'Don't burn your bridges, kid'

Your grandpa's words from a year ago, echoed through your mind as you stood outside the school auditorium. Those words felt like a mix of the biggest stab to the heart and the most ironic thing you've ever heard. Because that's exactly what you had done. Two months ago you had ruined almost every friendship you had created in high school.

You couldn't pinpoint what exactly made you go of the rails and mess up your whole social life, but there was no going back. No redemption from this. You made your bed, now it was time to lie in it. Besides that part of your life going to shit, you had gotten everything you wanted, it just didn't feel like you imagined it would.

You had worked your butt off for years to get the best marks and be the best at everything and it finally paid off. Today, you had graduated as the valedictorian of Tommen College and received a few other rewards, but it didn't feel rewarding, like at all. While standing on the stage, you just wished your friends were there to congratulate you and that you got to spend this day with them...

A shiver ran down your spine as the rain soaked you to the bone. Your dress was probably ruined, but you couldn't find it in you to care. This was the closest thing to peace you've felt in weeks. Just standing there in the rain, the faint sound of music still playing from the auditorium for the graduation afterparty. "You're going to get hypothermia if you keep that up," Patrick Feely spoke from behind you. You glanced over your shoulder and saw him standing under the canopy, watching you curiously. Patrick was one of the many friends you had lost, but more so he was the boy you were hopelessly in love with.