The more Zoe tried to avoid thinking about her brother’s career placement, the more it kept happening. She couldn’t shake it.
She was sickened by the whole thing. His tight short shorts, his neon sports bra, his obsessive dancing and smiling. It was gross. It was nasty. It was embarrassing. But after having visited the Career Center herself a few days ago, she realized that the briefest of thoughts zipped past her brain every so often.
It should have been her.
Was it planted there? Or was it how she truly felt? As fast as the thought came, it went. But each time it happened, it seemed a little more real to her. A little more believable. She was a girl. She had potential. She was a goth, sure. And had a quick temper. But Jon was a guy! A boring guy at that! A switch flickered each time in her head and she started thinking about it more. Maybe Jon’s career placement wasn’t gross, or nasty, or embarrassing. Maybe it was kind of cool? And maybe all her angst about it was because she was kind of jealous?
This time the thought didn’t go away so fast. All of a sudden, she felt anger. Betrayal. Rebellion. The world truly didn’t understand her. The whole thing was stupid! All those corpo sheep, giving out jobs to people who didn’t deserve them! Giving Jon HER job! For what reason exactly?
She could show them who was deserving, she thought to herself. She WOULD show them. She could be ten times better than Jon could be, if she applied herself.
She looked at herself in the mirror, readjusting the gold satin bow in her hair.
