Fake it with me
He turned and walked out of the cafeteria, and nobody laughed, nobody filmed it, the entire room holding the particular stunned stillness of an audience that had wanted entertainment and gotten something they weren't prepared for instead.
Ava stood exactly where she was.
Sofia appeared at her side. "Ava."
"I know."
"That didn't look like winning."
"I know, Sofia."
She did not eat lunch. She sat at her usual table with her tray untouched and the recording still sitting on her own profile with its climbing view count, a number that had felt like vindication that morning and now sat in her stomach like something she had swallowed wrong.
Her phone buzzed.
She looked down, expecting Mia or Sofia