It’s summer and a mother and daughter are running errands, the car ride is a comfortable silence, both of them just enjoying each other's presence. The mother breaks the silence and asks, have you done something you regret so much it still eats at you today? The silence shifts to an awkward one, the daughter swallows hard. You’re only 13, I don’t expect you to have something that big, the mom continues. The daughter stares as the sun shines through the mother's brown and red hair. She seems intrigued to find out what her daughter is hiding from her.   

No, it’s not that it’s just….. I do have one, but I apologize it just wasn’t accepted, I was too late. The daughter explains, she twists in her seat, takes a deep breath, and says let me tell you the story. 

There was this girl. Well more like a jerk. The daughter swallows hard as if the word itself hurts. 

The jerk. the daughter continues. She thought that she was the most important person in the world. Her boredom was the biggest problem for everyone in the world. She was volunteering at a summer camp where she taught debate to younger students. Along with leading a class, she attended other classes as well. Every Friday at 5:30 there was an art class that the jerk and her friend Hiranyada really enjoyed until one day it was replaced by another girl teaching simple drawings of food. The jerk could draw better than that; she found the class useless and made sure her opinion was well known.  How? By making a public comment on the old drawing classes Google Classroom explaining how horrible the new class is. Words can hurt more than a sword, something the jerk wouldn’t know until karma striked back. The girl teaching the new class cried for about 2 days, she quit teaching the class and her parents took the day off to console her. The worst part is even now the jerk doesn’t feel sorry, she just worries about how it might hurt her in the future. The thing she regrets the most is what she does when confronted by her mother she blames it on her friend Hiranyada. The jerk claimed that Hiranyada was a bad influence and caused her to bully a random girl with the protection of the internet. She ghosted Hiranyada, even knowing that Hiranyada’s biggest fear was being forgotten. The jerk refused to take responsibility, she was scared of admitting she screwed up. So she ran away from it. 

The silence is crisp, and uncomfortable as the daughter squirms in her seat. The mom breaks the silence. 

It’s good that you’re taking responsibility now, the mom says softly. The daughter now with tears forming in her eyes nods and the car remains silent.