Today's OneWord: Heightened

After the shooting, the principal insisted that the school be subjected to heightened security. We were becoming used to security guards, metal detectors, and constant stops-and-frisks as we went to class. It was unnerving, and it was also embarrassing. I had never felt so vulnerable after one guard asked me to take off my jacket for him.

"I'm not a killer," I protested, but he insisted. In the eyes of a defensive officer, no one is ever innocent.