Out of the shadows

Bailey Sawyer was the kind of girl you didn't notice when you walked past her in the hallways, the one whose presence barely registered even if she was standing right in front of you. Her whole life, she'd been living in the shadows, blending into the background like she was meant to be part of the scenery. And of fighting it, Bailey had learned to embrace it, because she had a purpose, one that kept her going through every lonely lunch and unnoticed achievement.
She wanted him to see her. Not just anyone. No, Bailey wanted him, the boy she'd watched from a distance for years, to finally look her way. To see her for who she really was.
So while everyone else thought she was content to be invisible, she had been preparing for her moment. Watching. Waiting. Dreaming of the day she'd finally step into the light, not as the quiet girl from their small town, but as someone worth noticing.
And now, with graduation just a week away and a plane ticket to California tucked into her bag, Bailey knew her chance was finally coming.