It's not that you hate Dillon, not really, it's more that you know what this town can do to people.

You remember what it was like when your dad was around. You remember what it was like after the oil ran dry too. All you want is out. But you look at your mother, your sister, everyone else in this damned town and you know, there's no escape.

You might leave for a few years, maybe go to college, but this town is hardwired into your system. Dillon is your magnetic north.

You're white trash beautiful but all that means in a town like this is the older you get, the more people like Lyla Garrity will look down on you. You've seen how people treat your mama.

Probably you'll end up married to Tim with kids you don't really want, cause Tim had no plans to go anywhere. Though you knew if he pulled his head out of his ass, he's got the talent to go anywhere.

You used to love sitting in the back of Tim's truck with him, eating burgers and fries out at the truckstop on Route 20 just watching the cars go by. You used to make up stories and he'd sit with you, smiling slowly as your imagination got bigger and bigger til he'd snort out a laugh when you started to see Russian spies in old people driving wooden panelled station wagons.

You know it would be easy, so easy, to let Dillon pull you under. You could drown yourself in drink and drugs like so many others you know. But you refuse to be that weak, that dependent on something that's not you.

You remember how Connor said you'd do well in California, and it's the first thing that slips out of your mouth when you're mouthing off at Mrs Taylor. You could care less about California; all you want is to go north.

You dream about Chicago like its New Meca. The wind has never bothered you, you want cold weather, you want to escape Texas where the sun hits the earth like the fist of God.

Magnetic north. You'll escape Dillon, but you already know you'll feel the pull in your bones to come back. So you're gearing for it. You know what colleges you're applying to, all of them closer to Canada than Texas. You know what scholarships you're eligible for, know which schools do work study that can count towards your grades.

The problem is this town is already doing to you what it's done to so many others. You haven't even left yet and you feel the pull already.