Five Feet Apart

Stella and Will continue skating around the frozen pond while Stella continues ignoring the numerous alerts on her phone. The alerts continue, and Stella reads a message that says, “LUNGS. THREE HOURS UNTIL THEY ARRIVE. WHERE ARE YOU???” (234). Stella struggles to absorb this information as she considers how a lung transplant would require total separation from Will—“isolation, even, to keep the B. cepacia far away from me” (234). After a brief moment of contemplation, Stella chooses time with Will over new lungs. The couple continue twirling on the frozen pond. Will confesses that he loves Stella. In response, Stella does not resist her urge to run to Will. She rushes toward him until they collide, laughing as they fall to the ice together. They hear the ice breaking beneath them and rush off to solid ground.

Will receives a text, but Stella attempts to take his phone from him. In their playful struggle, he reads the repeated messages from his mother: “LUNGS FOR STELLA. GET BACK NOW” (238). Instantly excited, Will informs Stella of the good news. She surprises him with her apathy. They argue. As Will moves to call the hospital and Stella moves to stop him, she stumbles down onto the frozen pond.