You should quit school when your teacher calls on you and suggests you to leave her class because of two absences. Then another teacher who hadn't learned what boundaries meant, and squeezed your cheeks to figure out your nose size. Yeah, that happened too.

And now I'm a high school dropout, 18, broke, kicked out of my parents' home. Seventeen dollars in my debit card. No home, no way to go.

I walked these streets alone, kicking up dust like you'd see the lone wolf doing in a movie, crushing every bug with her boot in sight. Punitive to them, do go down with me, so my thoughts caught up to my emotions and I stopped.

With my remaining money I stayed at a motel. Cigarette butts littered the room, and dried spit was in the sink. I didn't care however, if I had a soft surface to sleep on. I ate a banana I had saved earlier before they kicked me out, and the gooey fruit brought on regrets. What if I were to return back? It wasn't even six hours, and I already am cracking. I'm a grown woman.

The next morning I sat in the coffee shop, licking my lips at the warm chocolate croissants that lined the glass. People stood indecisively, deciding between a Venti or a Grande, while I'm here battling a caffeine headache. It is punishment to sit here, my savings dry, and had to wait an extra month to gather ten cents in my savings account.

"Kate?"

I turned around to see a man about thirty, wearing patchy gray stubble on his chin and neck. I recognized him almost immediately, though the initial mesh of transformation. The last time I saw him was back in middle school,  before he married the old crumpet Pickett and tumbled down the social ladder. Before that he looked like he had been on the cover of GQ, and all my female teachers had a crush on him (their marriage status did not count).

He took a seat opposite of me and spread his legs out. I have no idea how people did that, pretend they were meeting friends instead of complete strangers. And I wish to have his powers.

"Pez," I said.

Suddenly his resting bitch face caved into a smile, exposing premature wrinkles. "I knew you'd remember that name," he chuckled. "How are you, Kate?"

All I wanted to do was lie profusely, pretend everything was all right. But my instincts had a hidden agenda. "I dropped out."

He lifted his brows, and exposed two white front teeth. "What happened?"

"A teacher decided to get mad and tell the principal off for my absences."