"Isn't it though?" She sobbed from her sleeve. "I'm the common ground, always." Maybe she really was bad at being friends. Was this how things were going to go for the next four years? One by one were they going to stop talking to her until she had nobody left? What if Sisse did tell somebody else? Then what kind of issues would it cause between their previously tight-knit group of friends?

Cam's attempts to reassure her were appreciated, but she was already spiraling downward with no bottom in sight. She'd always gotten along better with boys until school and then her roommates had been so easy to get along with. Then as they got older it seemed to get harder and harder. "The reason Alice took off last week, that night after studying, was because she thought she didn't fit in with us." If Sloane had been paying attention, she might have noticed, but she hadn't. Why were things so easy with Cam and even Ned, but now all of her other friendships were falling apart? She wrapped her arms more tightly around her legs and pressed her forehead into her knees instead.

"I just don't understand, she looked so betrayed, like I'd committed the worst act a friend could do." She just didn't get it.