Grace had disappeared at just the right time because it was 9 pm and Larissa had dragged Bayla to Midnights to meet Mady there. She had been raving to Bayla about Ezra, Mady’s brother, the whole time. And Emely wouldn’t show up until midnight, anyway.

The door to the room opened and a condescending-looking Vivienna peeked through the crack, looking around before her disapproving gaze lingered on me.

“Where’s Grace?”

Despite the urge to avoid her gaze, I studied her eyes.

Grace always said she was jealous that Vivienna was so lucky with her genes, but all I saw when I looked at her was that emptiness in her eyes that all Air Quatura our age shared.

Images flashed through my mind. Images of her sitting in Gloria’s office chair, tipping the cloudy contents of the vial into her mouth, and swallowing them.

“Julie? Are you responsive or back in your little world again?” Vivienna sighed and I winced.

“Grace is in Moenia...”

Vivienna just snorted and finally disappeared from the room.

I looked down at my hands and froze when I noticed the small ice crystals on my fingertips.

Panicked, I wiped them off on the bedspread.

No... That hadn’t just happened...

I looked at my fingertips again. But there was nothing there anymore.

Maybe it was the paranoia I’d had since the incident.

I hurriedly reached for my cell phone to distract myself.

Not only that, but Erik had texted me an hour ago, and I had been eagerly waiting to make good on my promise. It had been weeks since we had last texted through the night, and I was missing the exchange.

I opened the chat expectantly.

I had to smile.

He was online immediately.

Again, I had to smile.

I still felt bad about my absence on the weekend. In retrospect, I realized how that must have looked. Like I didn’t care about him.

I bit my lower lip.

Erik had somehow become very important to me.

I sighed.

I texted thank you and that’s what I was feeling right now. I was so grateful to him for all the understanding I couldn’t expect from anyone else around me.

My chest started to hurt a little because that was all I wanted to do – to tell him everything, to describe everything down to the smallest detail. I wanted to cry, to open up to him. But the rules told me not to. Erik was a human being, and I couldn’t forget that.

I hated always having to beat around the bush.

I thought about the best way to describe it to him. A little too long, apparently, because he texted again.

My heart tightened in despair.

I looked down at my hands digging desperately into the sheets... That’s when I discovered my fingertips had turned blue.

Shock spread through my chest, traveled to my stomach and I couldn’t help but stare at my hands in a daze.

I tried to look away, at the chat in front of me, but the tingling in my fingertips wouldn’t go away.

Immediately, the tension inside me eased, and my heart jumped slightly.

I was important to him...

What if this friendship was real after all, even if we were separated by a screen? What if Erik was proof that I wasn’t socially incompetent after all, as everyone in the Circle accused me of being?

I checked my fingertips again, but the bluish tinge had disappeared.

My heart was beating a little faster than usual. Normally, texting with Erik calmed me down and distracted me from my life, but right now, I was far too emotional.

I wondered what his social life was like, if he had friends and if I was just one of many internet acquaintances or if he struggled as much as I did... After all, he was a football player and...