Henry pushes his glasses up, his eyebrows pinched. “Melted was fun to write—even though you only ever half- listened to my notes. HAVE A HE(ART) was cool, getting behind a cause and rallying the other arts clubs. But then somehow it transformed into a Natalie vs. Reid situation. We could’ve had Melted. It could’ve been the play it was supposed to be. But once again, a prank war blew up in your face. Not just your face—all of our faces. Like I said it would. But you don’t listen. Like. Ever. You just do. And you’re still doing it and acting like you’re the victim.”

I blink back tears.

Where is this coming from?

“It’s just… it’s not what I wanted, Natalie. You know?”

“Henry, I know—”

He shakes his head. “You don’t. You never ask what I’m okay with. Not with Melted. Not with anything. When we started this together, it was supposed to be a reprieve from senior year stuff… and now it’s just more stress. You don’t even realize it, either. You just direct, like we’re all side characters in your story helping you get what you want.”

Do I have strong opinions? Yeah. I’m the one who’s been trying to protect what we both wanted, at least as much as possible. But I listen to his notes! The Moritz compromise was his suggestion! All I wanted was for Henry to be a part of this, to still have our last show together.

He’s the one who’s walking away.

“It feels like you’re calling Natalie selfish and that’s pretty ironic,” Fitz snaps in my defense. “You totally dumped us for Dani! Knowing how I felt—feel—about her. You’re kind of an asshole, Chao.”

“You don’t even know Dani,” Henry says.

“I know how she makes me feel,” Fitz says.

“We can’t read your mind, Henry,” I say. “So the sudden abandonment? It sucked.”

Henry scoffs. “You can’t read minds? You don’t listen. I just. I cannot.”

Henry ties his Adidas, eyebrows scrunched, his lips pressed together in a thin line, and I blink and he’s out the back door, just, like, gone. Bye!

With his dramatic storm out of the room accomplished, I turn to unpack it with Fitz. But her eyes fill with fresh tears and she storms off in the opposite direction, toward the living room. I run my hand through my hair, frustrated, and pick up my phone to read my missed texts.

Reid Callahan

last night was weird

9:37 AM