𝘚𝘖𝘕𝘋𝘌𝘙 ⁽ʲ ᵐᵒˡⁱⁿᵃ⁾

𝘌𝘓𝘌𝘝𝘌𝘕

The next morning, to say the very least, was awkward.

While Elise was pleased to wake up in with her arms wrapped around a sleeping Julie, one glance at the clock was enough to tell her they were nearly two hours late to school. Against her own comfort, she shook the girl awake and they were soon frantically preparing for the day ahead.

Payton had overslept as well, which was discovered as she snuck into their room to steal a clean pair of clothes. This came as no shock. She rolled her eyes, and moments later they hesitantly joined into the morning chaos as well. Bed-head and all, they group piled into Payton's car. Elise pulled her hair into a tight pony tail and laced up her vans on the way over, while music blasted from the surrounding speakers.

The group jumped out of the car and sped into the building, signing in with a particularly slow front office attendant before splitting their separate ways. Payton was the first to leave the group without so much as muttering a goodbye, leaving Elise and Julie to walk down an adjacent hallway alone.

They had barely spoken a full sentence to each other since yesterday, Elise wanted to talk to her, but she couldn't think of the right things to say. Julie seemed content with their silence. Any time she tried to catch the other girl's eye; she would look away. Every time their arms brushed her face would go beat red. She decided to live in this glorious moment, before they were forced to discuss what had happened, for as long as possible. She tried to be reasonable: Julie would shut whatever this was down as soon as she got the chance.

In front of Julie's dance class, the two girls finally stalled. Despite the previous rush Julie was in to get to class, she now seemed hesitant to enter. Her hands were clasped in front of her, she picked her fingernails.

Julie smiled. "I'll see you later."
Elise nodded and raised a hand to wave goodbye. She smiled as the door closed behind Julie, finally allowing the emotions trapped inside to show on her face. She smiled to herself, how had she gotten so lucky? Having Julie as a friend was amazing; she was incredible. She would probably have to be okay with never being anything more, she doubted Julie would want to further their relationship. If Elise was being honest, she wasn't sure she wanted to be in a relationship either. As much as Julie made her heart smile, she could only think of the negative affects committing to something like that would have. Every relationship she'd ever been a part of ended in screaming, someone storming out or yelling insults that still resonated deep within her. Every single time she'd thought she found someone that was perfect for her, and so far, she'd only been wrong.

Her own class was a little way down the hallway. She snuck in, slipping her tardy pass on her teacher's desk and settling quietly behind her own. She breathed a small sigh of relief that she'd somehow managed to go without an embarrassing late entrance speech. She was already embarrassed enough as it was, just being in the building after the events that transpired the previous night.
Sat a few desks away was one of Dominic's friends. Her eyes were glued to the board at the front of the room, paying no attention to Elise, but she still swallowed thickly with the nerves that found her. She was almost certain that girl was there when she'd been trapped in the locker room. Elise was stuck between angry and nervous.

Even if it was farfetched, Elise could have sworn everyone was sneaking glances at her. She wouldn't be surprised if Carrie and her minions had already started spreading rumors about her absence around the school, it wouldn't be the first time her sister sent false news corralling through the student body. It was a big factor in her bad reputation, and no matter how many times it happened she'd never done it back. Even if she was admittedly not the greatest person, she liked to think she was the better person of the Wilson twins. Even if her motives were entirely corrupt.