Strings of Fate: The First Loop

CHAPTER 15

James threw his hands in the air like he was surrendering to fate itself.
I pretended not to see the way he was smiling despite himself.

Inez shrieked, full volume. Then turned to Tim and rolled her eyes as if she hadn’t just made that sound. Tim, poor thing, looked like a puppy whose treat had been taken away, his arms almost halfway around her before he remembered they were still sort-of fighting.

The whole table buzzed with movement, the idea already alive in everyone’s heads, sand, sea, salt in our hair. Like we were chasing something. Or maybe running from something. I wasn’t sure.

We spilled out of the cafeteria and settled on the benches near the parking lot like it was second nature, like this little cluster of chaos was ours.

James had his phone out, maps and gas prices open in one tab, and music playlists in another.
“I’m driving,” he declared with the kind of confidence that made me immediately doubt everything.
“You barely passed Physics,” Inez shot back, not even looking up from her Notes app where she was already plotting out our itinerary.
“That’s mechanics. Not... road navigation,” he muttered.
I laughed.

Tim was quiet, but not absent. He sat beside Inez, scrolling through his phone, nodding every now and then, probably just happy to be included, or just happy she wasn’t actively ignoring him anymore.

Drake was still on the phone, pacing like a talent manager organizing a world tour. “Corey, pack light. No, not your definition of light---"

They were teasing James again, something about his inability to pack without bringing his whole closet and his weird travel pillow shaped like a basketball.

I leaned back, letting the banter wash over me. The sun was warm against my cheek. The laughter around me settled in my bones like comfort food.

And for a moment, I just felt… okay.

No spirals. No emotional weight. No haunting memories waiting behind closed doors. Just friends. Planning a trip. Laughing over nonsense. This, I thought, this is what normal teens must feel like.
Not constantly dissecting feelings or people or grief.

Then Matt, sitting slightly at the edge of our circle, cut in, voice even, but just a hair uncertain.
“Am I… a part of this?”

There was a beat of silence, and then the whole group burst into laughter, not cruel, not mocking. Just that kind of warm, genuine chaos that says of course you are without needing to say it.

James threw an arm lazily around Matt’s shoulder.
“You helped me study, so you’re celebrating with us, dude.”

Matt smiled, real and full this time, and leaned forward to join the planning. Almost immediately, he and Inez were arguing over the itinerary.
“I’m thinking island hopping,” Matt said, pulling up a list of boat tours on his phone.

“I’m thinking skydiving,” Inez countered, eyes gleaming.

“Of course you are,” Tim mumbled.

Over the speaker, Corey’s voice chimed in through Drake’s phone.
“Inez, some way or another, you’re going to kill all of us.”

We burst out laughing again, that kind of laugh that feels like the first breath after holding it too long.

And in that moment, I couldn’t help but think that maybe this group of wildly different people, somehow crashing into each other, was exactly what I needed.

A little sun. A little salt.
A little chaos.
And maybe ,  just maybe ,  a new beginning.
The boys said their goodbyes after lunch,  James, Tim, and Drake heading off to basketball practice. James gave me a dramatic two-finger salute and spun a basketball once before chasing after the others, yelling something about “defending his rebound legacy.” Matt adjusted his glasses, gave us a polite nod, and muttered something about a student council logistics meeting before slipping off too.