The Breakup Support Group

“See what I mean?” Bastian says with a snort. “We’re all really good friends.”

I smile, feeling my personal story grow lamer with each one of theirs. These people are here because they’ve been heartbroken multiple times and I’ve only been hurt once. I’m a total novice at this broken-hearted thing.

“I guess I’ll go next,” Trish says, finishing her last slice of pizza. “I’m a lesbian, in case you didn’t know,” she says, gesturing toward herself as if the word was tattooed on her forehead. Then her eyes get hazy, and she looks across the room, her thoughts miles away from here. “So there’s this angel named Tamara,” she says.

Xavier rolls his eyes. “Oh my God, you’re so dramatic when you talk about her.”

“That is not supportive,” Bastian chides, throwing Xavier a glare. “Go on, Trish. Use any words you’d like.”

She sighs and runs her nail along the shape of a star that’s been carved on the top of her desk. “I had this girl, Tamara, an

d she was the love of my life. She was seriously everything to me. And then …” Trish shrugs, “She just left. Said she wasn’t really into us anymore. She graduated last year, and I’m just trying to make it through life being broken as fuck. The counselor saw me kick the shit out of a trashcan in the soccer field and told me I should join this little group of weirdos, so here I am.” She runs a hand through her hair. The look in her eyes could be a mirror of my own and my heart aches for her just as much as it does for me. She’s going through the same thing, and I wish I could hug her, but I’m not sure if that’s something I should do on my first day here.

“Trish is the luckiest member of the group, and she doesn’t even realize it.” Ciara reaches for another piece of pizza from the boxes on the table next to us. Then she looks at me. “Trish could have her pick of any of the gay girls in this school and half of the straight girls, and yet she turns them all away.”

Trish rolls her eyes. “Yeah, that’s not true.”

“You turn everyone away!” Ciara says, her eyes going so wide it’s creepy.

“Okay, that part is true, but the rest isn’t.” Trish wrinkles her face. “I couldn’t have any girl. You guys are being extra exaggerating today.”

“Yeah you could,” Bastian and Ciara say at the same time.

“You are pretty hot,” I say, and it makes her smile.

Trish shrugs. “I don’t care. I only want my girl. I don’t want anyone else.”

A sad silence fills the room for just a few moments. Then Bastian says, “Xavi, it’s your turn.”

Xavier draws in a deep breath and sighs, stretching his chubby fingers until they curl over the edge of his desk. “I’m just a kid who skipped a grade because I’m hella smart, and I’m loveable and awesome, and these girls just don’t get it. They can’t see past these pointless stereotypes of what hot guys are supposed to look like and just give me a chance.” He lifts his shoulders and gives me a flat-lipped smile. “You want to go out sometime?”

“Me?” I ask, lifting an eyebrow.

Ciara slaps him on the shoulder. “She’s too old for you, kid. Maybe if you stopped trying to hit on seniors, a girl might give you a chance.”

Xavier rolls his eyes and shoves the sleeves of his plaid button-up shirt up to his elbows. “I’m more of a man than most of the guys in this school, and I’m not going to apologize for it.” He throws me a wink. “Are you eighteen yet?”

I shake my head. “Almost.”

He throws his hands up in the air. “See? It wouldn’t even be illegal if you wanted to hook up sometime.”

“Xavi,” Ms. Meadows says warningly from across the room. “That’s enough. You’re going to have Isla running out of here screaming.”

“I’m just playing, Isla,” Xavier says, but I’m not sure he means it.

“So, there you have it,” Bastian says, flipping to a new page in his notebook. I realize he’s been taking notes this entire time, though I’m not sure what they’re for. “I’m a hopeless romantic with a girlfriend-stealing brother, Ciara is obsessed with older guys, Xavi is too damn young and wants girls way out of his league, and Trish is more hopelessly romantic than I am. So what’s your story?”

I’ve made it this far, heard all of their own stories. There’s really nothing holding me back now. I take a deep breath. “I dated Nate for four years, and we were really happy together. Then a few weeks ago they rezoned my street to be a part of this school district and he just straight broke up with me. He said the distance would be too much for us.”

“Damn,” Ciara says under her breath.

“He lives two blocks away from me.” It’s this confession that sends the heat into my cheeks again. Admitting this means admitting the real truth, so I might as well say it out loud. “So it seems like he wanted to break up with me for a different reason and this was his excuse.”

“His loss,” Trish says.

Now that I’m thinking about him, it all hurts so damn bad. My lip trembles but the words fall out of my mouth anyway. “He can’t even be bothered to reply to my texts. Not after four years of being each other’s best friend.”

“Wait … you texted him?” Ciara says. Her gaze gets so serious that I flinch.