Violet

My heart was pounding.

Was it excitement? Nerves? I couldn't tell. But it was louder than everything around me.

Everyone’s faces flickered with shock, awe, annoyance, and even mockery. But none of it mattered, because for the first time today, I felt like I could finally breathe.

God, today had been hell. From the moment I opened my eyes, it felt like the entire world was lining up to slap me down. One humiliation after the next. One reminder after another that I didn’t belong, that I wasn’t enough, that I was just background noise in other people’s lives.

Nora was the first to recover. Her eyes widened, like...