𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 - 𝑪𝑯𝑹𝑰𝑺 𝑺𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑵𝑰𝑶𝑳𝑶.

fourteen!

when they're laughter doesn't die down, she rolls her eyes. "okay, i get it! now could you be quiet, so i can actually explain with more details?"

they nod in understanding, whereas chris stands up to grab a snack from the kitchen.

the rest of the group follows, talking quietly among themselves.

lily rolls her eyes at their antics, before continuing, "okay. so, what's going to happen is, for the first half of the video, i'm going to talk about a few things that i didn't get to go into detail a whole lot, so that that's out of the way!"

"i just want to be honest about this stuff, instead of keeping it bottled up inside and be real with you guys." she continues.

"but then! i'm going to be doing a fun little activity and experiment with some of my dear friends in the second half!" she exclaims with rare excitement.

elliot hears her best friend's giggle and turns around. she smiles softly, feeling so happy that her best friend is happy.

"she's doing good, huh?" chris asks quietly from behind her.

elliot is shocked, to say the least, at the fact that it's him asking.

she smiles again, the both of them turning around to see lily explaining her ideas more detailed with a big, bright smile on her face.

"yeah. she really is," she says, before turning back to him as she opens the lid of her gatorade. "i know she has a long way to go and her mental health will make it harder for her to keep going. but, i think since meeting you guys, she's been shown a new perspective that she's not alone and that she can get through anything."

"has it really been like that before?" chris asks, shock clear in his tone.

to be completely honest, chris never thought of her as someone that was punishing herself or struggling so badly in silence. especially after getting to know her these past few weeks, while she and elliot were staying at his and his brothers' house.

the only thing he let himself see about her is that she's incredibly strong with the way she kept going with everything she was going through—how resilient she truly is.

elliot sighs, bringing her blue bottle of electrolytes to her mouth and drinking it a bit, before closing it with the cap and placing it on the side of the counter by them.

"she doesn't talk about it a lot—or really, at all—but her parents' abuse really hurt her. before she met alex, she learned from them that the world is cruel—that they were cruel." she mutters, feeling very protective over lily, once again.

"what do you mean?" he asks, tilting his head to the side in slight confusion.

"well, you know how parents are supposed to be the ones to be there for you, take care of you, and protect you?" she asks and he nods.

"with them? they didn't care about those things. at least when allison was still in high school, lily wasn't alone in their exhausting amount of cruel criticism and high pressure. not to mention the constant manipulation and gaslighting and guilt-tripping that they did to the both of them,"

"but...then, allison graduated and even though she protected lily when she was there, she couldn't protect her after because she had to get out and get her life together."