My Daughter's Classmates Came to Visit Her in the Hospital Every Day After She Became Seriously Ill – Then One of Them Asked, 'Do You Really Have No Idea What She Did?'

Claire was sixteen, gentle, funny, and stubborn enough to argue with a parking sign. At school, she had almost no friends.

Kids mocked her thrift-store sweaters, hid her backpack, and once wrote a cruel word across her locker.

I'd called parents, spoken to Mrs. Evans, her teacher, and documented everything. Claire hated that.

"They'll get bored eventually, Mom."

At school, she had almost no friends.

"They haven't yet."

"Eventually, they'll find a new hobby."

"Cruelty shouldn't count as a hobby."

"Tell them that."