Chapter twelve

I stopped sitting with them at lunch.

No big scene. No slamming trays or dramatic exits. Just… one day, I didn’t go to the table. I walked past it like I had somewhere else to be. Like I mattered somewhere else.

I ended up in the back corner of the library, where the lights were too dim and the carpet smelled like old dust. Nobody noticed. Not really.

I told Jessie I had a quiz to make up. Told Ronnie I wasn’t feeling great. Lies, obviously, but they didn’t ask questions. Jessie just shrugged. Ronnie gave me one of those half-smiles and turned back to whatever story he was telling.

They didn’t need me anymore. Not in that way.

Jessie was still glowing like the afterburn of a fire—thriving on the chaos. Ronnie was busy lapping up his fifteen minutes of infamy like he’d been waiting his whole life for it.

And me?

I was disappearing.

Not all at once. Not loudly. Just quietly slipping into something I couldn’t name. Fading, like a bruise that overstayed its welcome.

I thought pulling away