Chapter 19

I offered to stay back on the field and help Miss Smith collect the cones and equipment from the game. She's grateful, considering everyone else hightails it away, desperate to get dressed and out of school to start their weekends. I'd have been one of them, once upon a time. But not anymore.

I only offer to avoid going back to the packed changing room, where I won't be able to avoid the girls' attention. Before, I kept to myself, finding a quiet corner to change in where no one noticed me, other than in passing. A glance of acknowledgment at someone new in their midst, and then they'd moved on, back to their dramas. Some gazes lingered slightly longer like they were sizing me up. Trying to decide if I was a threat to their hierarchy, which they'd carefully cultivated for the last five years, wary of anyone trying to steal the top spot.

I have no interest in that. I just want to finish my GCSEs, get to college, and move on with my life. But these girls don't know that. They d