Question

Celeste dreaded passing through Miranda Perot's house on her way to the school. Miranda had a way of gazing at a person and making him or her feel nervous. Celeste always felt that she wore the wrong color or she forgot to wash her hair when her eyes met Miranda's. This was not the case a few years ago. It was another dreaded Monday morning and Celeste was walking to the bus. She felt something was not right. Waking up from a nightmare and burning the toast for breakfast had made Celeste jittery. She felt as if it was taking hours to cross the road and reach the bus stop. Suddenly, something grabbed Celeste by the collar and pulled her aside. A reckless driver had almost hit her, and she was saved just in time. Celeste was jittery all over again. When she turned around to thank the stranger, she saw a familiar face smiling at her. "Mention not," Miranda abruptly said. She grabbed Celeste's backpack that had fallen on the road and gestured for her to move on. A theme of this passage is