Eileen hid from the rain under the protection of the shaded hallways. She sat on the ground with tears in her eyes.

After searching for so long I finally found her.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She hugged her knees and shook her head

“No.” She whispered.

She was shivering.

I roll off my backpack and pull out a zip up from inside.

“Do you want my sweater?” I offered.

She glanced, but quickly shook her head.

Not sure what else to do I finally let out, “I take it you’re having a bad day?”

I wince. Obviously she’s having a bad day.

But then she opens her mouth and let’s out a sigh,“In movies, you always think, ‘that’s fake, there’s no way people actually behave like that’.” Her voice falters. She breathes in deeply and carries on. “But then I get here and find that people are worse than that. They care so much about their precious image and what roles they play. I don’t want to wear a mask and play this character. I just want to be me.”

Shocked by her words I stayed silent. I don’t want to play a character either.

I take a deep breath in “You can just be you around me if you want.”

She looks at me, her tears stream away.

“But you can’t be crying all the time, frankly, I don’t think I could stand it.” I quickly add before following with a smile.

She smiles back and squints her eyes at me.

She sits closer and grabs my sweater from my bag.

She wraps it around herself, “Get used to it.”