I was nine years old when someone at school saw my scars for the first time. Alexandra Hughes had dared me to jump from the first rung to the last on the monkey bars. She flipped her golden hair and told me, Piper, I know you can’t do it. I was a quiet fourth grader and I told her Yes I can. I’d never done the monkey bars before. I swung my legs to build momentum, and then let go, keeping my eyes on the last rung. I landed with a thud on the woodchips.
“Woah! What’s that?” Alexandra asked, pointing. Her wrist was covered with Silly Bandz. I’d given her one earlier when she’d promised me her Oreos at lunchtime. “Did you get that just now?” I looked down at the long puckered line next to my belly button and the shorter one just above it.  I pulled my sweatshirt down quickly. Clearly, she didn’t know how scars worked. The lunch aid blew her whistle, signaling the end of recess. I ran inside. We had Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science left.
During free-reading time, everyone had a theory for how I’d gotten my scars. I was reading The Doll People. I pretended that if I talked to anyone during those twenty minutes, I would go into Permanent Doll State like the dolls in the book. Everyone had their own books out, but they weren’t actually reading. They were whispering in their table groups. They thought I couldn’t hear them, but they were really bad at whispering. Alexandra was proud that she had been the first one to see my scars. She said I’d shown them to her because I trusted her. Jason Hankin told everyone that I’d told him on the bus that I’d been attacked by a lion. Courtney Young said he was lying. She knew he’d never spoken to me on the bus. Mrs. Hutchinson reminded the class that free reading was supposed to be silent time. Rachel Masters said she’d heard I’d run away from an orphanage and cut myself climbing over a chainlink fence. Lilly Marks said she knew my parents had hurt me and why do you think she walks funny? Molly Jordan said as Piper’s best friend I know she donated a kidney to her dad when she was eight. Her twin, Kiley Jordan, said there’s no way you’re Piper’s best friend you don’t talk to her you hate her. Molly said I do not. Then Mrs. Hutchinson said get back to your work right now, everyone.
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The next day, I had my extra gym class with Mr. Durie and Bailey Knipe, who was a third grader. She walked funny, too. She didn’t talk much, but she went to speech therapy. They were working on it. We got out of class for thirty minutes to practice the games that we’d play in regular gym class, when everyone else was there, everyone who walked normally. Some days we played volleyball, or when it was nice out, we walked around outside. When it was time for the Presidential Physical Fitness Test, we practiced the pacer test. I was up to eight laps, which Mr. Durie said was good for me. We also practiced pull-ups, but I could only do two of those. Sometimes, we did wall-sits, but I hated those and complained a lot. Mr. Durie said they would help Bailey and me, but I didn’t understand how anything that hurt that much could help. Today, we were playing basketball, which really meant just tossing the ball between us and trying to get it in the net. No one ever played defense. Mr. Durie said it was because we were cool enough that we didn’t need a defense.
Mr. Durie threw the basketball to me. “Was I attacked by a lion?” I asked him.
He looked at me. “Not to my knowledge.”
“Jason Hankin said I was attacked by a lion and that’s how I got my scars.”
“Piper, you know how you got your scars,” he said. I missed the net and threw it to Bailey.
“I know my mom and dad said I needed surgery when I was born ‘cause I was born early, but I don’t remember the surgery.” Bailey got it into the net, and Mr. Durie did, too. “What if they lied and I was actually attacked by a lion?”
“Let me ask you this,” he began. It was my turn to throw the basketball again. I moved closer to the net. “Do you remember the first time you walked?”
I looked down at my feet. My toes pointed in towards each other. I had orthotics in my neon blue sneakers. My physical therapist Carol said it would “improve my alignment.” Mom explained what that meant. She said that a lot of other people didn’t walk with their toes pointed in. I looked up at Mr. Durie and shook my head no, then tossed the ball into the net. It swished.
“Good job,” Bailey said.
“Thank you,” I replied.
“But you know you walked that first time, ‘cause you’re walking now.” Mr. Durie checked his watch. I knew we had to go back to class soon. “It’s kinda like that.”
“I guess. Do I tell them I had surgery?”
“You don’t need to if you don’t want to. It’s your business,” he said. “And anyway, getting attacked by a lion and surviving is pretty awesome. So what if they think that?”
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At the end of the day, as we were waiting for our busses, Jason Hankin came over to me. “It’s true, right? You were attacked by a lion. That’s what you told me.”
I nodded. “Uh-huh! I was at the zoo and the lion got free from its cage.”
“How did you survive?” Patrick Long had walked over.
“The doctors didn’t think I was going to. I was in the hospital for six weeks.”
“Woah.”
There was a huge group of people at the coat hooks now. I was enjoying myself. “My parents thought they were going to have to plan a funeral for me. But then, I got better. The doctors don’t know how.”
“Can we see them?” Kiley Jordan asked. I knew it was Kylie because she had a mole on her cheek and Molly didn’t. The loudspeaker announced that Bus 67 Blue had arrived. “Bye, guys.” I skipped out of the classroom.
On the bus on the way home, everyone high-fived Jason Hankin for being right. “She likes me. That’s why she told me. I’m a really good friend to her.”