21 | Way Down We Go

Seaside, California October 15, 2012

Lillian

EVER since last night, I've been dreading coming to school today, because I knew I would have to face Scott. I wish I could just float up into the sky and never come back down. But that was impossible.

Or was it?

It was hard getting to sleep last night, my mind would not stop racing nor my heart. I can't believe I just kissed him like that. What the hell was I thinking?!

I mean, ever since that night at Zach's I knew I started to develop a crush on him. I'm sure I was obvious as hell but right in that moment, it didn't matter. It didn't matter last night either, I just wanted to do it so I did.

Now all I wondered was what he thought. He did kiss me back, so maybe he liked me too?

My thoughts kept swirling in a thousand directions. Scenarios playing out in my head, from him being excited to see me to running away from me like I was the plague.

I love my imagination. I only wish it loved me and wouldn't always overthink everything.

When I first got to school this morning, I ran to class without seeing anyone. Which was good because Cel was always with Zach. And Scott was usually not far behind them.

Now here I was Chemistry. Amberly and Cel were paying attention to the board as the teacher was talking about something. I didn't even pay attention at all. I just kept eyeing that clock as time etched even closer to the next period.

I felt someone tap me on the arm. It was Cel.

"Lily, are you good?" she whispered. "You aren't having any other visions again, are you?"

"Uh, no."

I wish it was that.

"Yeah, you've been droning out since you got in here," Amberly piped in quietly.

I turned around in my seat to answer her.

"No it is not that at all, I just have a lot on my mind," I replied. "Something happened last night."

Cel started tapping my arm again.

"Did Scott do something? I'll kill him!" Cel whispered harshly.

"Girls! There is no talking during class!" Mrs. Dupont reprimanded, turning her back to the board with a huff.

Cel shut her mouth. But once Mrs. Dupont was completely looking away from us, Cel swiveled her head back to me and gave me that look. The one where I had to spill the beans or I was done for.

She was just like an overprotective parent. Except she would kill you.

After sitting in silence for the rest of the class, it came time to run for the hills. All I needed to do was run out of class, jump in my car, and never come back. But I couldn't do that with Cel and Amberly shadowing me as we got up to leave.

Once we were out in the hallway they both cornered me.

"Spill it sister," Cel ordered.

"We uh, I uh—" I paused.

"Did you two, you know..." Amberly trailed off, giggling to herself she continued, "Do it?"

"What? No!" I cried. "All we did was kiss, okay?!"

Like, a lot.

Cel's mouth dropped. Amberly didn't look that impressed.

Before the two of them could spew any more shit, I darted away from them.

I didn't know which was worse, running away from my cousins or toward the source of my never-ending dread. But I couldn't avoid him forever. Before I went through the door, I pulled out the paper we worked on last night.

I still can't believe we used a typewriter.

I went into class, not making eye contact with the back of the room, fearing he was there already. Though it seemed like most of the class wasn't here yet.

Mr. Mendoza was at his desk, his eyes glued to his computer as he typed away on it. I just dropped the paper on his desk where some others were. I looked to the back of the room, Scott wasn't there yet.

Thank God.

I took my seat and pulled my papers and book out and just pretended to start reading my book. Because I needed to read and absorb all of this useful information instead of just facing my problems. Right?

"Lily?" I heard a voice ask.

"Yeah?" I replied and looked up to see Scott. My eyes widened. "Hi! I uh, turned the paper in so that's all good."

"Great, that's good to hear," he muttered, taking the seat across from me. He stared at me for a few seconds till he turned away to pull stuff out of his bag.

Damn, he looked just as awkward as I did. Now that dread didn't seem so bad. But we still haven't talked about what happened...

God, I needed to stop being a sissy.

"Hey, Scott?" I whispered. "We need to talk after class."

"Yes we do," he replied. He held my gaze again before looking away.

I kept glancing at him as he busied himself with flipping through the pages of his notebook.

Was he regretting what happened last night? I didn't want things to be awkward between us. But I screwed that up last night.

Class started, yet some people were notably absent. Seana and Isabel were a few of them. I know Seana had probably done something to Isabel. I had a hand in it when I made those rings.

Forcefully.

And Brandon, that dumbass. Why couldn't he just listen to my warnings about her yesterday? I don't know if Seana was compelling him or not. If anything happened to him I could never forgive myself.

It has been a month and Seana has done nothing but mess with Isabel and threaten people. And we are all left to wonder what game she'll play next. Speaking of which, Isabel and Seana haven't been in this class for weeks.

She still came to the gym like she did yesterday but that was all we saw of her. Maggie was usually always with Isabel, but lately, she's been on her own.

