Chapter 13 The Breaking Point
Trina walked into class the way a still lake looks right before a storm too calm, too quiet, too unlike her.
Not the Trina who laughed too loudly sometimes, not the Trina who teased Roomy for eating too fast, not the Trina who argued with Alex just to feel heard.
No.
This Trina was silent.
She sat down in her usual seat same column as Alex and Roomy.
Roomy watched her from the corner of his eye, worried, but careful not to show it.
Alex watched her too but he didn't understand what he was seeing.
He never did.
The silence stretched.
Alex clicked his tongue.
"Why are you quiet?" he asked.
No answer.
He leaned closer.
"Seriously, Trina? Was that enough to break you? You can't handle anything, can you? You always overreact. It wasn't even that deep. You're so"
Trina stood up.
Slowly.
Too slowly.
And when she looked at him, Alex finally stopped talking.
Her eyes weren't angry.
They weren't sad.
They weren't anything.
Just empty.
Roomy exhaled sharply.
"Dude," he said, voice low and steady. "That's not how you talk to her."
Alex blinked, confused. "What? What are you even"
"I'm serious." Roomy's voice didn't rise. But it hit hard.
"You don't get to decide how things feel to her."
Alex's jaw tightened.
"What the hell is going on between you two? We've been friends for years. Don't act like I'm the villain here. She's the one acting weird."
Roomy didn't answer.
He just looked at Trina like he already knew she was slipping away again.
The classroom door slid open.
Mr. Booksman walked in, holding his attendance sheet.
"Alright, settle down"
He stopped when he saw Trina still standing, still quiet.
"…Trina?"
No response.
"Trina," he repeated, gentler now. "It's not like you to be unfocused. Are you alright?"
Natalie snickered behind her textbook.
Alex looked away.
Roomy took a half-step toward her.
Trina finally moved.
But not to sit down.
Not to speak.
She picked up her bag slow, graceful, steady and walked to Natalie's desk.
Natalie smirked up at her, expecting a fight. A performance. An explosion.
Trina didn't even look at her.
She just stepped past her, walked out of the classroom, and closed the door behind her.
No sound.
No explanation.
Just absence.
And somehow
that was louder than anything she could have said.