“You’re just a parasite, Lila!”
Tessa’s shrill voice still echoed in my ears as I stepped into the bathroom. I couldn’t shake what had happened yesterday—the chaos in the hallway, the Cross brothers throwing punches, and the crowd of students who were more entertained than shocked. Tessa being a complete bitch.
“You’ve been stringing them along, playing all innocent while ruining everything.” Tessa had shouted, her slap from yesterday still stinging on my cheek.
She wasn’t wrong about one thing—they were fighting because of me. Aiden’s cocky grin had vanished after Grayson shoved him against the lockers, growling something about “crossing the line.” Asher had tried to pull them apart, but he only got dragged into the chaos.
And then there was Tessa, her words cutting through the noise. “You should’ve stayed in the hole you crawled out of!”
I hated how small her words made me feel, like I didn’t belong, like she was right. But that didn’t stop me from walking into school right now, my head held high, even though every inch of me was trembling.
But there she was. Of course, she was. Tessa leaned casually against the bathroom sinks, her blonde ponytail swishing as she turned to face me.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay away from them and from here?” Her voice was sharp and icy, her words echoing off the tiled walls.
I froze, narrowing my eyes. “What do you want now, Tessa?”
She smirked, stepping forward with slow, deliberate steps, like a predator cornering its prey. “What I want is for you to get the hell out of here. How many times do I have to say it? Stay away from the Cross brothers, or you’ll regret it.”
I crossed my arms, refusing to show how my palms were damp with sweat. “You don’t get to tell me what to do. I didn’t ask for any of this, so maybe you should back off.”
Her expression darkened, her smirk fading into something colder. “You don’t understand what you’re walking into, do you? You think this is just some high school game?” She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a venomous whisper. “Do you even know what happened to Evelyn?”
The name stopped me cold. “Evelyn?” I repeated, confused.
Tessa’s smile returned, sharp and cruel. “Oh, they didn’t tell you about her? Figures. She thought she could handle them too. She thought she could survive being their little obsession.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, my voice steady despite the knot tightening in my chest.
Tessa tilted her head, her eyes glinting with something between amusement and malice. “Evelyn was just like you—thought she was special, thought she could keep up with them. But you know what happened to her?” She took another step closer, her perfume sickly sweet in the air. “She disappeared.”
I frowned, my stomach churning. “Disappeared how?”
Tessa shrugged, feigning innocence. “One day, she was here. The next? Gone. No one talks about her anymore, but you can feel it, can’t you? The way the brothers act, the way Grayson looks at you. It’s because of her.”
“You’re lying,” I said quickly, but the doubt in my voice betrayed me.
Her laugh was sharp, cutting through the air like glass. “Believe what you want, Lila. But let me tell you this—if you don’t stay away from them, you’ll end up just like Evelyn. And trust me, no one will even remember you were here.”
She spun on her heel and marched toward the door, leaving me standing there, frozen and shaken.
Diary Entry
Date: October 3rd, 10:30 PM
Dear Diary,
Evelyn. I don’t know who she was or why Tessa brought her up, but I can’t stop thinking about her. Tessa said she ‘disappeared.’ She said the Cross brothers were involved. But the way she said her name—it wasn’t just a warning. It felt like she was taunting me, daring me to find out the truth.
Grayson’s face flashed in my mind when Tessa said her name. There’s something he’s hiding, something they’re all hiding. I can’t shake the feeling that Evelyn isn’t just some girl who went missing. She’s a part of their story. And now, I might be too.
I hate how much this scares me. But I hate not knowing even more.
Lila
The rest of the day passed in a blur, but Tessa’s words stuck with me. Evelyn. Her name felt like a riddle I didn’t know how to solve, and every time I thought of it, my chest tightened.
When the final bell rang, I made my way to my locker, desperate to get out of this school and away from the whispers and stares. But as I opened the door, my breath hitched.
There, sitting neatly on top of my books, was a photograph.
I reached for it slowly, my hands trembling. The image was faded and slightly torn, but the faces were unmistakable. Grayson was in the picture, his arm draped casually around a girl with dark hair and a shy smile.
Except her face was scratched out.
I flipped the photograph over, my stomach dropping as I read the words scrawled on the back:
“Do you want to end up like her?”