Sophia sat at the diner, alone. She was on a club trip for a science competition, and the group had stopped at a diner for a buffet dinner. Sophia picked at her food, pretending that she didn't care that she was alone and probably stood out as a sore, friendless loser. She had a few good friends, but none were in this club. There were clear clique divisions, and she didn't fall into any of them. Her fellow sophomore girls were once pleasant to her, and she was once a part of their inner friend circle, but for some unknown reason, they began to exclude her until she was completely kicked out of their group. Sophia wasn't sure, but she figured that the fact that she was good friends with their crushes didn't help. The junior girls didn't know her well, and they didn't seem eager to get to know her. One of those girls, Karine, seemed to be irritated by the mere sound of her voice, and her face would contort into an expression of one who had just drank sour milk when Sophia would even be talking around her. The seniors were just...the seniors. Somehow, Sophia just couldn't mingle with them, though she was friendly with seniors from other clubs. Sophia sighed. I just don't get it. Why me? she asked herself. Why am I the one who's alone? The other girls aren't any better, cooler, or classier than I am. In fact, I'd say a few act so weird sometimes that I can just roll my eyes at them. But it still doesn't change the fact that I want to be included. That I want to feel loved by people other than family members. She knew that she was sort of friendly with the guys, but she couldn't always hang out with them. Besides, the guys here mostly hung out with other guys, and she couldn't just join them like that, as the only girl. Especially since most were older.

"Hey, Sophia, do you want to come sit with us?" Iris asked. Sophia turned to Iris and her friends, the sophomore girls. A grin started to split her face until she remembered that Aline, the girl who seemed to be the one who actually hated her, wasn't there. Right, she just passed me on the way to the dessert section, Sophia thought bitterly. That's why the other girls got the courage to even invite me. They wouldn't have done it otherwise.

"Sure," Sophia replied anyways, still not wanting to be alone and naively hoping that she could integrate herself into the conversation. She managed to hold somewhat of a conversation with them, at least until Aline arrived. Later that night though, as Sophia and her roommates were going to sleep, Sophia felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes.

"Why me?" she whispered, her voice so quiet that she could barely hear herself. "Why am I so alone? I know I have two good friends, but that's not a lot at all. Most high schoolers have tons of friends, and have so much of a social life. They never have a problem with finding friends anywhere since they have so many. I'm nice enough to everyone, so I don't think there's a fundamental flaw. But I can't help but feel that no one cares enough to stick up for me if I'm wronged. And I can't help but feel that if I were to disappear, no one besides my family would really care or miss me." The tears that had been welling up spilled over. "After sixteen years of my life, I haven't affected too many people at all, I haven't made an impact on anyone. I feel so unimportant."

Sophia decided to read to take her mind off of things. She turned on her book light and read the book she brought with her, which happened to be Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. As she read it, her mind lingered on Tom Riddle's past.

"Wow, no wonder he became evil. He grew up in an orphanage where pretty much everyone mistreated him and didn't care about him, and they punished him for his magic, which wasn't his fault, and it's cool, not evil. So when he learned how to control his magic, of course he gets revenge, it's what I'd do! While I don't agree with everything he did, I can see his point. I just don't get why he'd want to be immortal, but I guess he believed that he was special enough for that. I also don't understand why he hates Muggleborns, because they understand about magic. Everyone needs a friend, though. I wish that I could've been his friend at the orphanage. I would've been supportive." Sophia knew all too well what it was like to be resented. She wasn't popular, and her friendships never worked out for too long. Even though she had parents and friends to tell her that she was special, she sometimes hated the whole world, and would be happy to make them realize her pain, because everyone who was close to her had hurt her in one way or another. Sometimes, she realized with wonder, she felt that Tom Riddle was right. The people who hurt her should at least feel the intense pain that she felt. They never understood what they did to her, and never cared. She knew that that was evil thinking, but she couldn't help it. And besides, other people couldn't judge her until they understood her.

Sophia went to sleep with these thoughts in her mind. The last thing she thought was "I wish that I could be there for Tom Riddle," before she fell asleep.

The next morning, she woke up in a dingy, gray room.