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PHOEBE SLOWLY TURNED to face everyone, her throat tightening. The group of teenagers stared at her and she stared back. Wordlessly, she walked over to grab her phone and her car keys before she quickly left Gina's house.
She sat with the car parked until she got a text from Jack saying his friend was taking him home. After that, she drove around the neighborhood.
this is me trying transitioned into Come In With The Rain as she pulled into a McDonald's parking lot. She couldn't go home, she didn't want her family to see her like this, so she thought she'd hide it out until she felt better. She texted her dad and told him she'd be home in a bit.
Phoebe tried calling Ricky, but she kept getting sent to voicemail. She set her phone down on her lap and looked up at herself in the rearview mirror. She didn't recognize herself. She'd changed physically, sure. She was tanner and her hair was lighter, but the twinkle in her eyes was gone.
She didn't know the girl looking back at her.
Everything was spiraling out of the little control she still had, slipping from her grasp before she could process what was happening. She couldn't do anything or change anything about her appearance because of the movie, so she did what she knew best. She grabbed her phone and opened the notes app.
The words poured out of her and before she knew it, she had a full song.
She'd stopped crying while writing the song and attempted to fix her mascara before driving home. She entered the house to see her father and brother watching Home Alone. They turned around and immediately knew something was wrong from the way she held herself. James asked Jack if he wanted to get ice cream and then they left without asking questions, which Phoebe was grateful for.
She showered and got into her pajamas before sitting at the piano. She stared at the lyrics written down on her phone. It was the first song she'd written in a while besides the one she'd written for Ricky.
She pulled out her phone to record and took a deep breath, resting her fingers on the keys. "Hiding," she started. "I kinda feel like an island. I should go home, but I'm fighting that right now. People freak me out and I panic. I should be cool but I panic out of the blue and I end up on the ground, weaker all around. But it's so hardwhen it feels like my fault. When I keep them so far, happens when I go dark. I'm so unsteady."
