Kai didn't text me that night.
I checked my phone more times than I wanted to admit, the screen staying stubbornly dark, no three dots appearing and disappearing the way they used to at eleven at night when he couldn't sleep either. I told myself I understood. I'd handed him something enormous and quite hard to accept, and understanding didn't happen on command just because I needed it to.
I still checked my phone anyway, all night long.
Tuesday morning I saw him for exactly four seconds, across the courtyard, before he turned toward the gym entrance instead of the main doors, a route he never took unless he was avoiding something. He didn't see me or maybe he saw me and chose the gym doors anyway, which was its own kind of answer.
Maya found me at lunch, sliding into the seat across f
