“We’re friends,” I repeated.
“Of course,” she said quickly. “I just mean—sometimes friendships turn into other things.”
She smiled like she was sharing gossip.
Like she wasn’t rearranging my thoughts.
I didn’t notice that she never said it wouldn’t happen.
Only that it could.
Later, in the library, Oliver sat across from me while Ethan worked at another table.
He tapped his pen absently against his notebook.
“Do you ever feel,” he started, then stopped.
“What?”
“Like you’re in a room and everyone else got the instructions except you?”
I stared at him.
“All the time.”
He smiled faintly.
“That’s good.”
“Why is that good?”
“Because it means I’m not alone.”
The radiator ticked behind us.
Flora was somewhere in the poetry section.
James wasn’t here.
For once.
Oliver looked like he wanted to say something else.
He didn’t.
Instead, he packed his bag and left early.
Ethan followed five minutes later.
I watched them go.
From the doorway, James appeared.
He hadn’t been there a second ago.
He leaned against the shelf nearest me.
“Timing,” he said lightly.
“What?”
He shrugged. “Nothing.”
His eyes drifted toward the exit Oliver had just used.
Then back to me.
“You just have to know when to move,” he added.
I didn’t understand what he meant.
But something in my chest tightened anyway.
That night, the group chat buzzed again.
Plans.
Inside jokes.
Memes I didn’t understand.
Flora stopped replying halfway through.
I typed something.
Deleted it.
Typed again.
Deleted that too.
Across the screen, Sarah sent:
“Glad everything’s normal again 🤍”
Normal.
I stared at the word.
It felt like a costume.
And somewhere in the background of everything—
Something was shifting.
Not breaking.
Not yet.
Just… adjusting.
Chapter Four
The library after school smelled like lemon disinfectant and old paper.
That smell had started to mean something to me.
Not comfort exactly.
But something close enough that my brain accepted it.
Flora sat across from me, elbows on the table, a book open in front of her that she hadn’t turned the page of in ten minutes.
Her finger kept tapping the corner of the paper.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Like she was counting seconds.
Or waiting for something to happen.
The library windows had gone grey with the evening light. Outside, the sky looked like someone had rubbed a pencil across it too hard.
Sarah arrived first.
She pushed through the doors with her bag half falling off her shoulder and immediately spotted us.
Her whole face changed.
Relief.
Actual relief.
“Oh thank God,” she said, dropping into the chair beside me.
Flora raised an eyebrow.
“For what?” Flora asked.
“For things being normal again.”
Normal.
That word felt strange in my head.
Like trying to remember a dream you had already forgotten.
Anne and William were already there, sitting a few tables away.
Anne was writing quickly in a notebook, her handwriting sharp and angry.
William leaned back in his chair, scrolling through his phone like he didn’t care about anything happening around him.
James sat beside him.
Perfect posture.
Perfect calm.
Like he had been placed there deliberately.
Brenda arrived a minute later.
She slid into the seat near them.
“Did I miss anything?” she asked.
William shrugged.
“Not really.”
James didn’t look up.
Brenda tried laughing anyway.
It sounded forced.
Behind the desk, Miss Pratt was stacking returned books.
She looked up suddenly.
Her eyes found me immediately.
Not quickly.
Slowly.
Like she had expected to see me there.
She walked over.
Her shoes barely made any noise on the carpet.
“Liam,” she said quietly.
“Hi Miss.”
She tilted her head.
“Are you okay?”
The question hung there.
Flora stopped tapping the page.
Sarah looked between us.
Most teachers asked that question like it was part of a script.
Miss Pratt asked it like she already knew the answer.
“I’m fine,” I said.
She studied my face for a moment.
Then she nodded.
“If you say so.”
And walked away.
Flora leaned forward slightly.
“She knows,” Flora whispered.
“Knows what?”
“That something’s wrong.”
I looked around the room.
Everything looked fine.
Almost too fine.
Anne had stopped writing now.
She was arguing quietly with William.
“You didn’t even listen to what I said,” Anne snapped under her breath.
“I did,” William replied lazily.
“No you didn’t.”
James glanced between them.
“Anne,” he said calmly.
William immediately relaxed.
Anne noticed that.
The way William sided with James without even thinking.
Her jaw tightened.
Brenda tried joining the conversation.
“Wait what happened?”
No one answered her.
Not even James.
He had already turned back to William.
Brenda’s smile slowly disappeared.
Across the table, Flora noticed.
Her eyes narrowed.
James suddenly looked over at me.
“You’ve been busy lately,” he said casually.
“With what?”
“With Oliver.”
My stomach did something weird.
“We just hang out.”
