ARIA
The night felt colder than yesterday, although the air hadn't changed. What had changed was me, or maybe the way disappointment settled inside my chest. Each step I took away from the studio made the heaviness in my legs grow denser until even the street lights looked dimmer around me. I walked with my hands tucked into my coat, head bowed, trying not to think about the way Rose Miller refused to give me even a single chance.
I passed rows of shops with bright windows filled with beautiful products, people laughing inside, workers arranging displays and customers talking. All of it looked far away like a world separated from me by a glass wall. I tried not to feel small. I tried not to feel like someone who had bitten off more than she could chew. I kept walking. My boots tapped rh
