McKayla had always wanted to move to 

New York

. This desire she kept at bay. Deep down she knew the city would break her. It was a place where everything was monetized. To have fun in the city and live a good life you needed money.

She didn't have money right now. Didn't even know whether she'd have any later. This scared her. As a kid the grownups made it sound like it was definitive: she'd have money one day. A house, a family, a husband with a good career. Now, she didn't know if she'd have any of that. What scared her more was that she didn't feel like she could want those things. What she did know she wanted was freedom.

The best shot at freedom seemed like an education. Her mom was nice enough and had made decent enough financial decisions to be able to pay for McKayla's tuition and rent in a decently low cost of living city compared to New York or Chicago. McKayla still had to work a part-time job in order to afford the extras: beer, clothes, dinners with friends. Sometimes she would forget how lucky she was. Seeing how

Imogen Howe

's life was turning out made McKayla feel a new sense of vigor. Her boss had been less lucky. Never got to go to a real school and had to make money... all of her money to pay her bills. That's why she was stuck at The Sparrow cafe. At one point maybe Imogen had thought it would turn out okay. That running the cafe could be a career in itself. But the years of bad business and her deteriorating personal life had broken her... and this had all happened in a town much smaller than New York City,

No. McMayla would never go to New York. Out there she would be just as broken as Imogen. At least in a middle sized town out in the Midwest she would have a shot at having her freedom while keeping her mind, body, and soul intact. Just maybe.

Upon returning to 

Westcity

 she would need to find a new job. Working at The Sparrow was no longer good for her. Only filled her with pity for her boss and pessimism for her own future. She needed something that would inspire her. Something the high school McKayla would've never imagined. The first thing that came to mind was an internship for someone doing design or product work downtown. Those smart people who built apps and ran marketing campaigns. Sometimes they would come into The Sparrow with their laptops and ipads. They would discuss things using such polished language and smooth rhetoric. McKayla needed to start getting to know people like that.