“Right,” James said.
He leaned back slightly.
“Timing’s funny.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He shrugged.
“Nothing.”
Flora shifted in her seat.
She didn’t trust that tone.
A few minutes later James stood up and walked over to our table.
“Hey,” he said.
“Yeah?”
“Can I borrow your phone for a second?”
“Why?”
“Mine ran out of data. Need to text my mum.”
He held up his own phone.
The screen was black.
I hesitated.
Then handed mine over.
“Don’t go through my messages.”
James smiled faintly.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
He walked away between the shelves.
Flora watched him go.
“That’s weird,” she said quietly.
“He’s just texting someone.”
“He took your phone.”
“So?”
Flora didn’t answer.
A minute later James came back and set the phone on the table.
“Thanks.”
“Yeah.”
Nothing seemed different.
Which somehow made it worse.
The library slowly started emptying.
Anne and William left together but didn’t speak.
Brenda lingered like she expected someone to invite her with them.
No one did.
She eventually left alone.
Sarah packed her bag.
“I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” she said.
“Bye,” Flora replied.
Soon it was just me and Flora.
And Oliver.
He walked in quietly like he always did, hair messy, backpack slung over one shoulder.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey.”
He sat next to me.
Flora watched us both.
Oliver rubbed the back of his neck.
“I have detention tomorrow.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah.”
He hesitated.
“Can you set a reminder on your phone for me?”
“Sure.”
I grabbed my phone.
“Hey Siri,” I said.
“Set a reminder for Oliver Glosby to do his detention tomorrow.”
The phone chimed.
Then Siri said loudly:
“Reminder set: Remind Oliver Glosby ❤️ to do his detention.”
Oliver froze.
“…Why is there a heart?”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
He pointed at the screen.
“My name.”
I forced a laugh.
“Oh. That.”
“Why is there a heart?”
“I accidentally did that earlier,” I said quickly.
“I tried to change it but I forgot how.”
Oliver stared at the screen for a moment.
Then shrugged.
“Phones are weird.”
“Yeah.”
He grabbed his bag.
“Thanks for the reminder.”
“No problem.”
After he left, Flora immediately leaned closer to me.
“That was weird.”
“What?”
“The heart.”
“It was a mistake.”
She didn’t look convinced.
Then she hesitated.
“Also… something happened earlier.”
“What?”
Flora lowered her voice.
“James was talking about you.”
My chest tightened.
“What did he say?”
She hesitated again.
“He called you ‘Library Bitch.’”
“…What?”
“He said you’ve ditched the group just to sit in the library with your crush.”
My stomach turned.
“And he started making fun of your last name too.”
“What did he say?”
“He said ‘Look, it’s Liam Rowan, king of the fucking library.’”
I stared at the table.
“Warren said ‘okay.’”
“And?”
Flora shrugged.
“No one else said anything.”
The silence that followed felt heavy.
I stood up.
“Where are you going?” Flora asked.
“To talk to him.”
I found James near the lockers outside.
He looked up when he saw me.
“Something wrong?”
“Did you call me ‘Library Bitch’ earlier?”
He blinked.
Then shrugged.
“Yeah.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
James looked genuinely confused.
“Well… you have been hanging out with him.”
“With Oliver?”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t mean you get to talk shit about me.”
James adjusted his blazer.
“You’re still in the group,” he said calmly.
“So relax.”
“That’s not the point.”
He smiled faintly.
“Funny thing about names,” he said.
“What?”
“They stick.”
Then he walked away.
Leaving me standing there.
And somehow the calmness of it all felt worse than if he had yelled.
Chapter Five
The Second Chat
The group chat came back like nothing had happened.
That was the first red flag.
My phone buzzed against the library table, the sound louder than it should have been in the quiet.
I didn’t pick it up straight away.
I just stared at the screen.
Group Chat (9)
Same name.
Same people.
Same stupid normality.
Like the last few weeks hadn’t existed.
Like people hadn’t been pushed out and pulled back in like pieces on a board.
I opened it.
William:
who’s bringing food tomorrow
Sarah:
i can
Anne:
no you always bring weird stuff
Sarah:
shut up 😭
William:
lmao
It looked normal.
Too normal.
Like a script.
Like everyone had agreed to act like nothing was wrong.
My fingers hovered over the keyboard.
Then I typed.
Me:
i’ll bring something
The message sent.
Immediately, the typing bubble appeared.
Then disappeared.
Then came back.
Then disappeared again.
It went on for too long.
Like someone was deciding what version of the conversation I was allowed to be part of.
Finally—
James:
good idea
That was it.
Just him.
No one else replied.
