I remember the first time I saw Miranda. Mrs. Delgado had told us that she had moved from Spain. “Hi my name is Miranda” she said in a Spanish accent. Everyone in the classroom giggled at how funny she spoke English. Miranda’s cheeks turned crimson red and that made the students in the classroom laugh even more. Mrs. Delgado told the students to stop but this was just the beginning.
From that day on Miranda received endless insults from everybody including me. Everything she said or did received an insult. The way she dressed, looked, talked, and act was amusing to everyone. It got even worse when she started becoming the star student. It hurt all of us to think that Miranda was somehow better than us. The insults became more intense, words like b**** and w**** were constantly said to her. The girls even started pushing her in the hallway whenever they saw her. Even I started to join the game of pushing her around because that was it was for all of us a fun game.

Then came the day of the spelling bee everyone had worked hard studying endless hours. But on the day of the spelling bee it was Miranda who won. Everyone in the class was outraged. How could an outsider a nobody win the spelling bee and not one of us? So we all made up a plan to get revenge on the little immigrant.

While she walked home we surrounded her, boys and girls looked at her tauntingly. A boy pushed her against the wall and she pleaded him to let her go and that’s when we all dived in. We started punching, kicking, and hitting her with stones and sticks. The feeling of power was so exhilarating and her cries of hurt made it even better. After an hour of brutally hitting Miranda we left her alone. All I could remember was blood all over and Miranda saying why. Why do we do this to her. But nobody cared, as we walked home we laughed about how we finally taught Miranda a lesson.
***

Everyone sat in the auditorium we were all waiting for the principal to make a special announcement. “I have very depressing news to say today. Our student Miranda Rios passed away yesterday.” Everyone in the auditorium gasped. Miranda dead? It just couldn’t be. “The reason why Miranda passed away was because she committed suicide she left a note for her fellow classmates it says:
Dear classmates, I bet you are all very happy that I am dead. Since I got here I have received nothing but malicious abuse that I felt I did not deserve. I never knew exactly why you hated me so much. What did I ever do to you in order to receive such harsh treatment? Even though you guys treated me so badly I don’t feel any type of hate against you guys I understand that that’s the way people are and I can’t change the way you guys act. I hope my death will help your class bring back the happiness that was there before I came into your lives because I know that I will be happy in heaven.
Sincerely,
Miranda Rios


Suddenly everyone in the auditorium was crying. People who had insulted and hurt Miranda were now feeling a remorse that was too hard to contain. But the feeling that I had was far much worse. Suddenley a girl came in my mind. A girl that was only looking forward to having friends and living life. A girl full of happiness and cheerfulness but we had taken that away from her and had replaced to a girl full of despair, sorrow, and misery. How could I live with this? I along with other people had killed Miranda. All I could remember were her last words before she died. “Why do you do this to me?”