I looked around the class, seeing everyone pretending to listen to Mr. Mendoza's boring chatter. Someone else was missing from class today.

Maggie.

Something wasn't right because she never missed class. She might seem like an airhead, but she did take school seriously.

As soon as class was coming to an end, I knew it was time to talk. I needed to know how Scott felt about what happened last night.

"You ready?" I heard him ask. He was standing beside my desk as people started leaving for lunch.

I smiled at him nervously and followed him out the door. I could feel my heart rate pick up again as we walked out towards the patio.

"Scott about last night," I muttered, stopping in my tracks.

I kept my gaze steadily on him as he turned to me. I think I could stare into those deep blue eyes all day. I felt my face blush.

"I just want to know, did it mean anything? I mean I don't want things to be awkward if it didn't or whatever but—" I stopped, exasperated.

God, I was ruining this. I felt my face become even redder with embarrassment.

"Lily," Scott began. "I think we just got caught up in the moment last night."

Now I felt like a total fool. Why did I have to do that last night?

I looked at him ashamed. "Yeah, I think you're right."

Was he right though? The feelings I had for him didn't feel wrong. It felt real. But at least now I knew he didn't feel the same way. I looked away from him, trying to stop the tears threatening to spill down my face.

"Listen," Scott said suddenly, snapping me out of my dejection. "You are an amazing person. An awesome, reckless, beautiful woman that any guy would be lucky to have as their friend. I don't want last night to ruin that between us. I care about you a lot, believe me. I do."

A cry of relief escaped me. Perhaps I didn't ruin our friendship after all.

"With everything going on, I just—"

"You don't have to say anything else Scott, I fully understand," I pressed, wanting to end this conversation before I started bawling or screaming.

Reigning in the truth of how he felt, I just wanted to smooth things over.

We both just stood there glancing at one another awkwardly.

"Uh, I'm going to lunch, you want to come?" I finally asked.

Scott laughed, but before he said anything his attention snapped to something behind us, his whole face contorting into anger. I turned to see what had made him change so suddenly, only to see Seana waving her hand at us as if we were well-acquainted friends.

Not a day in hell would that ever be.

Turning back to Scott I muttered, "Well, you can deal with that. I'll be in the cafeteria with Cel and Zach."

Scott gave me a nod, never taking his eyes off Seana. He walked past me, and as I turned back around, he was gone as was Seana.

CEL and Zach were blissfully unaware of what was going on when I reached them in the cafeteria. Of course, after I told them of Scott chasing off after Seana again, Zach was off his feet and ready to follow.

Cel however convinced him to just stay here with us. I would have been more than happy to join him after I finished my lunch first.

"Have you seen Elle?" Cel asked as she stabbed into her mashed potatoes.

"I did this morning," I replied, "Why? I mean she's probably in the library reading something."

Elle also usually ate lunch with the librarian, Mrs. Jenkins. Those two had an odd friendship. If she wasn't there, she would be with us or Amberly.

"Yeah, she was going to come eat with us today. Maybe she just changed her mind," Cel pondered. "Anyway, did you talk to Scott about last night?"

Zach's eyes widened at Cel, "What happened? Did something bad happen?!"

"No! The two of them got all hot and heavy—"

"Celesta shut up." I hissed. "Before I end you."

"Bring it, bitch," Cel grinned playfully.

"Uh, so that is what happened," Zach mumbled, not sure what to say. "So, are you two like, together now?"

"No, they are not!" Cel shrilled and threw her fork down. "Am I right? You two aren't together and will never be together. I mean not to be a bitch but you know why it is a bad idea."

"I am not having this conversation right now," I muttered and got up from the table. "We did talk and no, we are not! Okay?!"

"Thank God!" Cel said to herself. "So wait what did you two talk about?! Don't leave I need to hear everything Lily!"

Zach still looked lost.

"No, I am getting away from you before I die of embarrassment. I am not talking about this shit, especially in front of your boyfriend," I cried.

This was girl talk only.

"He is not my boyfriend!" Cel replied with a huff.

"What? I thought I was," Zach grinned. "Also, we are going to that restaurant tonight you know."

"I mean, yet," Cel corrected herself. The two of them locked eyes and started laughing at one another.

"You two are a riot," I deadpanned. "But seriously, I am leaving."

When I turned to leave Zach and Cel jumped up to follow, I guess I couldn't stop them. We all went back toward the main building.

"We should find Elle," I murmured as Zach and Cel started to walk ahead, damn tall people and their long legs.

"Should we call Amberly and Eddie and let them know what's up?" Zach asked, Cel just shook her head.

"No, I don't think anything serious is up, Seana just enjoys playing little games so let's just let them be. Elle too," Cel clarified.

