"So what are you going to wear to Sasha's birthday party this weekend?" Cassandra Lorin, one of my friends, asks as we get ready to head to lunch. I look at her, confused.

"What do you mean? What party?"

"You know, her birthday party." Cassandra turns to her locker and pulls her phone out of her bag. I get a bad feeling in my stomache.

"Um, has she sent out all the invites?"

"Yup. The whole class is coming." Cassandra mutters something rude as she replies to one of her texts with an eye roll. Then she stashes her phone back away and looks at me again. "You're going, right?"

"Oh, um, I'm not so sure," I tell Cassandra, trying hard not to cry. "I, um, I need to get something!" I shout, and hurry away. I bet I know what you're thinking - how pathetic! But trust me, if you knew what my life was like, you wouldn't think that.

I dash into the bathroom and collapse against the counter. Then I step away. Ew. I turn to the mirror and fix my hair, which got messed up in my mad dash to get away from Cassandra. I sigh. I guess I'm not worthy enough to get invited to Sasha's party. As sad as it is, however, it's not that surprising. I've always been that one girl who's been left out. Last year, Candy Wilman invited our entire "friend group" to New York for an all-expenses-paid trip (that sounded awesome, by the way), except I was left out. But - am I really part of our group? I wonder as I pin a stray lock back. After all, it's not like my so-called "friends" really care about me. No one notices when I've gone missing. No one cares when I'm sick. No one thinks twice about me rushing off to the bathroom with tears threatening to spill out of my eyes. I'm not worth anything. I'm just...there. I'm just there because they can't turn me away without getting in trouble. I'm just there because they can have someone to talk to so they don't look lonely when no one else is there. They don't really care, do they?

Bang! The bathroom door opens and Sasha comes in. I hurriedly wipe my eyes with the back of my hand and duck into a stall. Sasha doesn't seem to have noticed me. Instead, she's talking with someone else on the other side of the stall door.

"Unreasonable, right?" She's saying. "Like, who would do that?"

"Exactly," the other person agrees.

I pull open the door and step out.

"Sasha?" I ask nervously, hoping to confront her about the party. Or at least maybe ask her about it or something. But no suck luck.

"Let's go," Sasha says immediately, and she and her friend leave. I sigh and start scrubbing my hands furiously, even though I haven't done anything that requires me to. I can never win, can I?