School was:

A series of places you were asked to leave.Something you were extremely good at and nobody let you forget.Survivable, if you kept your head down and had one friend.Easy. You were popular. That was never the problem.

How do you handle a parent who let you down?

Say nothing, and go a long way away.Refuse anything they offer. Forever. On principle.Try to be so good at it that they have to notice.Make a joke about it that ends the conversation.

Your friends are in danger. You:

Go. Immediately. The plan can be worked out on the way.Go, terrified, and do it anyway, which is the braver version.Go alone, and tell nobody, so that nobody else is at risk.Go, and be extremely annoyed they got themselves into this.

What is your actual weakness?

Pride. You would rather be wrong alone than corrected in public.A grievance you are entirely right about, which now runs you.You will not be helped. Not by anybody. Not once.You defuse everything, including what needed to land.

What would you do for the people you love?

Anything — which people keep pointing out is a flaw, not a virtue.Tear the whole thing down, if the whole thing hurt them.Stay away from them, if that turned out to be safest.Build them something. It is easier than saying it.

Pick your role in the group:

The one who knows what we are doing, and why.The one who notices that somebody is struggling.The one who goes first so that nobody else has to.The one who will actually hit something if it comes to it.

What do people get wrong about you?

They think you are careless. You are just not frightened of much.They think you are cold. You are concentrating.They think you are sulking. You are still grieving.They think you are angry. You are tired from holding it.

How do you respond to somebody in charge?

Nervously. You will do what they say, and worry about it.You test them immediately. Loyalty has to be earned.You want their job, and you would probably be better at it.You make them laugh, which is its own way of not complying.

Pick what would actually break your heart:

Having to choose between one person you love and everybody else.Finding out it was never going to be fair, and never had been.Being the one left behind. Again.Doing everything right and still not being the one they picked.

What do you want, more than you say?

To build something permanent, with your name on it.For somebody to look after you, for once.To be wanted somewhere, by people who know all of it.To matter to the group, rather than just be liked by it.

The sentence you would want from someone who was there:

"You came back for me.""You were right, and you had already worked it out.""You were scared the whole time and you came anyway.""None of it was your fault."

How does your story end?

You come back out, and somebody is still there.You choose, once, to let somebody help you.Everybody finally admits that you were the best at it.You build something that outlasts all of them.