she’s on your side.
Step 13: Suspended? You were never suspended. You never broke dress code. Everything’s fixed!
Repeat this message. Try to believe it, because the school seems to believe it.
Receive no apology.
Step 14: Learn what it means to be an object. Learn that, if not for your mom, you would still have that mark. That colleges would look at your application and say, “Susp-ended?” and not bother to look any longer.
Step 15: Realize you still have that mark. Trade in your self-confidence for dowdy shirts, your self-expression for toe-reaching pants.
Step 16: Never wear that shawl again.