It was a Thursday. A soft one — the kind of day when the sky looked like spilled milk and the wind whispered without rushing.
It was also the day Darby left.
Not with a bang.
But a suitcase and silence.
Sophie burst into our dorm room with the news, holding her phone like it was a golden ticket.
"She's gone," she announced. "Transferred. Just like that."
"What?" I blinked, setting down my psych notes. "Gone where?"
"She requested to transfer to Westbrook University. They accepted. Effective immediately."
I stared at her, unsure how to process it.
Darby? Transferred?
Vanished?
James texted next:
"Is it bad that I feel… relieved?"
"Also, weirdly sad. Like an era ended."
An era.
That's exactly what it was.
I didn't think I'd see her before she left.
But fate, or drama, or some poetic twist — had other plans.
I found her in the courtyard, standing under the cherry blossom tree. Her suitcase beside her. A navy duffle slung over her shoulder. Her nails still perfect.
She saw me. Didn't flinch.
"You came to say goodbye?" she asked, voice neutral.
"I didn't know I was going to," I admitted. "But… yeah. I guess I did."
She let out a slow breath, then sat on the stone bench. "You won."
I blinked. "It wasn't a game."
"Everything's a game, Charlotte. You just played it with less glitter and more sincerity. That's why you won."
I sat beside her. Careful. Still unsure.
"You hurt a lot of people," I said softly.
"I know."
"You tried to hurt me."
"I know that too."
There was a pause. Then she looked up at me — eyes tired, stripped of mascara, but not of pride.
"Here's the truth," she said. "You were never invisible, Charlotte. You were just quieter than the rest of us. And we didn't know how to handle quiet."
I didn't know what to say to that.
But something in me… loosened.
As her Uber pulled up, she stood, dusted off her jeans, and grabbed her suitcase.
"No fake hugs, please," she muttered.
"None planned," I replied.
She turned before stepping away. "For what it's worth… I'm sorry. Not just for what I did. But for never trying to know you."
Then she walked away.
No dramatic music.
No final insult.
Just the sound of wheels on pavement and a silence that felt like closure.
I told Sophie and James that night.
"She apologized?" Sophie blinked.
"Well… in her own Darby-way."
"I'll take it," James said. "And I'll take this peace. God, campus already feels lighter."
We laughed.
Zariah joined us later with celebratory cookies — half-burnt, full of love. The four of us sat in the common lounge, sprawled out, talking about everything and nothing.
And for the first time since freshman year…
Darby wasn't in the background.
She wasn't a threat.
She wasn't the ghost haunting my confidence.
Some endings don't need a door slammed shut.
Sometimes, they just… drift away.
And when they do,
you realize how much space they'd taken in your mind.
Darby's chapter in my life had finally closed.
And for the first time, I wasn't afraid of what came next.
Because I had my people.
And I had me.
And that was more than enough.