Chapter 22

• JESSIE
• The silence in my dorm room was a suffocating blanket, heavy and thick, pressing down on me with an intensity I hadn't known silence could possess. I sat on the edge of my bed, my gaze fixed on the peeling wallpaper, the faded floral pattern mocking the turmoil inside me. Tamara was out, her laughter echoing in some distant bar or restaurant, a world away from the silent chaos consuming me. She was blissfully unaware, her life a vibrant tapestry I was about to tear myself out of.
• I couldn’t tell her. The truth was a jagged shard of glass, poised to shatter everything. She still saw me as the innocent, the untouched, the friend who shared late-night study sessions and whispered secrets. If she knew I had betrayed her, that I had crossed the line with her parents—her married parents, Olivia and Cal—the bond we had forged would disintegrate. She would look at me with disgust, with a hatred I didn’t think I could bear.