Everyone saw my smile. No one saw the cracks behind it.
I walked through the crowded school hallway, my backpack heavy on my shoulders, but I kept my head high. People waved, laughed, and whispered—mostly friendly, some not—but I smiled at every face anyway. It was easier that way. Easier to pretend.
"Emma! Wait up!" Lara's cheerful voice broke through my thoughts. She was practically glowing as she jogged to catch up, her backpack bouncing against her back. Perfect hair, perfect smile, perfect everything.
"Hey," I said, matching her grin, though it felt stretched and thin.
"You're quiet today," she said, nudging me lightly. "Something happen?"
I shook my head, forcing another smile. "Nothing. Just… tired."
Lara tilted her head, eyes narrowing slightly, like she could see right through me. Maybe she could, maybe she couldn't. It didn't matter. No one really did.
We walked together to our lockers, and I watched the small groups of friends laughing and joking around. Part of me wanted to join, to feel normal, to belong. But there was this… weight in my chest, a feeling that something was off. Something I couldn't name.
Jake appeared from the other side of the hallway, waving at us. My heart skipped. He smiled, the kind of smile that made your chest tighten in a weird, confusing way. "Hey, Emma, Lara!"
"Hey, Jake," I said, my voice quieter than I meant it to be.
He walked over, his backpack slung lazily over one shoulder. He didn't notice the tremor in my hands or the way my stomach flipped. He probably never did. No one ever did.
We reached our lockers, and Lara jabbed me playfully in the arm. "Stop spacing out, okay? It's not cute."
I laughed, a little too loudly, a little too forced. She didn't know. No one knew. Behind my smile, my thoughts were a mess of questions I couldn't answer, worries I couldn't share, and fears I couldn't face.
The bell rang. Time to go to class. I closed my locker slowly, lingering a second too long, and that's when I saw it—slipped between the books in my backpack, a folded note I didn't remember putting there.
I picked it up with trembling fingers and unfolded it.
"I know what you're hiding, Emma. You can't pretend forever."
My heart hammered. My throat went dry. Who had written this? What did they know?
I looked around the hallway, people rushing to class, oblivious to the storm inside me. No one could see it. No one could know.
Except… maybe someone already did.
And suddenly, that smile I wore every day didn't feel like mine at all.