Darcy and Cecilia’s emotional exchange was brought to an abrupt stop at the sound of Darcy’s ringtone. They broke the hug with hesitation, and Darcy took out her phone. It was an unregistered number. Her eyebrow lifted. Sissy glanced at the screen too.

“Maybe it’s him!” She exclaimed, wiping her tears in excitement.

“No... I have his number, so it can’t be him.”

After considering it for a few more seconds, she picked up, wiping her own tears with her elbows.

A male voice spoke first.

“Oh, she picked up!” He seemed to be talking to someone. It was not a voice she recognized, and there was a lot of noise in the background.

“Who is this?” Darcy asked, somewhat alarmed.

“Oh, you won’t believe this. Uhm, hahah...” he continued awkwardly. “This is Karl. You’re Darcy, right?” Darcy felt her heart drop to her stomach. Why was he calling her, and why did he sound so... abnormally normal?

“Yes. Good to know you’re safe Karl.” She kept her voice as monotone as possible. She glanced at her sister for a moment, and held her hand.

“Not gonna lie, that didn’t feel very genuine.” Karl replied, laughing casually.

“Sorry, I don’t know you enough to be genuine.” Darcy was quite composed, feeling more strength seep into her from her little sister’s soft grasp.

“Ah, will you be more honest if we get to know each other?” Darcy frowned. All she wanted was to be left unbothered tonight. Now this guy who just got back from god-knows what hell, is flirting with her through the phone. She remained silent for a moment, leaving him the time to reflect upon his own words.

“Dude, she obviously doesn’t wanna talk to you. Just stop it.”

Quinn’s voice in the background was vivid enough for her to gasp. Cecilia lifted her eyebrows at the visible change on Darcy’s face which seemed to redden.

“Don’t be a cockblock, Quinn. She’s just nervous, right Darcy?” Karl argued back, seemingly amused.

“No. Quinn’s right. I don’t want to talk to you.” She heard few voices chuckle a little far away, and realized that he had her on loud-speaker. Perfect. “In fact, you’re interrupting my very precious time with my family. So, Karl, I’d like to ask you and Quinn to kindly fuck off.” Laughter filled her ears from both the phone and her sister. She then hung up the phone, and breathed out a long sigh. Cecilia was laughing so hard her eyes teared up. Before she placed the phone back in her pajamas, she received a text from Quinn:

“Thank u. That was perfect.” Sent: 19:20

This self-absorbed asshole. Darcy aggressively typed back: “I didn’t do it for u. now stop annoying me.” Sent: 19:21

“Who are you texting?” Cecilia peered at her from her shoulder. “Quinn? Oh you said the name on the phone too. Who is she?”

“It’s a he. He’s the one...”

“Oh! You’re pretty aggressive towards someone you like.” Sissy chuckled, brushing her sister’s dark hair with her fingers.

“I told you he’s a bitch. Why would I be nice to him?” Darcy kept her eyes on the phone, wondering if he would reply. He had seen the text.

“But you said it’s a misunderstanding.”

“Not all of it.”

Darcy jumped at the beep her phone made. Her heart was beating so quickly.

“Yes, sorry...” Sent: 19:23

Cecilia let out a sympathetic “aww” from behind her. She had begun braiding Darcy’s hair by now, her hazel eyes fixed on her older sister’s phone.

“He’s pretty nice though.” She commented with a pout. Darcy glanced at her affectionately but said nothing.

“Answer him.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Yes you do. You keep staring at your phone.” Sissy teased, smirking.

“I am just thinking that’s all.”

“Hmmm.... sure.” With one smooth pull, Cecilia took the phone from Darcy’s hands. The latter jumped up in surprise.

“Hey!”

Cecilia ran away as she recorded a voice mail:

“Hi. I am Darcy’s sister. I don’t have much time because Darcy’s running after me to take her phone back, but listen_”

“Don’t you dare Sissy, or I swear to god!”

“That will be recorded too, dumbass!” Sissy laughed mischievously, running in the hallway, with Darcy behind her. “Anyway, as you can see, I am out of time. Just keep bugging her okay? She’ll reply eventually! Good luck!”

She then stopped abruptly, and Darcy bumped at her. She instantly took back her phone. The voice mail was already sent. Darcy face-palmed.

She aggressively ruffled her sister’s hair. She couldn’t even delete it anymore: it was already seen.

“Ah, you idiot, what have you done?”

“Thank me later.”

Quinn listened to that voice mail no less than ten times. His heart would leap every time Darcy’s voice would come, and he would laugh at her sister’s audacity. He certainly needed that. He had been feeling terrible the moment Karl stepped into campus. His face was scarred terribly, as though the lines they had drawn across his pictures came to life on his own features. He had cuts all over his cheeks, and his once long hair was cut too short.

They had not hugged, nor exchanged their usual hand greetings. They simply looked at one another, with gazes only they understood, before Quinn approached him to walk him into the campus. The rest of Karl’s friends reacted differently, however, showering him with hugs and kisses. The festive atmosphere seemed to have clouded their perception of what he had been through. To them, it seemed as though he had simply returned from a long vacation. They asked him random questions to break the ice, like how he was feeling, or how long it would take his face to heal, and Karl answered them cheerfully. Quinn was dreadfully silent. All he could think about was Darcy. His only wish was that she would not come.

Together, they played several games, had several drinks (Quinn only had one,) and shared all sorts of stories in a circle around the fire. They waited for the college director to officially welcome Karl before they took out their rolled joints and passed them around. They kept it for hours on end, with Karl at the center of everything. Quinn, meanwhile, kept searching around for any signs of Darcy. At some point, he even wondered if he actually wanted her to be here.

“Yo, Quinn.” Karl’s voice close to his ear pulled a stop to his train of thoughts. He turned towards him.

“The cops told me about the letter. Is it true that Darcy read all the shit I wrote?” Seeing her name shape his lips somehow irked Quinn. This was the same person who had said all those things about her. This was the same person who talked casually about wanting to rape her.

“All except your diary. I got really drunk one night and pissed on it thinking it was a toilet. Sorry about that.” Quinn faked an apologetic smile. He had actually pissed on it a second time while sober.

“Oh, so you didn’t read it either?” The fire of the camp reflected itself menacingly on Karl’s olive eyes.

“I mean, I started to read it. But I got bored soon and forgot about it.”

“Why didn’t Darcy read it?”

“She said she didn’t feel entitled to because she didn’t know you. So she gave it back to me.” Karl blushed at this, and Quinn wished he could cut up his face even more. He took out his phone.

“Give me her number. You have it, right?”

“Why?”

“Cuz I wanna talk to her, obviously. I finally feel brave enough to do it.”

“Just let her be, man. She’s been through a lot.”

“Are you being for real?” Karl protested in a loud voice, turning everybody’s eyes towards him. This was one of his old tricks, Quinn thought. Whenever he couldn’t get what he wanted, he’d play the victim.

“I just wanted to thank her, man.” He added pathetically. Quinn really wanted to punch him.

“K’ay.” He took out his own phone, and showed him the number.