Chapter 3 - Luna
“Are you ready for this?” My brother, Atlas, asks me as we sit in his car in the student parking lot of his high school. I let out a deep sigh and shrug one shoulder.
Am I ready to start all over in a new school at sixteen?
Ready to leave all my so-called friends I’ve had for most of my life behind and start at a school where the only person I know is my brother?
I turn my head and look away from the building and fight the burn of tears that want to fall.
More like my friends left me behind. I’ve never had a boy break my heart, but if it’s anything like how it feels to lose a best friend and then have your entire friend group choosing her… I never want to fall in love.
“Fuck her, Moon. Fuck all of those petty ass girls. They aren’t worth it. You don’t have to change to fit into their popularity hunger games. You’re perfect just the way you are.”
I smooth my hands over the new baby doll dress and send him a trembling smile.
He’s the best big brother a sister could ever ask for.
I give him a quick nod and reach for the door handle.
I step out into the parking lot in my cute new work boots and straighten my shoulders.
I can do this. I can start fresh here and be whoever I want to be.
I don’t need to fit into a certain group of girls.
I don’t need to be judged for choosing to grow up at my own pace.
I can make my own path from now on. It won’t matter that I’m still a virgin or that I don’t want to go to parties and get wasted or high.
I don’t need to lie to my parents about crap or bully other students just because they don’t fit into the ridiculous standard my old friend group set as being worthy. Atlas is right, duck them.
They made things so hard for me in the last five months since they all decided I wasn’t cool enough to be a part of their group.
Icing me out, making snide comments to the point that I quit my baseball team and my school.
It sucks so much that I won’t be able to complete my French Immersion track, the only reason I even went to a different school than my brother.
But it’s worth it for my peace. I’ve got two years of high school left and then I’ll be gone to a different city for university and none of this crap will matter.
I swish my dress and bounce in my boots, loving the new look that I chose. Not because it’s trendy but because I like it. I might not know anyone here, but I know me, and I’m going to start living my life with MY approval from now on.