Lost & Found

meet the wilders

Mercifully, the rest of the class passed without another hiccup. Less mercifully, I discovered I shared all but two classes with Drew motherfucking Wilder. I had yet to cross this other mysterious Wilder, and was very sincerely praying that I had simply heard the girl in my math class wrong. We were whispering, after all. Things were bound to get garbled.

    Hopkins operated on a block schedule, like Hyland had, so at least that was familiar. I was cheered to find that I had a free last period, though less cheered that among the four classes I had today including Calc, Physics, and English, Dance was next, right before lunch, which was a whole other nightmare to grapple with. At least I got to close out the day with English. That was my favorite. Always had been. And then I could hightail it the fuck out of here, and lock myself in my room once more. It wasn't the best plan, but I'd gotten very good at avoidance over the years. Too good, Aaron would say.

    Following an impulse, I decided to check my phone on my way to the Performing Arts building, where the dance studio was located. Sure enough, two texts from Maggie awaited me.

    Mags: aaron is literally the bane of my existence i cannot handle him w/o you

    Mags: I MISS YOU

    I missed her too. Magnolia Espinosa was one of my all time favorite people on this planet, and even though we'd only become close after freshman year, I counted her as my best friend. Funnily enough, she was a dancer. Back at Hyland, she was our resident prima ballerina, star of the dance company. It's actually how we met in the first place. I was—

    "Hi!" A bubbly, musical voice snapped my attention back to the present, as I shoved my phone into the recesses of my backpack. I glanced up to find a young woman, barely twenty five by the looks of it, dressed in a matching magenta athletic set. Her platinum hair was pulled into a tight, chic bun, resting at the nape of her neck. "I'm Annika," she told me, wrapping me in a hug so strong I staggered backward a little. She was still speaking, "I'm the head of the dance department, and I'm so excited to finally meet you! You're Eliza, right?"

    "Um—" I could only guess my eyes were as wide as saucers. It was just a lot of energy to take in at once. So far, this whole not drawing attention to myself, invisible girl thing was really not working out for me. Like at all.

    "Oh my god, Annika," a tall, willowy girl stepped out of the studio. She was absolutely stunning. Shiny, straight raven hair tied back in a sleek ponytail, thick lashes framing emerald eyes. Her skin was a glowy, caramel hue, and flawless. Seriously, it looked like it had been airbrushed. Her whole face looked like a filter, to be honest. Full, pink lips, and a killer jawline. There was something vaguely familiar about her features, but I just couldn't place them. "Don't ambush the poor girl. We don't want to scare her off on her first day."

    The woman— Annika, shook her head good naturedly, "It is called enthusiasm. You'd think you youth would have more of it."

    "Annika, you're twenty four, not dying," this mystery girl rolled her eyes, flashing me a conspiratorial smile and revealing a perfect row of pearly white teeth. "I'm Olivia, by the way. But everyone calls me Via."

    "Eliza," I introduced myself, smiling back. It was impossible not to, really, when her own was so infectious. It was the first real smile I'd given all day.

    Olivia took my hand, leading me through the hallway, "Sorry about Annika, she's just like that. We rarely get newbies here, so when we do, everyone sort of...pounces."

    "Really?" I said dryly. "I hadn't noticed."

    She laughs, "I'm a senior too, by the way."

    "How'd you know I was a senior?"