--- SUNDAY After the Great Snack Confession Disaster of Saturday, I woke up in a state I like to call: Love Hangover Panic Mode™. I lay in bed replaying it on loop: “I think I lo—” “I LOVE SNACKS.” Ethan: [laughs forever] Kill me. Maya texted: Maya: on a scale of 1 to public karaoke, how awkward was it? Me: SNACKS. I PANICKED. Maya: legendary I wanted to tell Ethan the truth. I really did. But instead I texted: Lia: thanks for the candy yesterday Ethan: anytime Ethan: i still believe in your snack-based value system Lia: bless u We didn’t talk about The Almost. And I didn’t bring it up. Because if I did, I was afraid the words would tumble out for real. --- MONDAY The tension was... different. Soft. We still walked to class together. Still laughed. Still passed no

