Before He Forgot Me

EPISODE TWO: I USED TO BE SOMEONE YOU KNOW

I spent the rest of homeroom pretending I wasn’t falling apart.

Noah sat just a few desks away—close enough that I could hear the scratch of his pen, the soft rustle of paper. Close enough to remember how it used to feel when he whispered my name like it was a promise.

Now he wouldn’t even look at me.

Maybe I was being dramatic. Maybe it was just coincidence. Maybe he really didn’t remember.

But how could he forget?

I stared out the window, watching sunlight flicker through the trees like memories I couldn’t hold onto. There was a time he used to walk me home. We’d laugh over things no one else understood. He once made me a paper crane in class, just to see me smile.

Did I imagine all that?

The bell rang, pulling me back. Students shuffled past me like I wasn’t there. Like I hadn’t just been shattered in silence.

I followed the crowd, trying to breathe normally.

Trying not to turn around.

Trying not to search for him.

But I did.

Noah stood by his locker, talking to a girl I didn’t recognize—long black hair, high heels, confidence that walked into the room before she did. She smiled at him like they had a secret. He smiled back like it was nothing.

Like he hadn’t once looked at me that way.

"New girl?"

I turned. A girl with curly hair and hoop earrings grinned at me.

"Yeah," I mumbled. "Amelia."

“Lena,” she said, offering a hand. “Come on. You look like you just saw a ghost.”

I almost laughed.

Not a ghost.

Just someone who used to know me better than anyone.

Now I was nothing.

A stranger.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“I used to be someone to him,” I whispered before I could stop myself.

Lena blinked. “Who?”

I forced a smile that didn’t quite reach my eyes.

“No one.”