’re confused—I can tell. Look, there might be one or two things I’ve left out of this book so far. I guess I’ve never mentioned that one of my legs is shorter than the other. I wear a special shoe, which helps, but I still limp a little.

Get it?

Pretty hilarious, right?

And “clip-clop”? That’s the way the Princesses made fun of the sound my feet make when I walk. I’m a little uneven, I guess.

I actually got the joke the first time they said it. But I guess I didn’t feel like explaining it. You understand, don’t you? It’s not like I’m a liar.

(What? Rafe never mentioned my shoe either? Well, that’s… interesting.)

Nobody at my old school even noticed my limp. Well, if they noticed, at least they never really cared. I mean, sometimes, of course, it came up. Like, I always got picked last when we had relay races.

But that didn’t happen all that often. All in all, I really never thought about it much. Everyone was just used to me, and they accepted me.