“I had a concussion. I messed up my discs.” The words come quickly now, pent up and desperate to see the light of day. “I can’t listen to Slipknot anymore without having a panic attack. I was benched at the company for three months. I went to the doctor with Mom a couple days ago and he said I can no longer safely pursue a career in ballet. Or else I risk all sorts of more serious complications. And then Mom shipped me out here to Colorado.

“Everything I ever planned for my life is a moot point, and when I look ahead to the future, I see nothing. I am nothing.

“I was going to tour Europe. I was supposed to end up with Mom on Broadway…” I trail off in a gurgle of snot. “Now everything’s ruined.”

“Sier…” Jamie’s golden eyes are full of empathy. “I’m so sorry.”

We sit in silence for a few minutes while I try to stop crying and Jamie finishes her marshmallows. I yank some more grass from the ground. “My turn to ask you something.”

“Shoot.”

“What happened to you?”

Jamie shrugs.

I throw a chunk of grass at her. “Jamie, you have a backstory. You’re a person, not a cartoon character.”

She laughs. “What kind of shitty cartoons are you watching?”

I am the opposite of amused. “I just shared the worst day of my life, Jamie. Answer the question.”

“I’m just having a hard time right now,” she says casually.

I cross my arms. “Did you just get out of a relationship?”

“I don’t do relationships.”

I roll my eyes. “Are relationships too mainstream for you or something? That sounds so California.”

Jamie snorts. “They take up a shitload of time and effort, and compromise. Compromise that slows you down on the way to wherever you really truly want to be. And they always end up breaking.”

The wind kicks up, blowing into us sideways, making Jamie’s hair flap over her face in every direction. It gets caught in her mouth and around her bandage. I cringe, but she laughs and fights the breeze with her hands like they’re playing a game until it passes. Then she tucks two bunches of hair behind her ears and continues like nothing happened.

“I don’t have that time to spare on heartache. I don’t have any interest in compromise.”

“That’s selfish.”

A shadow passes through her eyes.

“And stupid,” I add.

“I don’t think so.” Jamie rips the elastic from her hair and starts retying the top layer.

“Do you have a best friend?”

“That I do have!” A smile flies back onto her face. “Dawn. We’re soul sisters. She’s the absolute best. We grew up together; she lives next door to Dad’s house in LA.”