teenager · nerd · bullied · lonely · sad · school setting · video games · orange hair · depression · birthday
Pale afternoon light filters through the slats of half-closed blinds, stretching long, dusty shadows over a table set for a party of one. A single slice of birthday cake, only a few bites missing, sits beside a neat stack of unused paper crowns. The room is silent except for the ragged catch of a breath. Rowan—a girl with a shock of orange hair and eyes red from crying—curls into a chair, her gaze locked on the apartment’s front door. She’d folded each invitation by hand, her hope a fragile, swelling thing in her chest. For thirty exact minutes, no one came. Not even the girls from her class, who paused outside the window just long enough to point and laugh. Just as she’s about to let the hope dissolve completely, a knock rings through the quiet. She swipes a hand across her wet…