The Class Book, for the Use of Schools

A good boy can be capable of appalling secret cruelties. There was a girl in the freshman class at The Stockbridge School whom I shall call Esther Furman. Nobody liked her. From her first day at the school, she had been a social pariah. At supper one evening, as I sat with a group of older boys in the Main House dining room, one of them offhandedly mentioned someone named БЂњFau.БЂ«БЂњFau?БЂ«I said. БЂњWhoБЂ™s Fau?БЂ«БЂњEsther Furman,БЂ«he answered drily. БЂњIt stands for БЂfat and ugly.БЂ™ БЂ«The boys cackled with laughter, and to my shame I laughed along with them. БЂњFau,БЂ«it turned out, had become EstherБЂ™s commonly used nickname around the school. In the next few weeks, I heard it dropped so often that I felt sure that Esther herself must have heard it too. And, most painfully, she must have heard what it stood for. Starved for companionship, Esther turned to me. She had been ostracized by her fellow students, but since I was not one of her fellow students, she sought me out. In the dining hall, I would typically sit with the freshman boys, eager to be included ...»