M broke up with me last week. I thought I would feel better by now, but I don’t. He is telling lies about me to everyone. He says I begged him to stay. He says I am too clingy. People are whispering about me. Some of my friends have stopped talking to me.

I feel alone.

That night, my phone rings. It is Bunny. She lives far away, but she always calls me when I need her.

"Hey," she says. "How are you?"

I try to stay strong. "I’m fine."

"You don’t sound fine," she says softly.

I take a deep breath. "M is ruining everything."

Bunny is quiet for a moment. Then she says, "He is just being mean. People will see the truth soon."

"But what if they don’t?" My voice shakes.

"They will. And even if they don’t, I believe you. I will always believe you," she says.

Her voice is so sure, so steady. Like she knows me better than anyone else. Like her words alone can make everything okay.

I feel my chest tighten. The pain is still there, but Bunny’s words make it a little lighter.

We talk for hours. She tells me funny stories about her day, about the silly things her classmates did, about how she tripped over nothing in the hallway and almost fell on her teacher. I laugh, really laugh, for the first time in days.

She listens, too. She lets me cry when I need to, lets me rant without telling me to stop. She doesn’t say "move on" or "forget about it." She just stays, listening, comforting, reminding me that I am not alone.

As we keep talking, the heaviness inside me fades a little. The world still feels unfair, but with Bunny’s voice in my ear, I feel safe.

"You are going to be okay," Bunny says before we hang up.

I close my eyes and whisper, "Only because you’re here."