All Chapters of The Group Chat Without Me: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Growing up, I always had four boys around me.They were the most popular guys in school. Friday night football games, weekend pool parties, even who got to sit at their lunch table—people cared about all of it.But the spot next to them was always saved for me.My locker was stocked with snacks they'd shoved in there. My phone was full of goofy photos of them from games.After every party, someone would drape a varsity jacket over my shoulders and walk me home.So when college acceptances came out, they spread four Stanford letters in front of me and asked if I dared to give up Harvard and go to California with them. I barely hesitated.We even made a group chat called "Five on the West Coast."I shared dorm photos, orientation events, even made a road trip route map across the country.Until the night of the graduation party. Claude lent me his tablet to pick songs, and I saw a chat window he hadn't logged out of.[So all four of us are staying in Boston with Chloe, and only Vivian ac

The next day, I put a few things in a paper bag and drove to Chloe's new apartment.Jack was inside.He was on a stepladder installing curtains, a pencil between his teeth. Chloe stood below, holding the ladder for him."A little more to the left," she said. "The morning light will hit the bed.""Like this?""Mm, perfect."He looked down and smiled at her.I'd seen that smile before.Freshman year, I was waiting for the school bus in the rain. He pulled up to the curb, dangled his keys through the window, and said, "Get in. You can pick the music today."I knocked on the open door.Jack saw me and blinked."What are you doing here?"I took the medal out of the paper bag.The first youth league medal he'd won when he was twelve. After the game, he'd shoved it through the fence and told me it was safer with me."Returning this."He came down the ladder."Why?""I'm leaving. I'm packing.""Going to California isn't moving to the moon."He took it and tossed it into the junk basket by the

When I got home and finished changing, the doorbell rang.The five of them stood outside.Jack spoke first."Where's the bracelet?"I held the door."What?""The one you gave Chloe yesterday. She was wearing it earlier and now it's gone."Hunter glanced at the towel in my hand."You two were closest just now."I nodded slowly."So you came to me?"Chloe stood in the back and said quietly, "Maybe I dropped it. It's not necessarily...""Let's look inside first," Claude said.He reached to push the door, so familiar with the motion that I didn't react in time.For eighteen years, they'd never felt they needed an invitation to my house. My parents treated them like their own kids, and I'd always thought that meant closeness.Until Hunter walked into my room and pulled open my desk drawer."Don't touch that."He didn't look up."We'll leave once we find it."Jack opened my closet and saw half the hangers empty."You packed this early?"A suitcase stood by the bed.Ethan glanced at it."Stan

The afternoon I left Boston, Chloe’s birthday party started right on schedule.Silver balloons hung by the windows. Paper plates and soda covered the dining table. Hunter had borrowed a projector so they could play her birthday video on the living room wall.The cake had arrived.Five fondant figures stood together on top. The girl in the middle wore a cream dress.Claude stood by the balcony door, checking his phone for the third time.The last message was still his.[Remember to bring the video hard drive. Don’t make everyone wait.]No reply.He called me.When the automated recording started, he frowned, moved somewhere quieter, and tried again.Still nothing.Jack passed him carrying bags of ice.“When did she say she’d get here?”Claude didn’t answer. He opened our conversation and sent another message.This time, a red warning appeared beside it.He stared for two seconds.“She blocked me.”Hunter was crouched on the floor, connecting the projector. He laughed.“So she’s taking i

They sat in the car for a long time.Hunter broke the silence.“She must have gone to Stanford.”Ethan looked at him.“The semester hasn’t started.”“A freshman program. A dorm tour. Something.”Jack immediately searched for flights to California.Claude stayed still.He was looking through the last photos I’d sent them.A screenshot of the housing website.Our cross-country route.A blue folder on my desk.That day, I had asked in the group chat:[Are you sure you don’t want to spend a few weeks in Europe first? The program director said I could join them for summer training.]Jack had sent an exaggerated freezing emoji.Hunter said spending a summer filming mountains in a heavy coat sounded like a waste.Claude had replied:[Didn’t you promise to drive to California with us?]I hadn’t answered for a long time.Then:[Okay.]Claude opened the photo and enlarged the folder label.Swiss.He sat up sharply.“Switzerland.”Jack looked over.“What?”“She might have gone to Switzerland.”Et