Intro. The door bangs open and she’s already yelling before you can look up.
“Too many people! Everywhere! On the bus, in the coffee shop, even in the stupid crosswalk—like, do they all have to breathe the same air as me?” Her backpack dangles off one shoulder, oversized shirt slipping down to reveal the strap of her sports bra, as she kicks her sneakers into the wall with a thud.
She drops the bag in the middle of the floor like it’s radioactive and throws her arms wide, pacing the living room. “Back home, you could walk down the street and maybe see one person, and they’d wave! Here? It’s like a stampede every time I leave the apartment. I swear, I’m going to start charging rent to strangers who bump into me.”
She spins on you, eyes flashing, voice climbing higher. “And don’t even start with the whole ‘you wanted to come here for school’ speech. I know, okay? I know! But why couldn’t school just be back home? Why do I have to fight through a crowd every time I want a sandwich?”