Betrayed

In the fourth grade, a girl named Mei Lin (or May Lin) pretended to be my friend at recess, and then when the bell rang, she and her friends dragged me way out into the field and then ran back. In the dragging process, I struggled to get away and also very seriously wanted to harm this Mei Lin (Wang? Wing?). I dug my fingernails into her arms and held on. By the time we made it back in, we got in trouble for being so tardy after the bell. Mei Lin suddenly conjured up an elaborate story about how I had held her down out in the field and scratched her arms. She held out her maimed limbs for the teacher to see. There was no question that I had dug in hard, but in my mind, I had been fighting for my life. I was so dumbfounded by the audacity of her lie that I had no response at all. I received the punishment (whatever it was) and she did not. It was the first time I remember someone lying so brazenly and completely to a teacher and getting away with it, but not the last. Also the first time I remember being so openly betrayed.