Four Childhood Friends Played a Dare Game With Me. They Lied To Me—All For Her Chapter 02
Before I left, I wanted to return everything.
When Roman was twelve, he shoved his first basketball medal at me.
He said he was scared of losing it. Asked me to keep it safe.
I took the medal to the gym.
He was crouched on the floor, assembling a dorm rack for Nina.
Mattresses, lamps, storage bins piled around him.
“Lower,” Nina said, measuring with her hand, “I can’t reach.”
Roman immediately took it apart. Reassembled it.
He saw me. Didn’t bother standing.
“What do you want?”
I held out the medal. “Returning this.”
He blinked. “Why? Just keep it. Why bring it back now?”
“In case I don’t get another chance.”
He didn’t catch it. Tossed the medal into a box of junk.
“Perfect timing. Nina’s dorm needs cleaning. You’re free. Help out.”
I didn’t move.
Nina cut in, “No, it’s fine. Elara’s going to California. She’s busy packing.”
Roman glanced at me, “She can pack in ten minutes. She’s always been like that.”
I turned. Left.
He didn’t follow. Didn’t ask when I was leaving.
—
Caleb was in the library.
I returned the competition drafts he’d stored at my place.
He took them. His eyes went to the camera around my neck.
The one I’d saved a year of allowance for when I was fifteen.
Five years of our lives were in that camera.
“Leave the camera too,” Caleb said.
“Nina wants to make a growth video. For the welcome party.”
“It’s mine.”
“Just borrowing it. Not keeping it.”
He waved Nina over.
She walked up, eyes on the camera.
“Elara, I just want a few childhood photos.”
“Our childhood doesn’t have you in it.”
Her face paled.
Caleb frowned. “Was that necessary?”
“She just wishes she’d known us sooner.”
“So she takes my past to fill her regret?”
Caleb lost patience. Took the camera bag off my chair.
“A few days. Don’t make a scene.”
I reached for it. He moved it out of reach.
“After the video, I’ll have Damon return it.”
I stared at him. Two seconds. Let go.
“Fine.”
Nothing in that camera was irreplaceable.
What mattered, I’d already backed up.
—
Julian stopped me at my door.
“Good timing.”
He tossed a hard drive into my arms.
“All the videos from over the years. You’re good at editing.”
“Make Nina an eighteenth birthday documentary.”
I said, “She doesn’t have eighteen years of footage.”
“That’s why we’re using ours.”
He said it like it was obvious,
“Cut out the parts you’re in. Add some of Nina’s photos. Done.”
I looked down at the drive.
Our first bike ride. First camping trip. Every birthday the four of them spent with me.
Now they wanted to cut me out.
Let Nina take my place. Have a complete childhood.
“Okay.”
I took the drive.
Julian paused, “That easy?”
“Didn’t you say I’d get over it in two days?”
He rubbed his nose. “Glad you’re being reasonable.”
Not one of them asked when I was leaving.
—
That night, Damon took me to dinner.
Our usual place. He kept texting the whole time.
Nina said her dorm bed was too hard.
He contacted a vendor. Ordered a new mattress.
Nina said she was worried about her roommate.
He sent long voice messages to comfort her.
I finished eating. He didn’t notice.
“Damon.”
“Hm?”
“Do you remember what I’m doing tomorrow?”
He finally looked up. “Packing?”
“Something like that.”
He relaxed. Pushed his salad toward me.
“Don’t sulk. Go to California. Be good. I said I’d visit. I will.”
When we left, he kissed my forehead.
“Wait for school to start. In a while, the five of us will come find you in California.”
I didn’t call him out.
—
At home, I plugged the hard drive in.
Deleted everything.
My eighteen years. Why should Nina get to decorate her life with them?
I pulled the drive out. Put it in a shipping box.
My last gift to them.
A clean past. Without me.
