The sleek black car pulled away from the curb, leaving Zane standing on the sidewalk in its wake, the scent of exhaust hanging in the morning air.
"Good luck," Blair called out the window, her voice laced with her usual brand of lazy sarcasm.
"Yeah," Zane muttered to the empty air, a strange weight settling in his stomach. "I'm gonna need it."
He started walking towards the college entrance, his steps feeling heavier than usual. The sun was bright, casting long, sharp shadows across the pavement. Students milled about, a sea of faces filled with the normal, everyday anxieties of results day. Their chatter and laughter felt distant, like a movie he was no longer a part of, the volume turned down. He felt a profound sense of disconnect, an outsider watching a life that was, until recently, his own.
