Shameless

She was a character. Literally voted "Class Clown" in her high school yearbook; people knew her based on what they called her "contagious laugh"! It was no show, no act either; it was something innate in her, that she had no control over. She was happy! Despite her intelligence and good grades, every year she dreaded the infamous Parent/Teacher Conference, knowing that the exact same critique would be given by every teacher, and that it wasn’t one that her parents would find amusing. “She’s bright, so much potential, but disruptive/distraction in class.”

A couple weeks after her 17th birthday, her last remaining grandparent passed away; in the span of those weeks, what began as such a strange lack of emotion, was followed by an unexplainable flood of them, that no one, even she, noticed the severity of. Except, that wasn’t quite true. What once was a criticism, had now become a concern, to the unlikeliest of advocates. On what she considered a random day, her teacher called her into the office? “Are you okay?” Genuinely confused, she answered yes. “Something’s changed. You’re different!”

Looking around the room at everyone, “family/friends”, that day in the office; the day that the CLASS CLOWN became the Manic Depressive, was vivid in her mind. How long had she been ridiculed and belittled by the faces in this room. Made to feel, no, to believe that she was just lazy, pathetic, shameful! How long had it been that she’d gone without hearing that contagious laugh she was known for?

She would hear it again though. THEY would hear it again, more importantly!

Call me Shameless!