Lilacs Forever

Chapter 16: Alone

"Delilah?" Alyce called as she entered the bathroom. Delilah sniffled, and tried to wipe her eyes. It was already half an hour after break and she didn't show up at her desk.

"Delilah! Here, open the door."

Delilah obeyed and unlocked the stall door.

"What happened to you?!" Alyce was flabbergasted.

"The group chat was about me." Delilah choked up tears.

—-

Furiously, Alyce stormed into the accounting department, demanding to see the group chat.

"Um, I'm sorry Alyce, but we don't have a group chat making fun of Delilah..."

"Prove it."

They all showed their phones, and lo and behold there wasn't a single trace of it.

"You must be talking about our group chat about celebrities, now that's something we do." One of the girls said sweetly, "I think it's all a misunderstanding. Delilah hasn't done anything wrong, so why would we do this to her?"

"Alyce," Janet called, "the IT department needs you."

"I'm watching you all," Alyce warned sternly.

The girls looked at each other worriedly.

But it wasn't the end. Delilah continued her work, her eyes and nose stung from crying. And she felt terrible, it was as if all of the energy she had was drained from her body. Her head hurt and she felt dizzy, dizzy from the pain.

"So," someone said, like sharp knives cutting into her skin. Delilah jolted up to see the clique surrounding her.

"You think you can just get away with ruining our careers?"

"No- but I didn't- what did I do to you? Why are you doing this?"

"You just love to be the victim, the damsel in distress , don't you ..." one of them hissed.

"Yeah!" Another of the girls agreed, "it wasn't even about you! You just think everybody's out to hurt you and somebody has to come and save you."

"But I saw it!" Delilah insisted, "big girl's gotta eat? And cow and Miss Piggy? I heard it all."

But they kept on denying it, saying it's about the celebrities they make fun of. In fact, they insisted on it so much that it made Delilah question what she really saw. They were that sure that they were right, she figured. But she was tired from crying and they kept jabbing at her.

"You just want attention and you think you're such a good girl that can't do anything wrong."

"Please, just stop." Delilah wearily pleaded.

Alyce entered the room and the girls saw it as their time to go.

"You'll regret this."

—-

Delilah felt terrible for the rest of the day, tired, scared, and mad. She knew what she saw and heard, yet it seemed the girls were in the right and she in the wrong. Either they were very good at insisting they were right or Delilah didn't have the confidence or the self esteem to stand up for herself. Or even being sure of what was right or wrong.

She went to deliver the paperwork to the accounting department where she saw Clarice walking to her desk. As she was walking she was smiling at her phone. Great. Was she part of the group chat too?

Clarice laughed and Delilah was sick of it. "Are you part of the group chat too?" Delilah muttered.

"Mind your own business." Clarice snapped.

Delilah shrunk back and placed the papers on her desk. She hurried away defeated.

She made her way to her desk. The desk next to hers was empty. If only Anita were here... Delilah thought to herself. After all this time, she thought she finally belonged, but she felt as alienated as ever. She looked around the cubicles, everyone resuming work as if nothing ever happened. The silence was deafening, like if she screamed nobody would ever hear her. Save for a few giggles, of course. And she couldn't do anything about it because they were right and she was wrong. She sighed, why did people like to humiliate her?

"Alyce?" Delilah asked as she saw Alyce pass by her desk.

"Yes, Delilah?"

"You know how Clarice doesn't like me?"

"Is everything alright? Actually, how can you be... I know this is hard but I don't have the proof to send to HR, we'll just have to wait for the right moment. I've already talked to Alexander about it, don't worry, we'll find out who made it and everybody involved.

"Do you think Clarice made the group chat?" Delilah's eyes glowered miserably.

"No," Alyce answered, "Clarice is prickly but she's not the type of person who would do that."

Great. Now even Alyce doesn't get her. She just wanted work to be over and go home. She wanted to call her mom and tell her everything that's been happening. She wanted to go back to California and be in high school again. She wanted to be with her old friends. But they all have their own lives now. Everyone, even her mom and her brother and everyone she ever cared about. She looked around her, seeing people hunched over their desks typing. They didn't care at all, didn't they...

Nobody cared and she was all alone.

Author's note: 

Hi y'all, typing this from my school laptop cause I'm at lunch XD hope you're enjoying the story so far. School's been pretty hard so I hope I can keep posting chapters, I couldn't go on wattpad a while ago cause I failed a chemistry test if y'all remember. Actually, about there's this guy who's helping me with chemistry and he's kinda cute but my parents don't want me having a boyfriend and he's probs way out of my league. But anyway... keep reading and dreaming!