June's phone rang sharply, the sound slicing through the stillness of her room. She grabbed it quickly, her chest tightening when she saw the caller ID.
Keighley.
Her finger hovered above the accept button. For a moment she considered ignoring it. But the ringing only grew louder in her head.
She answered.
"You've been offline all day and I couldn't reach you... and why are you still awake now?" Keighley's voice burst through the speaker, sharp with concern.
June pressed the phone tighter to her ear, but said nothing. Her throat felt dry, her heart heavy.
"Did he text again?" Keighley's tone softened. "Don't hang up on m-"
The line went dead. June stared at the screen, her reflection staring back at her. She dropped the phone on her bed.
June couldn't even remember how Keighley became her friend. She often found herself tracing the moment back to a single afternoon in class.
June had been buried in a novel when the shriek of chairs scraping against tile snapped her attention upward. Without asking, without greeting, the two girls dropped into the seats across from her.
Keighley had long coffee brown braids with thick flowing blonde curls and bangs and dressed almost entirely in black. The other girl was a red-head in a muted gingko yellow jumpsuit.
"Can we talk for a bit?" the other girl asked, eyes darting nervously around the room.
"About what?" June sighed, the corner of her lip twitching.
They signaled her to lean in.
"It's about Ryan," Keighley whispered.
June quickly leaned in, curiously. "What about him?"
The other girl exchanged a glance with Keighley, then lowered her voice so much June had to strain to hear.
"Look, we're not trying to start drama. But… you should know. Back in high school, there was this girl... Molly."
"Molly?" June repeated.
"Well...she stopped coming to school because of him," the girl whispered, as she didn't want to attract attention to the topic.
June frowned. "What do you mean because of him?"
"No one was allowed to speak of her," Keighley cut in quickly, as if afraid to say too much. "But people still talked... Some said she dropped out... Others said her family moved. The teachers never mentioned her again. She just… vanished... rumours still pointed to Ryan."
June glared at them. Their faces were serious, worried even. But worry could be faked, right?
"So you don't have proof. Just rumors."
Both of them froze, taken aback.
Kayleigh's jaw clenched. "Everyone knew. Even the teachers whispered about it." her voice slightly rose.
June snapped, voice sharp and angry, "Rumors… huh."
"Ryan would have told me," June thought to herself. Her chest tightened and her hands trembled. She quickly hid them under the desk so the girls wouldn't see.
But she didn't really know anything about him. What if these girls, the rumours were right.
Keighley suddenly grabbed June's pen and scribbled her number into the corner of June's notebook.
"We're only trying to look out for you," the other girl muttered. "Don't say we didn't warn you."
And with that, they pushed back their chairs and left.
June sat still, staring at the number written in her notebook questions flooding her mind. Molly, who was she? What kind of person was Ryan.
She then tried to convince herself it was nothing. Just gossip. But why did their worry feel so real?
The next day, she spotted Dexter leaning casually against a wall outside their lecture hall, earbuds in, head tilted back as if he had nothing to ever worry about. He looked detached from all the noise of the other students passing by.
June hesitated walking over to him. But she had to get rid of the itch in her brain; she had to know who Ryan was.
She clenched her fists, let out a deep sigh, then walked up to him and cleared her throat. "Can I ask you something?"
He looked up, already smiling like he'd noticed her long before she reached him. He pulled out one earbud.
"Good morning, June," he smiled with a sheepish grin. "You came to me first... I'm honored."
June brushed off the teasing. "It's about Ryan."
The smile flickered just for a second, then returned. But it didn't reach his eyes.
"Oh?" His voice was lighter now. "What do you want to know?"
She hesitated. "I heard something… high school. About a girl… M- Molly."
Dexter chuckled, not kindly, almost mocking. "Molly." He pushed off the wall and stepped closer. "So you've finally heard the rumors, huh?"
June's stomach tightened. "So she's real."
"Of course she's real." His grin widened, but his tone grew serious. "June… You won't like what you find... Forget about that name."
"I just want to know what happened," she stressed.
Dexter's gaze lingered on her, then he leaned down, lowering his voice until she felt his breath against her ear.
"If you're already suspicious of him, maybe you should hang out with me instead."
She stepped back. That wasn't an answer. Not even close.
"You knew her, didn't you?" she asked, desperate.
He smirked. "I know a lot of things. But what good would it do to tell you? You'll believe Ryan over me anyway."
He then slipped his earbuds back in, leaving her staring at him, heart racing, the name Molly echoing in her mind.
"Ryan… who are you really?"
Dear diary,
Some people are meant to be passerby's
We were never meant to know them
Even for a short moment,
Some passerby's overstay their visit.
~ June