"YO ZO GON goto homecoming?" cblu asked as zoey got in to the backseat, clipping on her seatbelt. zoey scrunched her face up, clearly not enthused by the idea, and responded with a firm "no." she shook her head, a sign of her disinterest in the upcoming event.
before they took off, zoey caught sight of caleb who was staring at her in the rear view mirror, and waved at him. he acknowledged her with a smile, looking away quickly.
today marked zoey's return to school after spending a tiring and emotionally challenging five weeks at home. as the lingering memories of her mother's presence was everywhere in her house. and while part of her didn't want to face the reality of returning to school, she realized that staying home would only cause her self sabotaging herself.
so she made the decision to distract herself from the pain and face her current reality. she understood that avoiding school would do little to heal her wounds; but it would be any better then hibernating herself in a house she knew all too well.
zoey didn't know if it was soemthing switched in her but she had lost every last bit of her personality. for some reason she wasn't so much slouched about the fact she lost her closest friends—in a way it was kind of eye opening for her.
because where they even really her friends?
as the car pulled out of her driveway and onto the road, zoey found herself thinking about how bad her mental health had gotten over everything.
the events of the past weeks had left her feeling emptier, as if she had lost every last bit of her vibrant personality. but strangely enough, the absence of her closest friends, who acted like she didn't exist , didn't hurt her that much anymore.
she realized that it was herself who was expecting to be dependent on someone like she was—but being a good person really gets you nowhere.
doubts began to creep into zoey's mind; were they even truly her friends? they didn't act like it and she knows she had some playing into it but she didn't know karma was that bad.
as the car started on the familiar route to school, zoey lifted her head to the two older brothers she had found herself getting closer to. over the fall break and with her not going to school she got to stay over at there house sometimes.
she liked them, caleb was sweet to her and cblu was like a older brother she'd never had. not like she ever wanted it either; but he's a good representative.
something that had not escaped zoey's attention: whenever cblu was with them in public, he always carried a ski mask with him. it wasn't as if she were naive or blind to his peculiar behavior. but she didn't say anything, not thinking anything of it.
