Standing in a circle with five of his closest friends, Lincoln couldn’t move. They all decided to meet at the park on campus, where no one would notice five college students talking. Lincoln called this a meet-up to get answers, but the anxious pressure of what might be said drove him to silence.

Sweat trickling down his back, his eyes were wide as if he saw a ghost.

Sarah, his best friend since fifth grade, the person he shared everything with, was someone he couldn’t recognize. She went from a carefree, independent spirit to someone meek and shy around the explosive people she surrounded herself with. I never got a straight answer as to why she changed.

Marshall and Quan, his platonic brothers, who saw every side of Lincoln he wanted to hide. Knowing all his unsavory thoughts. Like the time he was ready, with a titanium bat in hand to smash Dean Marshall’s stellar car.

Diamond and Neal, who are the most annoying couple that I was quietly rooting for from the beginning. Only knew them for two semesters, but they were the coolest couple. No alphas, no narcissism, just two people who loved each other.

I thought, “Any one of them could be a liar.”

Deceiving me from the beginning, and as I looked at them one by one, analyzing their gestures. Diamond was shifting her weight, Marshall had an obvious twitch in his eye, and Sarah was timid. Twiddling her thumbs with a Fidget Cube.

I could feel a chill down my spine. As everyone in this circle was yelling about what to do next.

“Maybe we should tell Dean Marshall first”, Quan said. " He’ll never believe us and would rat us out the second we start yapping,” Marshall snapped.

"We can’t keep this to ourselves,” Sarah said so quietly that no one heard, but me. " SO WHAT NOW!, Diamond said so loudly that passengers started to look our way.

Lincoln, still weighing options in his mind, didn’t get a chance to speak to the group. Not until Neal spoke up. Saying the unthinkable.