Page 1 of Unbreakable

Chapter 1

Cassie

The thing about toxic people is that they rarely announce themselves. They don’t walk around with signs saying “I’m a bad person” or “I will hurt you.” They wear friendly smiles and act like they’re on your side until the moment they’re not.

Tyler Morrison is toxic.

Or at least, he was. I’m not entirely sure if people like that can actually change, or if they just get better at hiding what they really are.

I know this because I have a very detailed account of his toxicity in my private journal, the leather-bound one I keep locked in my dorm room that chronicles every shitty moment from sophomore year when Tyler Morrison was part of the group that made my life hell. I hate him, there are no other feelings towards him but hate.

Not directly. That’s the thing that still makes my blood boil. He wasn’t the one making the jokes. Wasn’t the one spreading rumors. Wasn’t the one who laughed when his teammates called me names in the cafeteria.

He just… let it happen. Stood there while his friends tore me apart, said nothing, did nothing, acted like it wasn’t his responsibility to call out the toxicity he was standing in the middle of.

And that, somehow, is worse than if he’d participated in it. He still laughed, he still joined in the the rumors.

Asshole.

My phone buzzes a text from Lennox.

Lennox

Group dinner tonight. Carter’s place. 7 PM. You’re coming.

Cassie.

I have editing to do for the literary magazine.

Lennox

You’re coming. Non-negotiable. We’re celebrating Priya deferring Hopkins.

Cassie.

Lennox—

Lennox

No excuses. You’re part of this friend group whether you like it or not.

She’s right, of course. Over the past year, I’ve somehow become integrated into the friend group that orbits around Carter and the hockey team. It just… happened. Lennox adopted me like a stray cat, decided I was worth protecting, and now I’m stuck in this weird extended family of athletes and overachievers.

The problem is that Tyler Morrison is also part of this extended family now.

Not as close as Carter or Ryder or Jackson, but close enough that he shows up to these things. Close enough that I’ve to see him and remember everything he didn’t do.

Cassie.

Will Tyler be there?

Lennox

Yes. And before you say you’re not coming because of him, don’t. You’re coming, you’re going to be civil, and you’re going to remember that he’s trying to be better.

Cassie.

He’s trying to be better at hiding what he really is.