When we got to my house, Rin stood at the bottom of the steps, smiling as he watched me head inside. I tried to look normal. Tried to remember how Elly walked into his house when he wasn’t keeping secret opinions from his friend. 

I think my normal self waved goodbye and stumbled into his own house. Or maybe he didn’t and I was just telling myself that so I wasn’t completely mortified. 

Because I sent Rin the biggest wave I could muster before turning around and tripping on nothing.

The lies were already getting to me. The presence of secrets that should never exist in such a sacred friendship was already driving me mad. 

Safely inside, I made a beeline for my bedroom, racing up the stairs three at a time. My parents weren’t home to hear it, otherwise I would’ve gotten an earful for stomping up the stairs like an elephant in high heels.

But elephant noises be damned, I had work to do. Not the four assignments burning a hole into my backpack. 

No. I mean important work.

This groundbreaking turn of events could not be left in my possession alone. And there were only two people I could trust to share it.

In my rush, I slammed my bedroom door and something fell down with a clatter.

“Shit.”

My bag was flung to the floor, forgotten, as I kneeled down. It didn’t look damaged but my body was still clenched with nerves at the thought that I broke it. With a delicate touch I picked up the photo frame. I dragged my fingers along the edges, tilted it to inspect the glass, then sighed in relief. Not a crack in sight.

The frame held my favorite picture of Rin and I. It was from 3 years ago, right before we hit puberty. At that time, my face still didn’t match my nose and Rin’s ears were still as big as Dumbo’s. But being good looking or popular didn’t matter to us back then. We had our cheeks pressed against each other’s, wearing the biggest smiles. Just being near one another made us happy.

I guess at some point, my thick-headed best friend forgot that.

Since the frame was still intact, I hung it back over the nail in my door. It did stick out from the other things on my walls. Like my laminated green lantern comic book and the gazillion TLC posters. (It’s important to recognize the best music group of all time on a regular basis) 

But, with the picture hung on the back of my door, it was the first thing I saw in the mornings. Seeing our pimply, grinning faces always reminded me of what really mattered. I wouldn't want to have the picture anywhere else.

With our middle school photo safely secured, I got back to business. It didn’t take long to invite them onto the call and within a few minutes, Coby and Tyler had their faces covering my phone.

“When’s Rin coming?” Coby asked because of course he did. Not taking a group census before every conversation would go against his hyper-extroverted nature.

“He’s not. This meeting is about him.”

Tyler, the most mellow dude I knew, had his mouth dropped open. We never did a call without Rin. Or more specifically, if I was on a call, Rin was always there with me. And now I was planning calls behind his back. If I was Tyler, I would have called the hospital for a quick psychiatric check. On me.

“Are you guys sitting down? Because I’m about to drop a bomb.”

Half of my screen was just them rolling their eyes but Tyler actually sat down on his bed. I propped my phone up above my dresser, aligning it right below the TLC FanMail tour promo poster. 

Then slowly, I backed up.

“Rin just told me that this thing with Stephanie . . . is serious.” 

A beat of silence. 

They weren’t freaking out the way I expected. Of course, I was known as the most expressive one in the group so I might have to try a little bit harder. With a huff, I continued. 

“He’s already thinking about spending less time with us to prioritize their relationship.”

“Really? Rin?” Colby frowned. “That’s not like him.”

“Yeah, wasn’t he swearing off of high school relationships like you?” Tyler added. 

“Exactly! This isn’t like him at all.”

Colby still had a small frown of confusion but Tyler was smirking. I had to act like I couldn’t see how triumphant he looked. For years, he’d tried to talk us–me–out of the vow against teen dating. He would spend hours at a time bringing up every statistic and talking point he could think of to no avail. 

And I hated that Rin was trying to prove him right.

“Maybe he’s changed,” Tyler tagged on, that smirk growing wider by the second. “Maybe Stephanie’s changed him.”

“You really think she’s changed him in less than 2 months?” I shot back. Tyler’s smirk finally slipped a bit. Because even he knew that 1 month and 3 weeks could never be enough time for all that.

“I get that it’s out of character, Elly, but shouldn’t we be supportive?” 

Colby’s irritating interjection of kindness left a sour taste in my mouth. The thought had crossed my mind–supporting Rin in his terrible decision. But could you support someone as they ruined their life? Stand by as they agreed to make the last two years of their high school career a living hell?

I myself, as his closest friend, could not.

“And don’t you think it’s important for him to prioritize all of his relationships?” I retorted.

“Yeah . . . ”

“Shouldn’t he spend his last two years of high school nourishing friendships he could keep for a lifetime?”

“Of course we do but-”

“Then it’s settled,” I cut Colby off, the idea cementing in my mind. “Those two need to break up.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit dramatic?” Tyler drawled, sounding almost paternal with his deep, stern voice. “People date in high school all the time and end up just fine.”

“But you guys don’t know Rin like I do.”

What I didn’t say was ‘you don’t know how much a break up could ruin him.’ Rin is too kind, too well-meaning, too considerate for heartbreak. If he actually fell for someone, by the time she broke up with him, there would be no more Rin left. He would have given everything to her to take on a shiny silver platter. Hell, maybe he would have even written the break up himself, saving her the effort of coming up with it.

I knew how he was with his parents. I knew how he was with me. I knew that his selflessness could be abused. So no, he doesn’t need a girlfriend. He needs his friends. And he needs me to help him.

“Don’t worry about it, guys,” I smiled tightly, rolling my shoulders back in sudden resolve. “I’ll figure something out on my own.”

This was a crazy idea, I knew that.

Going behind Rin’s back, even for this call, felt icky. Devising an entire plan to make him and his girlfriend breakup would feel 1000 times worse. 

But I remembered the picture hanging from my door. Two best friends knowing that the only thing they needed in this world was each other. I thought of Rin’s face when he said that he–UGH–he loves Stephanie. Of the dread I felt just hearing the words. 

There was no choice. I had to do this.

Tyler looked downright panicked, bringing the phone close to his face to plead.

“Elly, don’t do anything crazy-”

I hung up before he could say anything else. 

I hung up because I was about to do a lot of crazy. 

And Tyler would sleep better if he didn’t know what that crazy was.