Library
Search
Home / The Group Chat Without Me / Chapter 6

Share

Chapter 6

Author: WeeWoo
At dawn, my father's car was already outside.

He was wearing a shirt he hadn't had time to iron. He'd clearly come straight from the airport.

I stood on the porch and couldn't speak for a moment.

On the video call last night, I'd told them not to come back.

My mother was still in Europe, but my father had handed the rest of his work to his assistant and caught the earliest flight home.

"Didn't I say I could get to the airport myself?"

"I know."

He took my suitcase.

"But I wanted to see you off."

Just that one sentence, and my eyes suddenly burned.

He didn't ask why I couldn't handle it myself. He didn't say I'd always been so independent.

He just put the suitcase in the trunk and turned to hug me.

"Come back whenever you want. Or keep going. Either is fine."

I buried my face in his shoulder and nodded.

Before I got in the car, my phone buzzed again.

The group chat I'd set to Do Not Disturb had dozens of messages piled up.

Last night, they'd all been at Chloe's apartment.

Jack posted a photo of balloons.

[Viv, the fairy lights are all tangled. You always did this before. Come save us.]

Ethan replied:

[Don't rush her. She needs to be asked by everyone in turn.]

Hunter sent a photo of a cake.

On it were five little figures.

Four boys, one girl.

[Boston Five, officially established.]

In the lower right corner of the photo, Claude's hand rested on the back of Chloe's chair. She tilted her head at the camera, smiling, wearing the cream dress Ethan had picked for her.

I swiped past the photo.

The next system notification was Chloe changing the group name.

"Five on the West Coast" became "Boston Five."

Then she sent a screenshot.

She'd changed my group nickname from "Little Princess" to "California Internet Friend."

[Is this easier to recognize? Vivian won't mind, right?]

Jack replied with a smiley face.

[She'll be one soon enough anyway.]

Hunter said:

[Remember the time difference. Internet friends shouldn't call at midnight.]

Ethan liked that message.

Finally, Claude.

[Fits.]

I stared at the screen, my finger pausing for a moment.

"Little Princess" had been his idea.

When I was thirteen, we went to an amusement park. I was afraid of heights and absolutely refused to go on the roller coaster. He sat with me below and ate two rounds of ice cream while Jack teased him all day.

That night, he changed my nickname and said:

—Fine. Our little princess doesn't need to be brave.

Now they thought I wasn't brave enough.

And they thought I needed them too much.

My father opened the car door for me.

"Anything else you forgot?"

"No."

I got in and left the group chat.

Then I canceled the shared album, turned off location sharing, and removed their access to my calendar.

Those little dots that used to make me feel safe disappeared from the map, one by one.

When I got to Claude, a new message came in.

[Come over tonight. Chloe said she'd save you some cake.]

Then a second later.

[Remember to bring the video hard drive. Don't make everyone wait.]

I looked at it for a few seconds.

I didn't reply.

Deleted. Blocked.

The car pulled out of the neighborhood.

At the intersection, I saw the convenience store we always went to. The graduation sale poster was still on the window.

Last summer, we bought five slushies there and sat on the curb of the parking lot, seriously discussing who would be the first to move out.

Jack said it definitely couldn't be me.

Claude put his arm around my shoulder and said he'd keep an eye on me.

At the time, I thought that was the most reassuring sentence in the world.

---

At the airport, my father walked me to the security entrance.

My mother video-called. She told me to let them know when I landed, then repeated everything she'd already said.

I didn't interrupt her.

Before hanging up, she suddenly said:

"Viv, don't hide everything from us just to prove you're fine."

I lowered my head, and the tears finally fell.

"I know."

My father hugged me.

The boarding announcement started.

As I walked toward the gate, I put my hand in my pocket and felt the silver bracelet.

Five letter charms tangled together.

I stood by the window and untangled them one by one.

When I was little, I always worried one would break off, that if I lost one of them, we wouldn't be the five of us anymore.

Later, I didn't even want to take it off to sleep.

But yesterday, they stood in my room, watched me get my wrist grabbed, and not one of them thought the chain still meant anything.

I clasped it and put it in a small paper bag in my carry-on.

Passing the trash can, I stopped and let go.

No photo.

No sending it to anyone.

My phone buzzed again. An email from the program team, reminding me which exit to meet the pickup teacher at after arrival.

I replied received.

Then I put my phone away and showed my boarding pass.

The plane was headed to Switzerland.

