𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐓𝐘- a labyrinth sequel

𝐓𝐄𝐍

𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐒𝐄𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘. She typically avoided any kind of school sporting event, and she would have laughed if she told a past version of herself that she'd be at a sporting event. Willingly. Sitting on the bleachers with Xander, she watched as the soccer players below warmed up for the game. Somewhere behind Nicolas, she saw Daniel, commanding the boys, and he paused when he noticed her sitting there, and he waved politely. When Nicolas followed his gaze, his jaw seemed to clench for a moment before he smirked and wiggled his fingers at her, earning a smile.

"Are you going to tell me where you went yesterday?" Xander demanded, paying no attention to the encounter with the boys on the field. Aurelia tensed up, feeling guilty for keeping a secret. If anyone knew Liam was alive...

It would be bad. Calamitous, even.

While she had her doubts about him at the beginning, naturally assuming he'd be like her sister, Aurelia was quick to realize he wasn't. He genuinely had no recollection of the accident or his family at all. Aurelia had picked up a thing or two about profiling from her father, so she liked to think she would have been able to tell if something was wrong. He was harmless, and obviously lonely. She couldn't imagine how hard it was for him, to not remember anything about his life before the accident.

Aurelia had the terrible affliction of remembering almost everything she'd ever seen, and he couldn't remember at all.

"I was hanging out with a friend," she explained vaguely.

"You skipped class, Lia. That's not like you," Xander frowned. While Aurelia agreed it wasn't like her, she also knew that Xander was being hypocritical. She never grilled him when he blew off class for whatever reason he chose. "Did something happen? You've been acting weird for days."

"Have not," she said quickly, hoping he wouldn't pick up on her defensiveness. When the referee blew his whistle, Aurelia tried to focus on the game and ignore Xander, but he was being incessant.

"I covered for you, obviously. I told your mom that we went out for dinner, and waited in my car for hours so they wouldn't suspect anything."

"I appreciate it," she sighed. Aurelia felt better knowing that her parents hadn't suspected her to be lying.

"So, where'd you go?"

"I was hanging out with Donnelly," she said quietly, hoping that no one around could hear. Lots of the girls here were dying for a moment with him, but he didn't seem interested in giving them an ounce of attention. She didn't want to give any of these girls a reason to give her trouble.

"Nic?" Xander raised an eyebrow, like that was the last person he'd expect her to be with. Especially since all he ever heard was her complaining about how annoying he was most of the time. "You went out with Nicolas?"

"We hung out," she clarified. "We didn't go out in the way that you think."

"No way," he said, his lips turning up into a grin. "Is that why you dragged me to a soccer game? Because I am totally on board with this. You know I hate Daniel, and I think you guys are perfect for each other-"

"Woah," Aurelia told him, frowning. "Donnelly and I aren't a thing, and we aren't perfect for each other." She felt the need to clear that part up, because she didn't need Xander getting ideas in his head. "I only came here because he asked me to come."

"Who, Nicolas?"

"No, Daniel," Aurelia corrected, watching the way that Xander instinctively rolled his eyes. "I don't get your issue with him."