t the world after everything c

ful. Just

y texts. No chaotic messages from Chelsea threatening to e

sil

but didn't stop to talk. Uchenna gave me space, probably tired of

Chel

er laughing with friends, posting filtered selfies with cryptic captio

ed looking fo

ust trying t

avor's favorite reading place. She wasn't there anymore, of course. Not sin

I expected

she once smiled made me fe

day, she fin

rom my notebo

locs pulled up into a bun, glasses re

sat at the other

et betw

as more than I t

speak for

d, "You lo

chuckle. "Healin

odd

sil

"Do you still

allo

es

still wa

ked a

t the idea of her

losed h

s prog

kay after that. We weren'

ry day. Not long. But something was being rebuilt not a r

in could be held

s Favor

n't fix

for them to f

e messa

mous

way from her if you kn

d at it,

h

vo

el

message

o you're messing

art t

words like daggers not threats. And Fa

a's story the older guy.

this

e looked at the t

is kain sugar daddy no get consc

should

steer clear. Yo

said th

n Chelsea in days, the storm sti

n a sleek car pulled up beside us. Tinted wi

dow rol

in the pas

met min

lder guy leaned forward slightly. Just enou

e car d

. Like a w

ped my arm

im," I sa

outside her hostel b

t say mu

r between

had stopped b

becom

ght, I got an

ith her. You want t

ds tre

about Chel

s about

I was a threat simply bec

elling Favo

e way the man looked at me

want he

e next day, she sp

," she said. "Girls talking. Some warning me

hat rumor's

" she said. "I think som

ilence, staring

the last thi

lieve

e wo

oment, they w

orgiv

be

Chelsea. From her social circles. From anything that ca

ating half dreaming her laughter, the burn of

thing with

hey're gone

you most... is the quiet s

y, Favor began to

, I asked her, "Why

t love versions of people. I

the lump i

now who I'

honest," she said

rst time in mo

eal