Noel slipped into the stream of students pouring out of the lecture hall, the buzz of chatter brushing past him like static. But he felt outside of it—disconnected.
He didn't want to talk to anyone. Didn't want to think. He wanted to disappear into his room, curl under the blanket, stare at the wall like it might finally answer him.
But his phone buzzed again.
A notification.
He glanced down.
Mara: "Group discussion. You coming? Sam and I are at the garden tables. Eli's on the way."
He almost sighed aloud.
He had forgotten about the group project.
Of course.
He could lie. He could say headache, bad lunch, something urgent.—but something inside him refused. Maybe pride. Maybe the part of him that needed to not fall apart.
So he typed back: "On my way."
The campus garden tables were tucked between two buildings, shaded by wide trees that made the spot cooler than anywhere else this time of day.
