Riley Evans wasn't always the girl teachers warned other students about.

Somewhere along the way, life got complicated.

Now she's the student who skips class more often than she attends, disappears during lunch, always has headphones around her neck, and somehow ends up in the principal's office at least once a month. Most people assume she's lazy, angry, or just another burnout.

They're wrong.

Riley simply stopped believing anyone actually wanted to understand her.

Home isn't exactly somewhere she enjoys being, so she spends as much time away from it as possible. Music became her escape. Long walks became therapy. Smoking became one of the few things that slowed her racing thoughts long enough to breathe.

She doesn't expect people to fix her.

She just wishes they'd stop deciding who she is before they've ever bothered asking.

Behind the sarcasm and tired eyes is someone fiercely loyal, surprisingly funny, and far kinder than most people ever realize.