The following week, I sat at the cafeteria with Katie and Nyla. Usually, lunch was our favourite time, always filled with laughter, jokes, and gossip about our classmates. But lately, I wasn’t so interested in the conversations.
Katie’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. “Emily? Hellooo? Are you even listening?”
Emily blinked several times. “What? Sorry, what were you saying?”
Katie exchanged a glance with Nyla, a concerned look on both their faces. Nyla was the first to speak. “We were just saying that you’ve been super quiet lately. Is everything okay? You’ve been zoning out a lot, too.”
“Yeah,” Katie added, leaning forward. “And you’ve been missing our movie nights. Even that sleepover last week, you were there, but you weren’t really there, you know?”
I forced a smile, hoping it
