PHOENIX - Isaac Lahey

EIGHT - Meeting Erica

MEETING ERICA

"I want to be so kind it echoes backwards in time and undoes the things that hurt you."

- Anonymous

"Attention, students, this is your principal. I know you're all wondering about the incident that occurred last night to one of our buses. While the police work to determine what happened, classes will proceed as scheduled. Thank you."

Josie groaned once the speech through the megaphones was over. She was really hoping to have a free day. Closing her locker, she turned to the girl to her right, the same blonde girl who had a frightened look on her face all the time, never once in the span of the last few weeks had Josie seen her wearing anything but oversized hoodies and sweatpants.

"Hi." She greeted the girl making her jump before turning to face her. "I'm Josie. I haven't had the chance to introduce myself before."

The girl in front of Josie had a sickly pale skin, dark bags under her eyes and a few notable pimples scattered around her face. She couldn't maintain eye contact with her for too long either.

"E-Erica. I'm Erica Reyes." The blonde muttered under her breath.

"Nice to meet you, Erica. We have Chemistry class together, right?" Josie remembered seeing her sitting by herself at the other end of the classroom.

Erica simply nodded, wondering why the hell one of the new girls was talking to her out of all people. At least she wasn't Allison Argent, Lydia Martin's best friend. Lydia had plagued Erica's nightmares (among other scary things) since freshmen year, the strawberry-blonde made fun of her all the time along with her boyfriend, bumping her in the corridors and smacking her lunch trade.

"We ... we also have maths, and P.E." Added the blonde, some newfound confidence in the warm smile Josie had in her face.

"Yeah, sorry I hadn't notice, but I really need to pay attention to the board only in math, it's my worst subject. And in P.E ... well, let's just say the coach is always loud enough to get everyone's attention."

Erica chuckled at her comment, feeling slightly more comfortable in the conversation. The bell to first period rang, making both girls start walking down the hall.

"Well, see you in chem, Erica." Josie smiled before disappearing into the sea of people while Erica just stood there dumbfounded, the first time in years someone had been that nice to her.

The blonde girl had been anxiously waiting in her seat while looking at the rest of the students fill the class. Erica's eyes darting to the door from time to time while pretending to be doodling on her notebook.

Harris made her seat right in front of his desk, not trusting her to pay enough attention if she sat at the back. So she was the free sitting alone in the first row.

Then Josie appeared, she was talking to another outcast like her. Isaac, if she remembered right. He wasn't so much of an outcast anymore, at least now he wasn't bullied by Jackson. But Josie was the only other girl she had seen him talk with.

The tanned girl's eyes met Erica's and waved in her direction, the tiniest of smiles from the nervous blonde. But, much to her dismay, Isaac asked Josie to sit with him at the back. Josie nodded at his proposal, leaving her books in the desk before making her way towards Erica.

"Hey." Josie greeted with a smile, leaning on the empty space in the desk by Erica's side. "My friend Isaac has a lacrosse practice after lunch and he wanted to be there early, so ... I was wondering if perhaps you'd like to sit with me at lunch."

Erica blinked a few times, not fully believing that this girl had really asked for her to sit with her at lunch. To Erica's eyes, Josephine was stunning. Her eyes held a warmth that was inviting to anyone who stared at them long enough, her hair was silky and had slight waves at the ends, and her smile made her want to unconsciously smile as well.

"You don't have to, if you don't want to, of course." Josie chuckled nervously after not receiving an answer from the blonde.

"No! I mean, yes. I'd really like to sit. With you. At lunch." Managed to choke out Erica.

"Great! See you then." And she was back to sitting with Isaac, going unnoticed by the rest of the class, they were ghosts just like her in Beacon High.

Curiously, that chemistry class didn't go as usual. First, Harris made Scott and Stiles change seats to be away from each other because they talked too much. Which forced Stiles to end up sitting in front of Josie while Scott sat next to Erica.

Then, one girl exclaimed that the cops seemed to have found something in the bus outside, making everyone crowd at the windows to get a better look.

"Isaac, you're tall. Tell me what you see." Mumbled Josie while standing in her tiptoes.

"They're dragging someone to an ambulance." Told her Isaac.

Then, everyone screamed in fright when the man sat up abruptly in the stretcher, a scream leaving his lips.

Doubting himself a bit, Isaac placed a comforting hand on Josie's shoulder. She smiled back at him before they went back to their seats, trying to get their minds to focus on what Harris was explaining and not thinking about the man that had been attacked.