Field Trips

Nova's school went to see a theatre play, along with a select few other schools. Standing in line with Ellie, Nova watched the rest of the schools get off their buses.
Something she noticed was, they looked exactly like her school.
"Look," Nova said, poking Ellie's arm. "That school looks exactly like our school. And that class over there," she said, pointing to a loud bunch of kids screaming and laughing, "looks exactly like our class."
Ellie squinted past the sun and locked eyes with another girl who was all smiles and too thin.
"I don't get it," she said, frowning all of a sudden.
"No, look," Nova mumbled.
She pointed to a girl wearing tight skinny jeans, a white tucked in shirt with writing all over it in red marker and big, pink glasses without the lenses. "That's Jackie."
She pointed to a girl wearing a big, red, thick sweater-just like Melanie's big yellow one- with the sleeves rolled up and texting on her phone. "That's Melanie."
She pointed to a guy wearing some fake-vintage shirt and making fun of the girls surrounding him, but desperately trying to get their attention. "That's Raphael."
Ellie looked at her. "Oh, yeah."
She didn't seem enthusiastic.
"Do you see that one over there? The one who was looking at you?"
Ellie looked over to the thin girl with the fake smile. "Yeah?"
"That's you," she said.
Ellie stared.
"Who are you, then?"
Nova surveyed the rest of the other class, seeing a Mara, a Jack, an Oscar...but no matter how many kids she considered, there was no her.
"None of them," she said finally.
Ellie scowled, but secretly, she looked sad.
"You're too unique," she smiled, putting her hand on Nova's shoulder.
Secretly, Nova knew it was because no one wanted to be her. Absolutely no one, because there's absolutely nothing good about her.