𝘚𝘖𝘕𝘋𝘌𝘙 ⁽ʲ ᵐᵒˡⁱⁿᵃ⁾

𝘕𝘐𝘕𝘌

9:05. Five minutes late to the dance wasn't so bad, was it? The band wasn't supposed to go on until a little later in the night, Elise was sure they'd survive a few minutes delay.

She was definitely one to procrastinate, and picking an outfit always proved to be a harder task than she anticipated. You'd think she'd have learned by now, as every single day she was held up between different looks, but she continued to make the mistake over and over. She was sure Julie would understand, the girl was a style icon.

It was always unsettling to see the school at night. Without a shred of light coming through the skylights and stretching windows, the artificial overheads cast a dreary glow over the tile floors. Without the bustling of other students around her, her footsteps echoed louder than they ever would through the hallways.

She ran her hand against the lockers as she walked, humming one of the songs in their set as she did so. Despite all that had happened to her in the past few days, the chaos she'd been thrust into, she somehow managed to crawl out of bed and show up. For Julie. It was such a change, for the longest time she set her priorities so that she didn't have to care too much about anything. She got average grades and had average relationships, and she was okay with that. She didn't think it possible for her to care so much about four people so quickly.

Laughter carried down the hallways, she tensed slightly. She still wasn't comfortable with the idea of going to a dance, if she had it her way, they would be out of there in a heartbeat. But if this was what they needed to gain a following, they would do it. They could all agree that Julie was the most sensible of the group. It was just one night, hopefully they wouldn't ever have to do it again.

She took a sharp left as she approached the locker room. It was a bit of a detour from the gym, they were a few hallways distance apart. No one was occupying this part of the school, she had to flick on the lights before entering. There were no windows in the room so it was illuminated the exact same level it was during the day, but something still felt off about the glow. It seemed darker than normal; Elise hated the dark. She was getting in her head.

Her locker was in the very back. It was an unnecessarily large school with too much money to spend intelligently, so the locker room was like a maze to be explored. She'd opted to take P.E. rather than dance (she'd rather be found dead than in a leotard), so she had her very own compartment that she took advantage of often. It was most definitely a plus.

She left the door propped open with a wooden block, eyeing the key hung on a metal hook just beside the frame. When she was a freshman, a girl somehow managed to get locked inside for the entire class period, so they kept a key there for safe measure. If it was there, the door could be unlocked from the inside.

She walked quickly, not wanting to upset Julie with her tardiness, and stuffed her board within the confines of the metal container. She snapped the lock back in place and pivoted on her heal to make her way back to front. She shrugged off the shuffling she swore she could hear from the entrance, telling herself it was all in her head. She had a habit of overthinking, she tended to convince herself the worst possible scenario was about to play out.

She jumped at the sight of a figure stood the the doorway. She stalled, recognizing the boy as one of the more popular football players. He was one that fell at Carrie's feet, and for reasons unknown seemed to have a vendetta against Elise. Maybe he thought making her miserable would impress her sister, she hoped that wasn't true.

He grinned and a few voices sounding from behind him laughed, saying variants of quick and do it.

She most definitely didn't know what this meant, but it wasn't long before she found out.