The confessions didn’t stop with Jake. Zara admitted she was an orphan, her voice almost a whisper. She’d grown up alone, fighting for survival, and it was clear this life had taken its toll.
Lily was on her third beer, her cheeks flushed as she leaned forward on the table. Her voice was louder than I’d ever heard it before, slurring just a little, but her words were sharp.
“You know what?” she suddenly blurted out, drawing everyone's attention. “I never even wanted to be here... I didn’t want any of this.”
The girls paused, glancing at one another, unsure where she was going. Lily took a gulp of her beer, the bottle clinking against her teeth before she set it back on the table with a little more force than necessary.
“My parents made me come to these stupid trials,” she continued, he
