Who has this kind of security for a sweet sixteen? I couldn’t even get close to the gate. What am I even doing here anyway? Like a lost puppy searching for its owner. I don’t know what came over me, what made me get into mom’s car and sneak away, but I needed to know if everyone else had been invited but me.

Just thinking about it made me too sick to my stomach to sit still. I couldn’t stand the thought of all of them laughing at me, talking about me behind my back, ...