I Was Already Gone novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: The Apology Circle

By Friday morning, forty thousand people had been told I was not well.

Gus read it out loud to me over cereal, holding his phone at arm's length.

It was a post from Brecken's account, a photo of him and Laney on the steps of the library, her head on his shoulder.

"Please give my best friend Elliott some space," Gus read. "He's having a hard time with us, and he isn't himself right now. Love you, man. We're here when you're ready."

"Isn't himself," I said.

"Eleven thousand comments. They're calling him mature."

"Of course they are."

Gus scrolled.

"One person says you've been stalking Laney since middle school."

"I haven't stalked anyone."

"You've stood outside her house in a song," Gus said, and then he winced. "That was not a good point. Forget I said it."

I put my spoon down.

I had practiced one sentence in the shower.

I was not going to be late for this one.

The dining hall at ten o'clock was the busiest room on campus, and I walked into it with Gus a step behind me.

People looked up.

I felt it all the way across the floor, that ripple of heads, then the lowered voices.

I got my tray, and I sat down at a table near the window, and I ate my eggs.

I was on my second bite when Laney came through the doors.

She wasn't alone.

Brecken was three steps behind her, hands in his jacket pockets.

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