Lavender Rose

“You look cool in that outfit,” Fletcher said to me, on my first day of high school. I was nervous, and of course who else could cheer me up but him. “Don’t be scared, high school’s not that bad.”

The good always die young, and it seems the bad never die at all.

These public bathrooms are smelly and need to be cleaned. I always wondered who cleaned the bathrooms at the beach. I hide in a stall, my eyes burning from either the wind or the sea water. Maybe neither. But I want to go home, I never wanted to come out here anyway. I only did because Avi asked me to, and I don’t think I could bear to say no to him. My body feels tight, like it wants to cry but can’t. I hate how much I’ve been crying.

Tallulah said she’s proud of me. My whole life, no one has ever said that to me before.