Sunday evening was usually my favorite time
because I would spend it texting Leo about the
week ahead. I was sit ing on my bed, finishing
some homework,
and I picked up my phone to
send him a funny picture of my cat. I typed out
a quick joke and hit send. But something was
weird. The message didn
't say
"Delivered.
" It just
sat there with a single grey tick. I thought
maybe his phone was dead or his WiFi was
acting up. I didn
't think much of it. I just put
my phone down and went to get some dinner
,
thinking he
'd reply in an hour or two like he
always did.An hour passed. Then two
. I kept checking my
phone every five minutes. The screen stayed
dark. I went back into our chat and tried to look
at his profile picture—the one of him wearing
those cool sunglasses he was so proud of. But
the picture was gone
. In its place was just a
grey, blank circle
. My heart started to beat a
lit le faster
.
"Maybe he just deleted his account,
"
I told myself. I tried to view his
"Last Seen
"
status, but that was gone too
. It was like he had
just vanished into thin air
. I felt a cold shiver go
down my spine
, but I tried to stay calm
I decided to try one more time
. I typed:
"Hey,
is
your phone okay? I can
't see your picture
.
" I hit
send. Nothing. The message stayed grey. That
was when the truth started to hit me
. I knew
what this looked like
. I had seen other girls in
Class 8 talk about being blocked, but I never
thought it would happen to me
. Not after the
months of whispers. Not after the doublemeaning jokes. Not after I proved I was
innocent. I felt a lump in my throat that wouldn
't
go away. Why would he do this now
,
right before
the sections changed?
I didn
't sleep at all that night. I just stared at
the ceiling,
wondering what I had done wrong. I
went through every single text we had sent in
the last week. Had I been too annoying? Did I
say something that hurt his ego? I couldn
't find
anything. We had been perfectly fine on Friday.
We had laughed. We had made plans. The
silence was so loud it made my ears ring. Every
time I closed my eyes, I saw that grey circle
where his face used to be
. It felt like a door had
been slammed in my face
,
and I didn
't even
know why.
Monday morning arrived,
and I felt like a ghost
walking into school. My eyes were heavy and
my stomach was in knots. I walked straight to
the back row
, hoping to see him sit ing there so
I could ask him what was going on
. But when I
got to our desk, he wasn
't there
. A different boy
was sit ing in his seat, put ing his books away. I
felt dizzy. I looked around the room
, but Leo was
nowhere to be found. The teacher stood up and
announced that the new sections were final. Leo
had been moved to Section C. I was still in
Section BI spent the whole morning looking for him in
the hallways. Finally, during the break, I saw
him near the stairs. He was talking to a group of
boys, laughing and acting like he didn
't have a
care in the world. I walked up to him
,
my legs
feeling like jelly.
"Leo?" I said quietly. He
turned around,
and for a second, his face went
pale
. But then
, he put on that cold, bored look
again
. He didn
't say hi
. He didn
't smile
. He just
looked at me like I was a stranger he had never
met before
.Why did you block me?" I asked. My voice
was shaking,
and I hated it. I wanted to sound
strong, but I just sounded broken
. Leo shrugged
and looked away at his friends.
"Look, Elara
,
we
'
re in different sections now
. I told you
everything changes. I'll probably just forget you
anyway once we separate
, so what'
s the point? It
doesn
't really mat er to me
.
" He said it so easily.
Like our months of friendship were just a piece
of paper he was ready to throw in the bin
. My
heart shat ered right there in the middle of the
hallwayI couldn
't believe what I was hearing.
"It
doesn
't mat er? We talked every day, Leo
. You
told me I was your best friend.
" He just rolled
his eyes. His ego was back, bigger and meaner
than ever
.
"That was just school, Elara
. Don
't
make it a big deal. You
'
re being dramatic again
.
"
He turned his back on me and walked away with
his friends, laughing at some joke one of them
made
. He didn
't even look back once
. I stood
there
, frozen
,
as hundreds of students pushed past
me to get to their next class. I felt like I was
disappearingThat was the
"Cold Goodbye
.
" There were no
hugs,
no tears from him
,
and no proper ending.
Just a mean sentence and a walk away. I went
to my new classroom and sat in the front row
this time
. I didn
't want to be in the back. The
back row reminded me too much of him
. I took
out my notebook and tried to focus, but all I
could think about was how much effort I had put
in
. 100%. I gave him everything,
and he gave me a
blocklist. The
"Birth of the Blocklist"
wasn
't
just on my phone—it was in my life
.
That afternoon
, I walked home in the London rain
again
. But this time
, I didn
't feel like the main
character of a story. I felt like a mistake
. I
went into my room
, deleted his number
,
and cried
until I had no tears left. I realized that Sienna
hadn
't destroyed the friendship—Leo had. He
chose to end it because it was
"
convenient.
" As I
looked out at the grey sky, I made a promise to
myself. I would never let anyone make me feel
this small again
. I didn
't know then that a boy
named Caleb was waiting for me in a game
called Roblox
,
ready to change my life forever