SOPHIE
I can't breathe.
River's car is parked two blocks away from Jake's house, and I'm sitting in the passenger seat with my knees pulled up to my chest, trying to stop shaking.
"This is why I didn't want to come," I say, and my voice sounds raw. Broken. "This is exactly why."
River doesn't say anything. He just sits there with one hand on the steering wheel and the other resting on the center console, close enough that I know he's there but not touching me. Giving me space to fall apart.
"I'm nothing but a joke to these people," I continue, and the words come out choked. "That's all I've ever been. That's all I'll ever be."
"Sophie—"
"No." I shake my head, wiping at my face even though the tears won't stop. "You don't get it. You think I haven't tried? You think I *like* being li
