FORGOTTEN SOULS || Isaac Lahey [1]

three.

By some miracle, Lydia had been found.

So utterly relieved that her best friend was okay and in one piece, Dani had spent the night at the Martin's house to get both comfort after her break-up, and ensure she was going to be okay. They'd spent the majority of the night talking about how horrible Avery had been, as much as she'd loved him, and how even though it didn't seem like it, this was a good thing because it meant she could find someone better than him.

She'd fallen asleep in Isaac's sweatshirt that night, though she'd told Lydia that it was one of Hayes' old ones he'd given her because he didn't want it anymore, and had somehow managed to get through the night without any dreams. Something she considered a true miracle.

Lydia hadn't noticed the scratches on her neck, since her makeup was still mostly there and hid them well enough.

Then Allison had picked the two of them up for school that morning and the three walked up the steps to the blue double front doors together. "You really don't remember anything?"

"They called it a fugue state, which is basically a way of saying we have no idea why you can't remember running through the woods naked for two days...but personally, I don't care. I lost nine pounds," Lydia hummed happily, and Dani swallowed thickly then looked down at her feet.

She knew that the fact that she'd gained weight wasn't a bad thing, that it was healthy, but she had only been out of Avery's toxic grasp for a day and bad habits are hard to break. With one glance over at Allison she knew her friend could understand her thinking, and she offered her a weak smile as she changed the subject. "Are you ready for this?"

"Please," Lydia snorted lowly. "It's not like my aunt's a serial killer."

When they pushed the doors open, everyone inside turned to stare at them with various emotions obvious on their faces; judgment, amusement, disregard, and still jealousy.

Lydia froze, clearly having not expect this. Truthfully, she looked terrified. As if she were a new student walking these halls for the first time. While Dani wasn't sure what to say to make her feel better, Allison did. She always did. "Maybe it's the nine pounds."

They watched their friend flip her hair back over her shoulders and strut down the hall like she owned the place because in a way, she did. Her strawberry blonde hair curled to perfection, bright green eyes lined with makeup and lips smeared with a shiny gloss, nearly everyone had tried to get with Lydia Martin. She was confident, dating the captain of the lacrosse team, and had a knack for getting what she wanted. But underneath all that forced confidence, Dani could see just how nervous and uncomfortable Lydia was with the attention. None of them truly liked it, having all eyes on them. They just liked the idea of people liking them.

Once upon a time Dani would've been the first to admit that she liked hearing that people were jealous of her and her popularity; that they wanted to look like her, talk like her, smile with straight white teeth like her. But after dating Avery for two years, there were various things that she'd learned to hate about herself.

Stretch marks on her wide hips, freckles on her shoulders, the dimples at the base of her spine. Even the slight unevenness of her smile she was conscious of, never allowing her grins to grow up to the extent where it would show. Very slowly, as she'd become more and more well liked within the young adult community of Beacon Hills, she'd started to dislike everything about herself and wish it would change.

The attention that had once been everything she'd dreamt of slowly dwindled into something that brought on feelings more similar to being told to do chores.

It was nothing less than exhausting.

But nevertheless, Dani followed after her friend with an expression that was all pursed lips and wide eyes, and hardly even spared Avery a glance as she passed him and Jackson as the two talked, even when he watched her walk past with an almost bitter expression on his face. One of the cheerleaders was clinging to his arm looking unhappy because he wasn't looking at her. She was almost certain the inky-haired girl's name was Naomi.