Bella had not realized that this was not in fact that ending of her and Linus, this was just another string. Cal was not the next chapter, he was part of the current one, this whole situation came from a place of resentment and survival. The affection born from equal disdain for another person.

Nothing good comes from such a negative space. They were all blind to the fact that none of them even had liked each other to begin with

Well, that was not totally true. Bella almost despised Linus, she tolerated Cal and sometimes even convinced herself that she more than liked him.

Cal hated Nose and Linus

Linus hated Cal and resented Nose for still being Bella’s friend. He was jealous, that much was certain.

Fuck, Cal was jealous of nose being friends with Bella. It was all a strange world for these people.

And unsustainable world that no one was going to survive unscathed.

It was a place where nothing could grow, only decay

And with it decayed another string in the disentanglement of Bella and Linus