Around a table, you nudged and giggled, playing the rebel for your provocative peers.
When your barbs burned your teacher’s ears, she slapped your cheek.
Screaming, you fled down the corridor, eager to turn informer.
After learning of your attacker’s suspension, you savoured the victory, while virulent schemes colonised your mind like knotweed.
For years, you punished frailties, gorging on those wriggling worms like a ravenous cuckoo chick.
Coming of age today, you reign as the absolute monarch of a barren land - unreachable and unchallenged.