Chapter 15
Art club changed my year.
Not because it erased Tyler.
Because it gave me a room where nobody knew me as the kid with the lunchbox video.
They knew me as Eli who drew engines too detailed.
Emma joined too.
She drew planets.
We made a poster together for the spring showcase.
A car driving through space.
It was ridiculous.
It won second place.
Mom came straight from work to see it.
Still in uniform.
Still tired.
She stood in front of my drawing like it belonged in a museum.
“My son made this,” she told anyone nearby.
May you like
I pretended to be embarrassed.
I was not.
