*Harper*
“Maybe I shouldn’t have left without saying goodbye,” I said. I was lying on my bed, hanging my head off the edge of the mattress like I was a high school girl chatting on the phone with her best girlfriend.
“Are you saying that you regret leaving?” Ellen asked.
“No, not at all,” I said. I sighed and shook my head, even though Ellen couldn’t see me. “I don’t know, maybe.”
“Maybe?” she asked, chuckling humorlessly. “Why did you leave, anyway?”
“Things got complicated,” I said evasively.
“Come on, Harper, I know you better than anyone. Tell me the truth,” she pressed.
I rolled onto my stomach and stared at the posters on my wall. I hadn’t changed anything about my room; it looked exactly the same as it did before I left for college.
“Oliver’s daughter, Jolee, she’s my age. She befriended me and felt really betrayed when she found out what was going on,” I explained, giving Ellen the cliff notes.