The rain drizzles to a stop, and we start to walk back to the field, side by side. “So,” Danni muses as we walk. “Last year, a few girls really had it out for me. One, especially, used to bully me pretty much every day, calling me ugly, and dumb, and anything else she could think of. She’d laugh at me if I ever had to do presentations, or if it was my turn to run in gym, or if I answered a question in class. Then one day, she told the whole class that I was bullying her, and everyone turned on me, and everything I did was wrong all of a sudden. It was like everyone hated me. Everyone believed her, even though I didn’t do anything, I swear.”

It seems to me that she’s opening up to match my intimacy level. A vulnerable anecdote for a vulnerable statement. If she’s trying to make me feel less exposed, she’s succeeded. Perhaps she’s more perceptive than I gave her credit for. “What did you do?” I ask. “Did you set the story straight?”

“No one believed me when I tried. I just sort of waited it out, I think. People got bored and moved on, then they forgot.”

Suddenly, I realize there’s an extra layer to why she’s telling this story. “Thank you. It’s not the same thing, though.”

Danni looks horrified. “Oh, totally. It was a ridiculous analogy. Mine was just a little … whatever, who cares. Yours is huge. I don’t even know—I can’t even imagine. I shouldn’t have tried.”

Goodness. I’ve never flustered her this badly before, and I wasn’t even trying to tease her. “I just meant,” I say when she finishes, “your situation was different because you didn’t deserve it.”

Danni gives me a sharp sideways glance. “And you do?”

I trail my fingers along an ash tree trunk as we pass it. “Well, everything they’re saying is the truth. I should have known better. I shouldn’t have been drinking, and I shouldn’t have been doing drugs. I should have been protecting my friends. I failed on every count imaginable. They expect more from the future leader of their country. And so they should.”

“Yeah, but you’re not the queen yet.”

“I’m the crown princess.”

“I mean, yeah, I know that. But you’re also a teenager. You’re gonna screw it up sometimes, and then you’ll hopefully learn from it and figure your shit out as you go like the rest of us. Mistakes happen; you’re still a good person.”