Dear Evalynn Hansen

TWO

Two weeks later, Evalynn found herself walking to school, Evan having taken his car before she was up, a sharpie in her back pocket because their mom had insisted asking people to sign her cast would be "the perfect ice breaker, wouldn't it?" Evalynn had just smiled and nodded, not wanting to disappoint her mom on her first day of her senior year.

She silently cursed her brother for not being burdened with the same anxiety and mental illness she had. It wasn't fair that he could actually manage to talk to people and had real friends. She only had two friends, and even then, they were actually her brother's friends who just talked to her because they felt obligated to. She doubted they would even bother if her brother didn't talk them into it.

One of them was Alana Beck, a popular girl who was involved in practically everything and was probably going to end up the CEO of some big business straight out of college. The other was Jared Kleinman, who liked to put on a tough guy act and was generally just super loud and all up in your business all the time. Alana was the first to approach her when she arrived.

"Hey. How was your summer?" Alana asked.

Evalynn looked around, making sure she was actually the one Alana was talking to.

"My..."

"Mine was productive. I did three internships and ninety hours of community service. I know: wow."

"Yeah. That's wow. That's really impressive."

"Even though I was so busy," Alana continued, talking over Evalynn, "I still made some great friends. Or, well, acquaintances, more like."

Evalynn swallowed, gathering her courage as she pulled out the sharpie.

"Do you want to maybe...I don't know what you're, um...do you want to sign my cast?"

"Oh my God. What happened to your arm?" Alana inquired.

"Oh. Well. I broke it. I was climbing a tree..."

"Oh really?" Alana interrupted, not really listening at all. "My grandma broke her hip getting out of the bathtub in July. That was the beginning of the end, the doctors said. Because then she died."

Evalynn stayed silent, unsure how to respond, but Alana just smiled happily and walked off after wishing her a happy first day. She made her way over to where her brother was standing talking to Jared and listened to what they were saying.

"What about you? You had a good summer?" Evan asked him.

"Well, my bunk dominated in capture the flag and I got to second-base-below-the-bra with this girl from Israel who's like going to be in the army, so yeah. Hey, Lynn, what happened to your arm?"

"Oh. I was, um, well I was climbing a tree and I fell."

"You fell out of a tree? What are you, like, an acorn?"

"Well, I was, I don't know if Evan told you this, but I worked with him this summer as an apprentice park ranger at Ellison State Park. I'm sort of a tree expert now. Not to brag, but..." she paused, looking to her brother, but both boys stayed silent. "Anyway, I tried to climb this forty-foot-tall oak tree."

"And then you fell?" Jared asked.

"Well, except, it's a funny story, because there was a solid ten minutes after I fell, when I just lay there on the ground waiting for someone to come get me. Any second now, I kept saying to myself. Any second now, here they come."

"Did they?"

"No. Nobody came. That's the, that's what's funny."

"Jesus Christ..." Jared muttered.

"Actually, that's not entirely true, because I found her and took her to the hospital," Evan spoke up.

"Yeah, okay. Let's go, Ev."

"Do you want to sign my cast?" Evalynn inquired.

"Why are you asking me?" Jared shot back.

"Well, just, I thought, because we're friends..."

"No, Evan and I are friends. It's completely different. The only reason I talk to you is because he asked me to."

Evalynn looked down at her feet as the two turned to go.

"Hey, Connor. Loving the new hair length. Very school shooter chic."

Evalynn's heart did a summer-salt in her chest as Jared said her crush's name and she glanced up.

"I was kidding. It was a joke," Jared continued.

"Yeah, no, it was funny. I'm laughing," Connor deadpanned. "Am I not laughing hard enough for you?"

Jared laughed nervously, bravado gone.

"You're such a freak. Come on, Ev."

The pair walk off, leaving Evalynn standing alone across from Connor in the otherwise deserted hallway. Wanting to break the awkward atmosphere created by Jared's comment, she laughed and regretted it instantly.

"What the fuck are you laughing at?"

"What?"

"Stop fucking laughing at me."

"I'm not."

"You think I'm a freak."

"No. I don't-"

"I'm not the freak."

"But I wasn't-"

"You're the fucking freak!"

The next thing she knew, Evalynn was in a heap on the floor and Connor had stormed off. She sat there a minute, breathing heavily before standing slowly. That's when Zoe Murphy, Connor's younger sister, approached.

"Hey. I'm sorry about my brother. I saw him push you. He's a psychopath. Evalynn, right?"

"Um, yeah. I'm Evalynn."

"I'm Zoe."

"N-nice to meet you."

They shook hands and Zoe left before Evalynn could ask her to sign her cast. Just then the bell rang and she hurried to get to her first class in time. She would just have to wait until later to have someone sign it.