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What would she do after she graduated? She couldn’t leave the town and go off to college. She would be stuck here, year after year in a town that had no place for her. Once, she had been content with that. Had come to terms with the fact that she would spend the rest of her life in the shadows, doing her best to avoid the public eye and just survive each day until her dreams came at night to whisk her even further away from happiness.

That wasn’t what she wanted anymore. She wanted to belong. But she knew that wasn’t the fate life had carved for her. She had tried so hard to fit in and become what everyone else wanted her to be, yet reality had thrown it all back in her face. It didn’t matter how hard she tried. It would never be enough. She would never be enough.

Despite that—despite everything—she still craved acceptance, even more than she ever had before.

Thicket reached out to open her locker. Visions flashed through her mind. Fingers outstretched, ready to turn an old, tarnished door knob. The sensation of waking up. She sagged against the lockers, mind spinning. The cool metal kissed her palm, giving her a steady footfall in reality as the visions subsided, leaving Thicket feeling uneven and a bit nauseous. She cleared her head with a quick shake, sucking in a deep breath.

Ignore… Ignore…

It was not real.

She pulled her locker open and began transferring her belongings into her backpack.

“Thicket?”

She stiffened. That voice.

Her hands trembled as the footsteps approached. She shoved the remaining items into her bag, not caring that the loose papers crumpled and tore, before slamming the locker shut and taking off down the hall. She needed to get out of here. She did not want to see Jett now or ever again.

There was no need to salvage the remnants of a friendship that had never even existed.

“Thicket, wait!” Jett’s footsteps picked up their pace.

She squeezed her eyes shut as he reached a hand out towards her—

“Miss Vogeli.”

Thicket’s head whipped in the direction of the second voice. Ms. Wheery stood at the end of the hall. “Come with me for a minute.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Thicket said, shoulders relaxing. She fumbled with the zipper of her backpack as she raced after Ms. Wheery. Jett’s eyes followed her as they rounded the corner, yet he did not try to follow.

Thicket fiddled with the strap of her backpack, trying her best to calm her racing mind. For the second time within the last week, she found herself waiting in the front office. The last time was still branded in her mind. Jett’s refusal to look her in the eye. Linda’s smug smile. Being given false hope before it was ripped away, taking everything she had worked for right along with it.

The weight of her backpack was almost enough to put her legs to sleep, but it was a welcome distraction from the electric sparks threatening to jump from her very skin. Moments came and went, yet no one glanced her way. Ms. Wheery had dropped her off and asked her to wait, yet with how long she had been sitting here she had begun to question whether she should have taken that literally, or if she had to approach the front desk herself.

Normally, she would have just waited to be called upon, not wanting to risk making waves, yet the clock was ticking alarmingly close to the end of fourth period. She wanted to get as far away from the school as she could before then.

“Um,” Thicket said, daring to look up at the receptionist. Her eyes remained locked on her computer screen. Heart hammering, she tried again, louder this time, “Excuse me?” Her voice grated against the silence like sandpaper, making her wince inwardly.

“Yes?” the receptionist said, finally glancing up from her screen.

“I think I’m here to pick up my assignments?”

The receptionist hit a few keys. “What is your name?”

“Thicket. Thicket Vogeli.”

The receptionist’s eyes widened with recognition. Thicket fought against the urge to sink into the back of the chair and disappear.

“Sorry for the wait, Miss Vogeli. Principal Kline is finishing up a meeting. She will be with you very shortly.”

The Principal? Oh, right. She had said she wanted to be the one to give Thicket her assignments. At the time, she had brushed it off. Surely the Principal had far more important things to do than spend time and energy on a girl everyone had given up on, but it appeared now that she had been serious.

“Oh. O-okay, thank you,” Thicket said.

The receptionist went back to work, leaving Thicket feeling even more uncomfortable than before.

“Miss Vogeli?” the receptionist said again after a few long moments. Thicket jumped. “Mrs. Kline will see you now.”