give me zoey was bullied in high school, but in more subtle ways.
zoey having exclusively fair-weather friends. when they're having fun, it's fun, and she recalls the memories for days . but when days are too long and school hallways are too narrow, she cannot confide in any of them.
zoey being part of trios, except she always feels like a placeholder, like a punchline to a sour joke. and so, since third wheeling is anything but nice, she ends up in bigger friend groups, hoping that would help her fit in better.
instead, the issues repeat, except they're even more obvious. she is ignored and talked-over, included solely because no one wants to be the one who directly tells her to leave them alone.
zoey's mom telling her to stop wearing earbuds so much—you'll damage your hearing—and she thinks to herself, there is nothing good to hear around me anyway. zoey's dad telling her to go out sometime, to stop draining nights by writing until the sunrise—your eyes will shrivel up from staring at the paper—and she thinks to herself, the outside world has nothing nice to offer.
and her parents think she's fine, you know? their girl is this bubbly and extroverted person, jumpy and jittery. when they visit uncles and aunts in other states, she plays with her cousins. during dinners, she still chatters and jokes. sure, her eyebags are more prominent, but she's a teen!
zoey dreams about an escape. there's a period—mid-divorce, when talks of custody cloud any other topic—when she believes living in korea would offer her a new, fresh start. but then she thinks how teens there are likely no different from teens here, and she will always stick out like a sore thumb.
she is destined to be alone. too boring/annoying/weird for her peers, and to her parents a bullet point in the lawyer's office more than a daughter.
anyway, there are these two girls, rumi and mira—
