After four years with Caleb Mercer, I thought I truly belonged in his inner circle.
Then one day, he left his phone behind when he went to shower, and a Messenger group chat
notification flashed across the screen.
The group chat was called “Life’s Better Without Nora Bennett.”
The chat had eight members. Among them were Caleb; his sister, Rachel Mercer; his two childhood
friends, Dylan Ross and Trevor Hale; my roommate; my best friend, Brooke Lawson; and even my
own younger brother, Owen Bennett.
I stood frozen as the messages kept appearing.
Rachel: [She’s not coming to the cookout Saturday, right? Last time she was there, no one could
really let loose.]
Brooke replied: [Don’t worry. I told her I had to work that day. She won’t suspect anything.]
Owen sent a smirking emoji.
Caleb replied: [Okay. Same place as usual. I’ll reserve our spot.]
I scrolled up through the chat history.
The group had been created two years and three months earlier. There were more than seven
hundred messages.
Every happy plan in that chat depended on keeping me out of it.
