Chapter IV

She was moving far slower than she should have been, yet no matter how many times she told herself to hurry up, she found she just didn’t have the energy or drive to do so. All Lilly Harper could do was stare lethargically into her bedroom mirror as she finished putting on the red tie of her school uniform. Once she was finished, she pulled on her dark gray blazer and buttoned it up before stopping for a moment to just gaze at her reflection. That day was her first day of her senior year of high school. In less than a year, she would graduate and become an adult, yet when she looked at herself, she didn’t find herself all that different. Her shoulder-length brown hair was still only slightly combed, her uniform was the same as ever, and her desire to stay home hadn’t lessened. To her, there wasn’t much of a difference between junior year and senior year.

Well, I guess there is one difference…

She looked over her shoulder and scanned her bedroom, the one that now belonged to her and her alone. Only two weeks prior, her older sister, Alexa, had moved up north to Alden to start college. The girl’s bed was still there on the opposite side of the room, but her boy band posters were gone and her clothes were all removed from the closet. Despite how much she despised Alexa’s constant nagging, she couldn’t deny that the room had seemed oddly lonely in the past few days.

Not to mention I fell back to sleep after my alarm went off.

If not for her mother coming in to check on her, Lilly had a feeling she might have been late for her first day of school. Part of her wasn’t all that bothered by the thought, but at the same time, she knew that starting the year off by arriving late would only force her to have to deal with whatever lectures she would wind up getting from both her teachers and her parents.

And as much as I hate school, I really don’t want to have to put up with that.

So, giving her reflection one last look, Lilly turned and left her room then made her way down the hall and into the main area where her mother was busy in the kitchen, making what smelled to the girl like pancakes. When she glanced over at the counter, her guess was confirmed by the already present stack that was waiting for her.

“Good morning, Lilly,” her mother greeted with a smile. “Good to see you actually stayed awake this time. I made you some breakfast so please help yourself!”

Lilly forced herself to smile as she stepped forward and grabbed the plate her mom had set out for her before placing two pancakes on top of it.

“Yeah, thanks, Mom,” she muttered, then took a seat at the dining table.

I really appreciate the thought, but I’m not really in the mood for breakfast. I just want to get to school and get this damned year started. I’m not even all that hungry.

Nevertheless, not wanting to be rude, Lilly forced herself to eat. Still feeling obnoxiously tired, she didn’t bother striking up any conversation with her mom, who was busy making a few more pancakes that she would almost certainly save for Lilly’s father when he got home from work later. In fact, she made it through the entire meal, which she finished in barely over two minutes, and it was only when she was putting her plate in the sink that her mom decided to spark up a conversation.

“Now I know you don’t like it when I ask you about school,” she began, “but aren’t you at least a little excited for today? I mean, it’s your first day of senior year, Sweetheart. Isn’t that exciting?”

Lilly apathetically shrugged. “Not really. If anything, I’m more excited to just be done with school. High school’s always been boring. Cross country’s really the only thing I look forward to, but even then, I probably won’t miss it too much once I’m out of school.”

“But Lilly,” her mother began in her familiar disapproving tone. “Have you ever wondered if maybe you’d enjoy school more if you had some friends. Why not try to get to know somebody? That might help.”

The girl shook her head. “No, I’m good.”

“Look, I just don’t want you to look back on high school and regret anything.” Her mom stopped and sighed, as if trying to think of what to say. “I worry about you sometimes. I mean, do you even know what you want to do after high school? Colleges will be accepting applications soon, you know.”

Ah, right… College…”

Lilly shrugged once again. “With any luck, I’ll get a cross-country scholarship somewhere. If not, well, I’ll probably just go to the community college on the other side of town,” she murmured. “Doesn’t really matter to me.”

Her mom seemed ready to press the subject, so Lilly quickly turned and began walking away.

“Anyway, I gotta get going. I’ll see you after school,” she called back.

The older woman didn’t immediately reply as Lilly grabbed her backpack off of the couch and slung it over her shoulder. It was only when she was at the door that her mother said anything.