This time, the itinerary only had my name on it.
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App
Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Latest chapter

  • The Group Chat Without Me   Chapter 31

    Before security, my mother wrapped my scarf around my neck again.“Tell us when you land.”“I will.”My father checked my boarding pass.“When are you coming back?”“Around Christmas, maybe. It depends on testing.”“Tell us when you know.”He handed my phone back.“We can visit too.”I hugged them both.After security, I didn’t go straight to the gate.I sat in a coffee shop.There were new messages in the team chat.Someone had posted a wiring photo and asked me to confirm an interface location.Someone else said not to send work on the last day of my vacation.Several people agreed.I enlarged the photo, looked at it, and replied:[We’ll check it together when I’m back. I’m not working today.]A surrendering emoji appeared.Smiling, I put my phone away and finished my coffee.When boarding was announced, I picked up my bag.***Three years later, the new testing facility began operations.The module I was responsible for had finally moved beyond endless revisions and tests.It was a

  • The Group Chat Without Me   Chapter 30

    “You don’t have to take it,” Jack said. “I just wanted you to know I kept it.”I looked at the medal.“It was always yours.”He swallowed and closed his hand around it.Ethan held a slim sketchbook.“Not the old one. I’m not asking you to take it. I just…”He couldn’t finish.I could imagine how long they had prepared.What to say.Where to stand.How to look as though they weren’t asking for immediate forgiveness.None of that changed the fact that I didn’t want these things.Claude glanced toward the patio.“Chloe left Boston last year.”I said nothing.“We haven’t spoken in a long time. We also gave the school written statements. Everything that happened. Including what we saw and didn’t stop.”“We didn’t repost the video,” Hunter said quietly. “We gave the original files and statements to the school.”I nodded.“That was your responsibility.”“I know.”Claude’s voice was rough.“I used to think once everything with Chloe was settled, you’d stop being angry.”“Then I thought fixing

  • The Group Chat Without Me   Chapter 29

    They were arguing about whether the potatoes needed another five minutes.My mother turned.“What’s funny? Come set the table.”“I’m the person being celebrated.”“Researchers still need to eat.”I washed my hands and took the plates.Roast chicken. Vegetables. Apple pie from my childhood.No one stared at a phone.No one stood up halfway through because another girl needed them more.My mother asked about my colleagues.I told her someone kept the lab plants in better condition than the data.Someone needed exactly the same coffee every morning.Someone had borrowed a digital scale to prove the cafeteria pudding wasn’t sweet enough.My father nearly choked laughing.I laughed too.Then noticed my mother watching.“What?”“Nothing.” She cut a small piece of chicken. “On video calls, you always say work is fine, food is fine, everything’s fine.”My fork stopped.“Am I talking too much now?”“Not enough. Keep going.”So I did.The first field trip, when my gloves were too thick to uncap

  • The Group Chat Without Me   Chapter 28

    Ethan handed me an exhibition invitation.“New York. Next month.”I looked at it.He didn’t insist I come.He didn’t ask whether I still liked his designs.“I added your name to the acknowledgments.”“I heard.”“It should have happened sooner.”“Yes.”He looked down.“Thank you for what you did.”I nodded.“That, I’ll accept.”He looked up, surprised.I put the invitation in my document bag.Not a promise.An ordinary invitation.He seemed to understand.He didn’t press.***Hunter stood farthest away.Only after the others had spoken did he approach.“I didn’t photograph you.”I glanced at his camera.“I saw.”“I used to think if something was on film, you could keep it forever.”He gave a small, humorless smile.“Turns out you can’t.”I said nothing.“Do you still take pictures?”“Yes.”“With that camera?”“I still have it. It’s been repaired.”He stared.Perhaps he had imagined I’d thrown away everything connected to the past.“The camera didn’t do anything wrong,” I said.His eyes

  • The Group Chat Without Me   Chapter 27

    “Being independent doesn’t mean needing no one,” I continued.“It means choosing who to ask, who to travel with, and when to leave.”The girl nodded and sat down.My mother’s eyes were wet.She smiled at me.***Applause filled the room when the presentation ended.I bowed.When I straightened, the four of them were standing too.For a moment, Claude seemed to have forgotten how to clap.Jack’s eyes were red.Ethan took off his glasses and wiped them.Hunter finally lifted his camera.Then looked at me.Across the room, he raised a hand slightly, asking.I didn’t respond.He waited two seconds.Put the camera down.I turned to hug my colleagues.I didn’t feel triumphant.I didn’t feel regret.I was simply happy.And that happiness belonged entirely to me.***Claude waited at the end of the corridor.Not in the middle of the exit.He didn’t reach out to stop me.He only said my name.“Vivian.”I stopped.Beside me, Nora looked at my face.“Go ahead. I’ll catch up,” I told her.“Want me

  • The Group Chat Without Me   Chapter 26

    A row of lockers had been replaced by a display area.I stopped.Nothing dramatic happened.No one rushed out to apologize.The wounds didn’t all tear open at once.I simply remembered.How cold my wet skirt had felt.The sound of the camera hitting the steps.Looking toward the far end of the hall.No one coming.I stood there and slowly breathed out.Then walked outside.***On presentation day, my phone buzzed all morning.Colleagues checking materials.The moderator confirming pronunciation.My mother asking whether I needed comfortable shoes.Backstage, Nora adjusted my microphone cable.“Cold hands?”“A little.”She gave me a hand warmer.“Don’t take it onstage. Leo almost projected the wrapper onto the screen last time.”“That was two years ago,” someone protested nearby.I laughed.Beyond the door, the audience gradually quieted.The host began introducing us.At the side of the stage, I heard my name.Vivian Moretti.Not someone’s girlfriend.Not the girl four boys protected.

More Chapters

You May Also Like

Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status