Since they were ahead, I just followed along after them. We walked in silence as we entered the building that had our lockers in it. Lunch was almost over, but I noticed there was a large crowd forming around something where the stairwell was.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked, bewildered.

Zach and Cel looked just as confused as I was. We all quickened our pace, I could hear the voices of the crowd get louder, people were shouting at one another, and others moved about frantically trying to get a look at whatever was on the floor.

I broke off from Zach and Cel, they were trying to ask people what was going on, I was doing whatever I could to get through the throng of students. I couldn't hear anything but people yelling. As I broke through the final barrier, I saw what the melee was about.

On the floor lay Maggie. She was flat on her stomach, not moving. I saw a few teachers surrounding her, trying to get students to back off. One was Francis, he noticed me standing there gawking at him in disbelief. Another student pushed her way through the crowd and let out a scream as she dropped to her knees.

I was shocked to see it was Isabel. A teacher quickly rushed to her and coaxed her to get back onto her feet.

"Maggie?!" Isabel cried as she clung to the teacher.

I rushed over to her and grabbed her other arm, but was met with a cold shock as I touched her. Isabel glanced over at me with tears in her cold blue eyes. Despite the sad façade on her face, I saw no emotion in her eyes.

"I got her," I told the teacher and he let us go and joined Francis and other teachers in getting the bulk of students away.

Isabel turned to me, a sly grin forming on her face. She moved close to me, her face inches from mine. She then bent down to my ear, causing me to flinch. "Thanks for the ring, it's been very useful," she whispered.

I backed away from her and asked in disbelief, "Did you do this? To your friend? Isabel—"

"I think you already know the answers to your questions," Isabel chuckled.

"What?" I asked, shocked. I looked from her to Maggie, Francis was bent over her, checking her pulse.

When I looked back to Isabel she was gone.

"Everyone give her some space, she is fine!" Francis shouted to everyone.

I saw Cel with Zach now, coming toward me. But I needed to know what the hell happened here. This had Seana written all over it, even if Isabel did do this to Maggie.

"Guys we need to find Scott now," I cried. My body started to shake. "This was Seana, and I saw Isabel and this is all my fault I—"

Cel gripped both of my shoulders suddenly, stopping me. "Lily, Seana forced you to make those rings okay? Don't blame yourself for this."

I nodded, trying my best to calm myself. Cel started to lead me away, till I noticed Mr. Petrescu appear out of the thinning crowd of students. Francis motioned for him to take Maggie. When he lifted her she was completely lifeless.

"Wait!" I shouted after them as they started to walk away.

Francis turned around to glance at me wearily, "Lillian, you need to stay out of this, understand?" he commanded, his green eyes intent.

Cel's grip tightened around me. "Come on," she whispered.

"No, this is just messed up Cel!" I cried as Francis and Mr. Petrescu disappeared down the hall with Maggie.

Cel said nothing as she pulled me down the hall with her and Zach. People were still everywhere talking about what happened and how. Thankfully they didn't know the truth of the supernatural lurking in the halls.

While I figured Isabel was involved in Maggie's fall, we still didn't know what happened. Then we all saw Scott and a petrified-looking Elle rushing our way. They both were coming from where we had just left.

"There you guys are, did you see all of this crazy shit? It's just pure insanity," Cel ridiculed.

"I witnessed everything," Elle whispered, glancing up at Scott with fear in her eyes.

Scott gave her a reassuring nod, "It's okay, she isn't going to do anything to you alright?" Scott looked at all of us. "Trust me, Seana will have to go through all of us first."

Elle still looked petrified, but she continued. "I was upstairs before lunch ended and I just happened to overhear these girls arguing. It was Seana, Isabel, and Maggie. But Seana noticed me."

Where the hell was this going?

"Elle get to the point. Did Isabel or Seana push her?" Cel asked suddenly.

"It was Isabel! They kept goading Maggie into wanting to be like them, but she didn't want anything to do with it. Then she just shoved her down the fucking stairs!" Elle cried.  "That's when Seana saw me and was about to do something before Scott appeared and got me out of there."

"Did that fall kill Maggie?" I asked, "Francis said she was alright before he and Mr. Petrescu took her away."

"Whatever comes out of that man's mouth is a lie," Scott hissed. "Trust me, I'll look into this alright? I think I overheard school is ending early today anyway, all the students are riled up."

"Great, well Elle let me take you home since you are shaken up alright?" Cel interjected. She finally released her grip on me.

I'm glad school was ending early. I was shaken up myself. But I knew that Scott couldn't do this alone. No one needed to face this alone.

Hopefully, soon he will figure that out.