500 Words or Less This was senior year Someone had written WHORE in bright orange lipstick on my locker. It was waiting for me after third period, like an old friend hanging around after class. For the past three weeks, I have filed down these halls, opened this locker, stuffed textbooks and slightly damp rain jackets inside. I've regurgitated facts, aced exams, daydreamed about life at an Ivy like Princeton, and sometimes I've thought about Ben. It was life in a holding pattern, circling around an airport where you can't yet land. I glanced over to Jordan's locker and saw its pristine state. No bright orange lipstick. Was there even a male equivalent to the word "whore"? There were words, but none that carried the same weight. Maybe I would have cried if I were a different girl. But this was senior year, and my life was more than a series of letters scrawled on a locker, vying to break me. Excerpted from 500 Words or Less by Juleah del Rosario All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
