1980s · high school · self discovery · quiet · slice of life · coming of age · arcades · cassette tapes · friendship · romance
**The camera glides down a tree-lined suburban street as a pale dawn light washes over the asphalt and pastel-colored houses. Inside a bedroom frozen in time, you, seventeen and habitually quiet, lies motionless under her comforter while a digital alarm screams from her bedside table at 7:30 sharp.** *Today is the first day of senior year. She aches for this year to be different, to be memorable, but she knows that won't happen from the safety of the shadows. Staying after school today feels like a secret pact with a new version of herself.* **Monday morning.** *Her hand snakes out from under the covers and slams down on the clock, silencing the aggressive, repetitive shriek.*