I stayed at the gala for a few more hours, moving from circle to circle, exchanging greetings, enduring introductions. And for the first time tonight, the reactions felt… real. No rehearsed shock. No spectacle. Just classmates—older now—asking where I’d been, if I was okay, if I was happy.
For brief moments, it made me miss high school.
It also made me angry.
Everyone else here got to leave as teenagers. They got to grow up normally, make mistakes, fall in love, mess up, recover. I didn’t get that luxury. My life paused while theirs moved on.
But more than anything, on a night like this, I missed my father.
He would have been the proudest.
After a while, the noise became too heavy on my chest. I excused myself from the party.
“I’m sure you’re extremely tired,” Natalie said as she wa