“Alright, Lil’. Have a nice day at school.”

Lilly quickly slipped her shoes on and headed from her apartment and into the hallway before hanging a right for the elevators. As she walked, she kept her head down like she always did, first taking the elevator down to the lobby and then making her way through the front doors and onto the road outside. West Wilham High wasn’t that far off so it wasn’t long before she found herself walking down the familiar neighborhood streets, watching as the number of students around her gradually began to increase. And soon enough, she had arrived at the gates of the three-story high school. It had only been two months since she was last there, yet for some reason, it felt like an eternity.

Though, maybe that’s because I spent the entire summer vacation laying around the house.

As much as she loved lazing around, it did make it feel as if the hot summer days went on for far longer than they actually did. The only times she left was to go on the occasional run to keep herself in shape and to babysit Natalie whenever Renee needed her to. There were a few times where she felt the odd desire to go visit the Wilham Pier, but each time, she came to her senses and stayed home. She certainly never dropped by the school, and so it really did feel as if a lot of time had passed since she was last there.

When she walked through the gates and into the courtyard, she was greeted with the familiar sight of students sitting at the nearby tables that were scattered around the lawn, chatting with each other and catching up after the break. Despite summer being over, everybody seemed to be in good spirits and, as it did every year, she couldn’t figure out why anybody would be so happy to be back at school. Everybody might be complaining about summer vacation being over, but nobody actually looked all that upset.

Eh, whatever. Let’s just get to class so I can get settled in before school actually starts.

Lilly sighed and continued down the cement path that separated the two sides of the lawn before heading into the main school building where it was even more packed with students. She grimaced, taking a moment to recall where her first period class was located that year. Her schedule was tucked in her binder, which was in her backpack, and she really didn’t want to have to get it out, so she did her best to remember where she was supposed to go.

Oh, right. Room 3-5. Mr. Lowe’s Honors Literature class. Damn…that means I’m gonna have to hike all the way to the top floor every morning?

Knowing she had no other option but to succumb to her fate, she begrudgingly walked through the masses of students and up two flights of stairs before coming to the third floor. 3-5 was relatively close to the staircase so once she reached the top floor, there wasn’t much farther left to walk. She quickly spotted the classroom and hurried toward it, anxious to get through the open door and into the less crowded classroom, but the moment she stepped inside, she abruptly came to a stop.

What…? What the hell? What is this feeling?

She found herself unable to move as she took in the sight of the classroom before her. As far as she could remember, she had never once stepped foot inside, yet she was suddenly overwhelmed by a nostalgia that almost made her want to cry. Something was wrong with her and she didn’t know what it was. She was overcome by both the urge to run away and to go inside, and it was only finally broken when somebody called out to her.

“Excuse me, Miss? Are you okay?”

She swallowed back her confusion and slowly turned to see the teacher at his desk, with a balding head and round glasses, looking back with concern. At the same time, she realized the handful of students already present were eying her with clear amusement.

“Um, yes?” she managed to get out.

He cocked an eyebrow. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah! I’m fine! I…” She paused, trying to gather her thoughts as the odd feeling gradually faded from her body. “I’m sorry. Yeah, I’m good.”

The man she assumed must have been Mr. Lowe nodded, though he seemed rather unconvinced. “Alright then. Take a seat anywhere you like. I don’t do seating charts. Just make sure that if you choose to sit by a friend, you’ll have enough self control not to talk. The syllabus is here on my desk.”

Once he was finished giving her instructions, he went back to working on his computer. It was a very different attitude as opposed to Mrs. Kentz, who had always stood outside the door to greet them, and she found that she far preferred his more blunt way of doing things. Now recovered from the sudden nostalgia, Lilly went into the classroom, grabbed a syllabus from the desk, and went to take a seat in the back corner of the room, right by the window.

God, what the hell was that? Why did that suddenly happen?

