Surviving High School

me?”
    “I’m sorry,” said Emily, crying softly now. “I never meant to hurt you.”
    “Forget it,” said Ben, looking sadder than she’d ever seen him. “I never thought you were the type of person to give up so easily. I guess I was wrong about you.”
    As he turned and walked away, Emily stood there stupidly clutching the roses that only a few minutes ago he’d been so happy to give her. Now he’d never give her flowers again.
    She looked around to see a dozen sets of eyes watching her.
    “What?!” she shouted. “Show’s over! Go tell your friends!”
    She shoved the bouquet into a nearby trash can, but it wouldn’t quite go down. She pushed harder and harder, grinding the flowers until a knot of stems and petals protruded from the lid. The roses were a mangled mess, and she looked at them, thinking, That, right there, is my life.
    Then she walked to her locker, slammed it shut, and headed off to class.
    At lunch, things got worse. As Emily settled into her usual spot at the center table, Hannah Carmichael leaned over and whispered, “No offense, sweetie, but you might not want to sit here today.”
    Emily was almost too dazed to respond. All she could muster was a confused “Huh?”
    “Word is out,” said Hannah. “Everyone knows how youtotally broke Ben’s heart. Now, I’m not as judgmental as, you know, certain people at this school, but still, he’ll be showing up any second, and you might want to do him the courtesy of giving him a little space.”
    “Yeah,” said Emily, picking up her cup of yogurt from the table. “Sure.”
    She walked away from the table and off toward the far corner of the cafeteria, only to find Dominique sitting there, listening to her huge headphones and reciting some sort of mantra. Great. Emily couldn’t even go back to her old spot.
    As Emily passed by, Dominique broke from her trance, smiled, and said, “You look a little upset, Em. I hope your dad didn’t get any incriminating e-mails or anything.”
    “You could have done this anytime you wanted,” said Emily. “Why now?”
    “It just seemed like the right time,” said Dominique. “But don’t worry. You’re tough. I’m sure you’ll still be ready for Quals on Thursday, no matter what else happens to be going on in your personal life. I just hope it doesn’t affect your grades. I mean, I hear McBride’s tough. Is it true he docks you a full letter if you lose your history textbook?”
    A sudden sinking feeling entered Emily’s chest. She opened her backpack to look at her textbooks. There was English… Biology…
    But no History. The book was gone.
    “You should really be more careful about leaving your valuables in the locker room,” added Dominique. “Things get stolen all the time.”
    “You’re a b—” Emily looked over her shoulder to see if any teachers were around to hear her swear. One was. “A bad person.”
    Dominique shrugged.
    “I do whatever it takes to win. You taught me that. See you at the races, Swimbot.”
    Emily briefly contemplated starting a nail-scratching, hair-pulling, old-fashioned girl fight. It would feel nice to mess up Dominique’s pretty little face. But there was too much to lose. A fight might put their eligibility to swim on Thursday at risk. Better just to beat Dominique in the pool. If Emily could beat Dominique.
    Emily turned away without another word and pushed through the door that led to the school’s exterior courtyard. Outside, the sun shone through wispy clouds. It was the kind of day that looked warm but actually felt so bitterly cold you needed a sweater under your jacket to keep from shivering. All Emily had on was an old hoodie of Sara’s.
    She crouched down and rested against the cafeteria wall and ate her lunch with shaking hands. It was all over now—Ben, her new supposed “friends,” all of it. Dominique had the right idea: Emily would be Swimbot again.
    She felt herself rocking and wondered if she might just pitch forward. Weren’t there old monks somewhere who picked a tree to sit under and waited around until they either reached enlightenment or starved to death? Maybe she could just sit here like that.
    “Hey.”
    Emily turned her head a little to the side and saw Kimi settling in beside her.
    “Thanks for coming out,” said Emily softly. “But I’d kind of rather be alone.”
    Kimi sighed, her long gray dress and black boots mirroring the day’s dreary mood.
    “Don’t think I’m coming out only for you,”