All the hurt and embarrassment rushes to my face, making me hot and itchy like I was on the first day of school walking through the halls, everyone staring at me. I thought it couldn’t get worse than that.

I was wrong.

“And you didn’t bother to mention that?”

Piper’s head snaps up. “I tried to stop you. I tried to tell you—”

“You told me he was friend material. You couldn’t have been more specific, like, oh I don’t know, ‘He’s been in love with me since we were zygotes.’ Then maybe I wouldn’t have just made a colossal fool of myself.”

Piper furrows her brow. “What happened?”

“You happened. You told me in the hospital that you needed me. What you needed was a charity project. But I’m done.”

Piper’s mouth turns downward. “With what, me?”

“You said yourself I should get my own life.”

“You should.”

“It’s pretty hard to do that from inside your shadow.”

Piper straightens up in her chair and glares at me, her face red. I stare right back. When I don’t flinch, she throws her hands up.

“Well, there you have it. If I’m such a strain on you, then you’re right, it’s time to get your own life and stop trying to live mine.”

I unclasp the phoenix necklace from my neck and hold it out to her.

She scoffs. “Keep it.”

“I don’t want it anymore.”

Piper grabs the necklace. “Fine!” Curling her fingers into a fist, she stretches back her arm, and when she thrusts it forward, the gold phoenix and chain fly through the air, disappearing into the grass. She turns her wheels away from me and pumps back toward the school, her own wings flapping furiously behind her.

Kenzie starts to open the door for Piper, who yells that she doesn’t need help and then heaves forward to forcefully push Kenzie out of the way. I walk toward the road. When I reach the intersection, I keep going. The tears I’ve been holding back finally burst their bounds. Even my newly constructed eyelids are no match.

I fish my headphones from the bottom of my bag and put them on as I walk toward Cora’s store, trying to ignore the stares from the people at bus stops and traffic lights who have every right to stare at the crying mutant girl. As I walk, snow flurries begin to fall around me, powdering the ground and the newly blossomed daffodils. In the distance, a white fog conceals the mountains.

Glenn was right: spring is a tease, and winter is never going to end.