𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑─𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦 𝐝𝐮𝐧𝐛𝐚𝐫

86.

A sigh escaped my lips as I turned up the volume on my phone, letting the music blast through my headphones. After Liam had left the field in a fit, I ended up staying with Mason to watch Corey. I knew that if Liam really needed me he would have called.

But now, as practice ended and darkness had begun to fall on Beacon Hills, I still found myself in the halls of BHHS, waiting for Liam to emerge from the locker rooms. It was safe to say I was getting impatient. We had a test in history tomorrow that I needed to study for, so sitting waiting for my boyfriend was not what I wanted to be doing.

I knew that if I marched in there and told him it was time to go that he would oblige, but I didn't know who else was in there, and I wanted to let Liam calm down a bit.

I was emerged in a game on my phone when two pairs of feet stopped in front of me. I took out my headphones, looking up to see Mason and Corey.

"There you are." Mason sighed, looking around for a moment, "Where's Liam?"

I pocketed my phone as I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder toward the locker room, "I have no idea what the hell is he doing."

Mason and Corey shared a look, "We have a test tomorrow." Corey pointed out.

I nodded, giving a small shrug, "I know. So please go in there and get him so we can all go home and study."

The two boys nodded before making their way into the room. Corey held the door open, leaning back out to look at me, "You can come in, Syd. No one else is in here."

I let out a small grunt as I pushed myself from where I had been standing for the last hour, following Corey and Mason inside. As we rounded the corner, Liam looked over to us, an oddly suspicious grin on his face. "Hey guys!" he greeted, in the process of tying his shoe, "What are you doing here."

I stopped in front of him, a pointed look covering my face, "Looking for you."

"History test...tomorrow," Mason added, stopping beside me, "We need to study."

Liam nodded, "Yeah...right-"

I looked away from Liam as Corey attempted to lean into one of the lockers, but instead he basically fell into it due to the fact that the door was missing. I looked back to Liam who tried to play it off, "That's a good idea. I should study since I have no idea what it's on." he muttered, adding a nervous laugh.

Corey, with a confused look on his face due to the lack of a door, pulled himself from the locker before speaking, "It's on Mussolini and the role of fear-baiting in the rise of fascism." he answered, "We can study together."

Liam laughed as he dropped his foot from the bench, accidentally kicking something in the process. My eyes caught on the locker door, and I soon realized that he had ripped it off. I resisted the urge to call him out on it, and instead remained silent.

"Can we take the test together." He joked, which earned a small chuckle from Corey.

But, it seemed that Mason hadn't been listening as his attention was caught on something else. "Hey," he spoke, his eyes looking past Liam, "Guys, look."

All of our gazes followed his, which lead to blood that was smeared all over the floor, like something had been dragged. I felt my heart rate speed up as Liam stood, taking a small step toward the blood.

I shared a nervous look with Mason before the three of us followed after Liam, all of us taking slow steps as we followed the trail to whatever had produced all of this blood.

My heart rate seemed to speed up as we all remained silent, taking slow steps closer and closer to the source of the blood. As we rounded the corner leading to the showers, I felt my heart drop into my stomach as I stifled a gag. There in front of us was a body, but it wasn't just any body. I had no face, and it was almost as if all the skin had been ripped off. A lacrosse helmet lay beside it, leading us all to the assumption that this was someone we know-knew.