She couldn’t even begin to explain it, but what unnerved her the most was that it wasn’t the first time in the last few months that she’d been overcome by strange and seemingly foreign emotions. The first time had been near the end of April and ever since, there would be random occasions when she would suddenly find herself at odds with her feelings, and they would even be sometimes accompanied by voices in her head. She had yet to tell anybody about it, but she was starting to get really worried that something was wrong with her.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

She spared a quick look around the classroom, hoping none of the other students were paying her any attention, but they had already returned to chatting with each other. Yet, just as she was about to start looking out the window in the hopes of taking her mind off of it, one of them looked over his shoulder with narrowed eyes, and in that moment, they just stared at each other. He then quickly turned away and put his head back down, but Lilly couldn’t help but keep gazing at him.

What was up with that? Did I do something to Mickelson?

She’d never spoken a single word to Vinny Mickelson despite having shared a few classes with him the previous year, so there wasn’t any reason she could think of that would have caused him to look at her like that.

Was my weird reaction to the room offensive to him or something? Or maybe he just thinks I looked like an idiot? She snorted as she leaned back in her seat. Whatever. No point in worrying about him.

Still feeling slightly uncomfortable, she turned her thoughts to cross country, wanting to quickly power through the school day and get to practice so she could go running. With cross country on her mind, she did look across the room at two of her teammates from the previous year, Alice Mendez and Audrey Moore, who were sitting on the opposite side of the room from her, excitedly chatting with each other. She hardly ever spoke to them either, but because they were both on cross country and track with her, they had interacted enough for Lilly to consider them acquaintances.

I wonder if they stayed on the team this year. I can’t imagine they didn’t.

She was grateful, at least, that they were in the class so that if Lowe ever assigned group projects, she might be able to jump in a group with them. Lilly went to look away and it was then that a trio of girls walked through the door, and she instantly felt repulsed at the sight of them. Lilly knew she wasn’t the greatest at tolerating anybody, but if there was a group of people she truly could not stand, it was the three popular girls who had just walked in. It wasn’t that they had ever done anything to her directly. They were just flat out annoying with their bubbly personalities, pointless gossip, and irritatingly constant giggling. Just the thought of being stuck in a classroom with them all year made her want to jump out of the window.

Charlotte Banks, Ashley Anderson, and of course, their ever-present ringleader, Elizabeth Tao. Lilly could recall plenty of times she had heard the guys on the cross country team going on about how attractive they were, but she could never understand what they were talking about. With their over-the-top makeup and stupidly long nails, they appeared more like dolls than actual human beings, and in Lilly’s opinion, it made them look absolutely hideous,

Though, at least Elizabeth tones it down a bit, though not by that much.

As opposed to the others, Elizabeth went lighter on the makeup and her nails weren’t too much longer, but she still came across as a vain and shallow girl. Her black hair was curled and she wore contacts that made her normally brown eyes look like a lighter amber color. Her giggles were the most annoying to Lilly and she always seemed far happier than she needed to be, almost like she was exaggerating her every emotion.

“Anyway, Lizzie, I think we should definitely stop by the café after school,” the red-haired Charlotte was saying. “That new cappuccino is so good, you just have to try it.”

Elizabeth smiled. “Yeah, definitely. I’d love to stop—”

Mid-sentence, the girl just froze, causing Lilly to frown.

What the hell?

“Lizzie?” Ashley said. “Are you okay?”

“Er, uh, yeah!” She quickly snapped out of whatever trance she had fallen into, though her cheerful attitude from before was almost forced. “I’m fine. Anyway, yeah, Charlotte. We should definitely go, if only to celebrate being seniors!”

The momentary strain all but gone, the girls broke into giggles as they went to grab their syllabuses and take their seats in the back of the class. Yet, Lilly could see that something was off about Elizabeth, as if whatever had caused her to pause was still affecting her.

That…can’t be a coincidence, right? It was almost as if…she had the same experience I did.

Yet, knowing how unlikely that possibility was, Lilly turned away from the girls, but not without catching sight of Vinny Mickelson staring over his shoulder at Elizabeth, his eyes once again narrowed in suspicion.

