Chapter 12

AURORA (AGE FIFTEEN)

I want to cry.

But I can't. Mother says no one should ever see me crying in public and I agree, I can't let this many people see my weakness. Not crying is taking everything I have in me, I can't hold it in anymore and I can't cry in front of my psycho friends a second time about the same absurd issue. I'm the strong one, I get myself together after having one crying session or two but that doesn't seem to be the case today. I've cried a lot and if I cry one more time, my friend Katherine is going to break my ex-boyfriend's nose again.

Katherine and Grace are sitting on the other side of the booth, with Olivia and I on the other side. My drink is untouched, I'm toying with the glass as I hold back tears. We're in a restaurant slash bar, we shouldn't be here but thanks to Olivia's fake ID, we have alcohol. Olivia looks like the youngest among us, probably because she actually looks sixteen but the rest of us not so much, I have been mistaken for