8 /10 Just Friends
Jolee put her foot down and insisted that they break up but remain as friends. She didn’t hate him, and he wasn’t abusive towards her, at least not physically.
Mounting pressure on her with threats of self-harming was distressing and did cause her to hesitate from her decision, but once she made up her mind, she let it be known and tried to move on with her life.
7 /10 One Last Hike
Brunner had different plans. After a few weeks of pestering texts and overdue silence, he asked if she wanted to go on a hike one last time just as friends because he knew she’d be leaving town soon for college.
Jolee hesitated but agreed in the end, wanting to end things on a final positive note.
She jokingly texted a friend that “If something happens to me, you’ll know who I was with.” which became far more incriminating than she could have known.