***

Just like the beginning of the previous year, Coach Francis started the cross country season by having them run the neighborhood loops in order to gauge where everybody currently stood with their abilities. There were a handful of freshmen students who had joined, and they were chipper and excited, already talking to the older kids and fitting in like they had always been there. Unsurprisingly, Matt Briggs didn’t hesitate to welcome them with open arms and take them under his wing, giving them every piece of advice he had. The boy had always been the most charismatic member of the team, and Lilly considered him like their captain even though there was no official position. He was also the only one who could match her speed, but she had spent much of summer practicing in the hopes of putting the boy behind her. Yet, when the time came to start their run, she found him constantly either on her heels or at her side.

I see he’s been keeping in shape, too. Though, I guess I should have expected that.

The end of the run was in sight, and when she glanced over her shoulder to see him right behind her, the boy grinned, picking up his pace so that he was right beside her.

Oh, like hell I’m letting you beat me on the first day, Briggs!

Determined to start the year out on a high note, Lilly increased her own speed, and was able to just barely keep ahead of him as the two came flying through the gates of the school.

“Good job, Harper! Briggs! I see you both have been keeping active this summer!” Coach Francis called out to them both. “Now go do your stretches and you’re free to go home.”

Smiling to herself and proud that she didn’t let Matt get the best of her, Lilly turned and began heading toward one of the nearby tables, but to her dismay, the boy was right behind her.

“Damn, Harper,” he said with a laugh. “You’re really not gonna let me retake my slot in first place, are you?”

Despite having known him for over a year, and having no issue with him on a personal level, she still preferred to be left alone. Most of the cross country team had taken that hint long ago, but Matt was proving to be more persistent than she would have liked.

“Nope, probably not,” she replied softly.

That was all she said as she began doing her cooldown stretches, and despite her clear shutdown of the conversation, he simply chuckled and started stretching with her.

“Well, let’s do our best this season, yeah? I’ve got a good feeling about this year’s new recruits! I think with enough practice, we can really take sectionals! Especially with how good you’ve gotten. I wouldn’t be surprised if you took first place at some point.”

She nodded. “I hope I do. I came so close last year.”

“Oh yeah, you’ve got it in the bag this time! I have absolute faith in you!”

She found his confidence to be oddly comforting, and she knew he wasn’t just saying that to be nice. In fact, she got the feeling that he even enjoyed the unspoken rivalry they had built up over the last year, and in a way, she did, too. He gave her a goal, somebody to beat, and it had probably made her a better runner, so as annoying as he could be at times, she was grateful to him.

“Hey, Matt! Which one of you won today?” came a call from across the courtyard, and when Lilly looked up, she saw Audrey Moore approaching them with one of her good friends, Jay Brooks, at her side.

Matt sighed in an exaggerated fashion. “Unfortunately, I just couldn’t beat her today. Lilly got me by barely a second.”

Jay laughed. “Good for you, Harper. Gotta keep Briggs’s ego in check, don’t we?”

“Oy, I don’t have that much of an ego, Jay!” the blonde boy retorted. “You’re just upset that you’ve never been able to beat me after all these years.”

The other boy cocked an eyebrow. “That’s not true in the slightest and you know it!”

“Oh, don’t be like that, Jay!” Audrey chimed in with a sly grin. “If I’m remembering right, wasn’t it you that was going on about how this is the year you’ll finally catch up to Matt and Lilly? In fact, I seem to recall you swearing on your first born that you’d take them down at the first race.”

“Oh really? Well, that’s certainly not going to happen,” Matt said, joining in Audrey’s teasing. “I mean, it’s unlikely you could beat me, but there is no universe where you would ever catch Lilly. She’s basically the goddess of this team!”

“Yeah, I’m with him,” Audrey agreed. “There’s no way you’re beating Lilly, Jay. She’s just too good!”

Jay rolled his eyes and sighed. “Well, sure. Maybe I won’t beat Harper, but you’re going down, Briggs.”

“Bring it on, Brooks!”

