When You Were Everything

Cleo Baker walks to the train from Brooklyn to Manhattan in order to get to her high school. It is snowing, and the snow reminds her of her snow globes at home. She starts thinking about the past, Shakespeare, and her best friend Layla Hassan, who has not been in contact with her for a month. She listens to a song by Nina Simone and remembers her late grandmother, Gigi, who died four years ago. Suddenly, Cleo slips on the platform. Some people help her up, but Cleo misses having Layla by her side. She sits on a nearby bench and sinks back into her memories of her friend.

Cleo takes the train and gets off at Layla’s stop. She walks along her block and remembers all the time that she and Layal spent together over the years. She texts her dad, Cliff Baker, and asks if he can meet with her. On the phone, he agrees to let her skip school, and father and daughter meet at a nearby café. Cleo asks if her father will go to the park and make a snowman with her. She explains that she wants to make new memories so that she isn’t always thinking about Layla everywhere she goes.