It ended there.
Like he had decided the conversation was over.
I locked my phone.
Something about that felt off.
Not wrong in a way I could explain.
Just—
Controlled.
“Who messaged?” Flora asked.
I looked up.
She was watching me again.
She’d been doing that a lot.
“Group chat,” I said.
“And?”
“It’s normal.”
Flora frowned.
“That’s not a good thing.”
I didn’t respond.
Because she was right.
Across the library, James wasn’t even looking at his phone.
He was leaning back in his chair, talking to William like nothing required his attention.
Like he hadn’t just ended a conversation with a single message.
My phone buzzed again.
I picked it up.
Brenda:
are we still sitting together tomorrow
I waited.
The typing bubble appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
I watched it like it meant something.
Like I could decode it.
Nothing came.
No reply.
Not from Sarah.
Not from William.
Not from Anne.
Not even from James.
The message just sat there.
Ignored.
Left to rot.
Flora leaned forward slightly.
“What did she say?”
“She asked if we’re sitting together tomorrow.”
“And?”
“No one answered.”
Flora’s expression hardened.
“That’s deliberate.”
“Maybe they just didn’t see it.”
“Liam.”
She didn’t need to say anything else.
I knew.
⸻
I didn’t leave the library until it was almost empty.
The silence had changed.
It wasn’t calm anymore.
It felt—
Pressed down.
Like something was sitting on top of it.
When I got home, I dropped my bag on the floor and lay back on my bed, staring at the ceiling.
I tried not to think about it.
The chat.
The pauses.
The way everything felt slightly delayed, like a bad connection.
Buzz.
My phone lit up again.
I grabbed it.
Not the main chat.
A different notification.
Unknown.
I opened it.
gc (8)
My chest tightened instantly.
Eight.
There were nine of us.
I tapped it.
The messages loaded slowly.
Too slowly.
Like my phone was hesitating.
Like it didn’t want to show me.
Then they appeared.
William:
she’s so dramatic
Warren:
fr
James:
just ignore it
Sarah:
we shouldn’t be doing this
James:
relax
My stomach dropped.
I scrolled.
More messages.
Older ones.
Conversations that had been happening at the same time as the main chat.
Different tone.
Different energy.
More honest.
Or maybe just more cruel.
Brenda:
are we still sitting together tomorrow
I froze.
That message.
It was here too.
But this time—
There were replies.
William:
idk
Warren:
depends
James:
we’ll see
I felt something cold settle in my chest.
They had seen it.
They had answered.
Just not where she could see.
I checked the members.
My finger hovered for a second before I tapped it.
Names loaded.
William.
Sarah.
Anne.
James.
Warren.
Brenda.
Me.
I blinked.
I was in it.
But Flora—
Flora wasn’t there.
Not even mentioned.
Not even referenced.
Like she had been cut out completely.
Like she had never existed in this version.
I scrolled back up.
Looking for her name.
Anything.
There was nothing.
My throat felt tight.
This wasn’t just exclusion.
This was—
Editing.
Like someone had taken the group and made a cleaner version.
A quieter version.
A version without disruption.
A version without Flora.
My phone buzzed again.
Back to the main chat.
James:
tomorrow should be fun
I stared at the message.
Then switched back to the second chat.
Same time.
Same moment.
Two conversations.
Two realities.
One controlled.
One visible.
My fingers moved before I could stop them.
I typed into the second chat.
Me:
why am i not in this one
The message sent.
Instantly.
Read.
Every single person saw it.
The typing bubble appeared.
Stopped.
Appeared again.
Then—
Nothing.
No response.
No explanation.
No denial.
Just silence.
Heavy.
Deliberate.
My heart was beating too fast now.
Not panic.
Something worse.
Understanding.
This wasn’t an accident.
This wasn’t people forgetting.
This wasn’t miscommunication.
This was controlled.
Every message.
Every delay.
Every silence.
I locked my phone slowly.
The room felt different.
Quieter than it should have been.
Like the noise had been turned down just enough to notice it.
I sat there for a long time.
Thinking about Flora.
About the way she said:
“That’s not an accident.”
Thinking about Brenda.
Typing messages into a chat where no one would answer her.
Thinking about myself.
Sitting in the version where everything looked fine.
Where everything was allowed to look fine.
And somewhere in the back of my mind—
A thought I couldn’t ignore anymore.
Not chaos.
Not drama.
Not mistakes.
This was something else.
Something slower.
Something cleaner.
Something worse.
And at the centre of it—
James.
Not loud.
Not angry.
Just…
Present.
Like he didn’t need to do anything anymore.
Because everything was already exactly where he wanted it.
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