Lilly felt her cheeks turn red at the sudden barrage compliments, so she quickly turned her eyes to the grass as she focused on her stretches. Despite the fact that the three were including her in the conversation, she still felt like she was on the outs and just wanted to hurry through her stretches so she could go home. At the same time, she kept glancing over at the gates as other team members came through. She knew that once Alice Mendez and Rina Davens finished their laps, they would come right over and join them. Alice and Rina were really close with Audrey and Jay, and were hardly ever seen without them outside of class. If they came over, Lilly would feel even more on the outs, so she wanted to be done before they arrived.

“By the way,” Audrey began cheerfully. “We were thinking about heading over to Ralph’s Diner to celebrate the start of the season. Would you guys want to join us?”

Matt grinned and flashed a thumbs-up. “Oh absolutely! Is it cool if we drag some of the freshmen along?”

“Oh of course!” Audrey replied. “Everybody’s invited. Lilly? You gonna come?”

There was no bone in her body that wanted to go to a group dinner, but not wanting to be rude to the girl, she just looked back up and shook her head.

“S-sorry…I’m…er, busy,” she stammered. “Sorry.”

She could see a bit of disappointment in Audrey and Matt’s expressions, but she could also tell that they weren’t all that surprised. Inviting her was more of a formality than anything else at that point since she never accepted their invitations. She was just waiting for the day when they stopped trying altogether.

“Oh, okay then,” Audrey muttered. “Well, if you change your mind, we’ll probably be there until seven or so.”

“Noted. Thanks.”

Lilly quickly finished her stretches, bid Audrey, Matt, and Jay goodbye, then turned and began heading back toward the main building so she could get her stuff from her locker. The first day of school was finally over, and thus, the end of high school was truly within sight. That thought was both comforting and terrifying at the same time, but whether she liked it or not, time moved forward and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Part of her thought back to her mother’s words from earlier in the day, and despite usually brushing them off, she couldn’t help but wonder if there would come a time when she would regret not going to events like that. And for some reason, deep within her, there was a feeling she couldn’t explain, like some other part of her was telling her that she would.

Yet even so, Lilly Harper never turned back around.

***

Vinny Mickelson scoffed in annoyance as he closed the door of the counseling office and stepped out into the third floor hallway, which was bathed in the orange light of sundown. It was only the first day, but his counselor had already called him to her office to badger him about his future. He’d only barely passed his classes the year prior and was only one absence away from having to retake the year. He managed to do the bare minimum to become a senior, but his councilor was still obviously worried that he wouldn’t do enough work to graduate in the spring. She wanted him to hit the ground running, but all he could do was scowl and allow her lecturing to go in one ear and out the other.

Doesn’t fucking matter anyway, he thought bitterly. I’m not gonna go to college. I’ll probably just go get some construction gig or something. I’m not cut out for school. Not like there’s anything I’m gonna do with my life.

He stuck his hands into the pockets of his pants and turned down the hallway, ready to put the school behind him. Of course, he didn’t plan to go home yet so he’d probably just go wander around town until it got really late. He sighed, but as he was walking, he noticed a single girl heading his way, her head down. Normally, he wouldn’t have paid her any more than a brief thought, but in that particular moment, he couldn’t help but stare at her.

Right…her. What the fuck was her name again? Harper?

As they got closer to each other, she looked up at him, but she only made eye contact for a moment before she passed him by and continued on her way. Her narrowed his eyes as he watched her receding back, and couldn’t help but recall the strange incident from that morning.

Is it possible…that Lilly Harper felt the same thing I did? Could I not be completely insane? Could there really be something off about room 3-5?

Ever since the spring festival the previous April, Vinny had felt an odd connection with that room that he’d never been able to explain. The only time anybody else had ever showed a similar fixation on that room was Alice Mendez a few days after, but he’d never worked up the courage to ask her about it again, for fear of coming across as more unstable than the school already thought he was.

But now…in one day, both that wallflower, Harper, and that annoying bitch, Tao, reacted in similar ways. Is it possible…that they experienced the same nostalgia? Or have I really just lost my mind?