Sitting around Marcus and Shabnam's room did not worry Lilith, as it was the perfect time for the girl to catch up on the lack of sleep, she has been having the last few days. Lilith did not care for Marcus's whereabouts and did not seem to be fazed when she heard Master Lin's footsteps pacing down the hall, the slamming of his stick hitting the wooden flooring down the hall, flooding the eyes of the King Dominion students locked in random or their own bedrooms.
Master Gao's voice alerted Willie and Viktor, the two boys bringing their noses out of the comics that were situated on Marcus's desks from the comic store him and Willie work and spend most of their free time in. The woman was currently announcing the food and eating situations that were occurring during their lockdown, not really gaining Lilith's attention as she turned over, facing the blank wall beside Marcus's bed.
Willie looked down at the sleeping girl, of whom had not muttered a word to him since his comments about Marcus earlier. A sad smile appeared onto his face as he hovered his hand over her shoulder, feeling a sense of guilt for the look of peacefulness covered her face as she slept. If Willie had never asked Master Lin to have Lilith accompany them on their mission to retrieve Marcus, the relationship between them would never have been as hurtful for his best friend, nor to himself or Billy of whom both had to watch their friend deteriorate back into the mental and physical state she was only two years ago, where every time either him or Billy would visit the girl in her room, she would be sat there in tears or throwing knives at them, demanding that they leave her alone.
Willie wanted to hate Marcus for what he did to Lilith. In fact, most of him did hate him for toying with her heart, even Saya's heart as he picked and chose between the two girls and Maria, as he couldn't decide which one of them, he wanted. Willie despised this about Marcus, just as much as Billy and Lex despise the new boy too, not just for the indecisiveness of the boy, but the trouble and how he disrupted the atmosphere and their day to day choices since his arrival.
"Lili..." Willie whispered as he heard the monks open the door, allowing them to go and pick up their food. The girl hummed as she shook her head, already knowing what the boy was going to ask her.
"Not. Hungry." She said between yawns, quickly returning back to her slumber before Willie could speak further. The boy nodded his head, giving her arm a gentle rub before him and Viktor disappeared out of the room to get food other than crisps into their stomachs.
The sound of the door closing and the two boys' footsteps disappearing down the hall, allowed tears that Lilith had been trying so hard to hide, to fall down her face, dropping onto one of Marcus's pillows.
"Why are you like this Lilith?" She said, sniffling in between words, allowing her eyes to close, to prevent any further tears to fall.
Seeing herself and feeling in so much pain, made Lilith begin to realise and recognise her own feelings. Yes, she liked Marcus. But she could not be with him, nor give him another chance until he knew for certain what he wanted. Sure she knew that her feelings for the boy would not disappear overnight, but she was ready to put him and her feelings towards him at the back of her mind, instead prioritising her own feelings as well as other important matters in her life, finding her bastard of a brother and becoming mentally healthier.
She was ready for herself to change.
**************
Howling sounds of the wind filled the air of San Francisco as Lilith stood around with Willie and Billy at the open area of the graveyard, all three having a cigarette in hand. After deciding her plan back in Marcus's room, Willie and Viktor had reappeared into the bedroom, lockdown being lifted only an hour after them returning.
Looking over to Maria sitting herself in a foldable deckchair, Lilith noticed that the girl must have had a rough time through the lockdown period, spots of smudged makeup that she had not completely removed still situated upon her face. The two smiled at one another as they made eye contact, Lilith wanted to try and be civil or even potential be on better terms with the girl than they are in right now, as it looked like Maria needed a good friend, of which Saya no longer filled that void.
Humming along to the music, Lilith situated herself against the wooden wall, watching her two best friends discuss all things she was not interested in, allowing the girl to be lost in her own thoughts.
However, the sound of the graveyard door opening, slamming against the brick walls, brought Lilith's attention, noticing Marcus making his way over to the group. Not wanting to give the boy any time of her day since their altercation in his bedroom, Lilith went to drift her eyes away when she noticed patches of purple covering his face, bruising forming from the colour on his cheek and beside his right eye.
"Karma..." She muttered, not noticing she said it louder than she hoped when she heard Willie laugh beside her, before giving her a quick but light elbow to the hip. Willie simply stuck his tongue out at the girl as the two alongside Billy watched as Marcus stopped in his tracks, instead making his way over to Maria.
Lilith felt the two boys' eyes move off Marcus and onto her, making her own eyes widen at their intense stares.
"What?"
They shrugged their shoulders.
"No guys... why are you looking at me like that?" Willie shook his head, rubbing his hands over the fire. Billy shrugged his shoulders again before looking at Marcus and Maria before looking back at Lilith. Lilith sighed, shaking her head at Billy, now understanding what he was getting at.
"Billy... I don't care... I mean it this time." Billy nodded his hand, high fiving the girl.
Lilith did care though. However, if this was a week or two ago, and she saw Marcus doing what he was doing right now, of which was leaning close to Maria, being somewhat affectionate, Lilith would have gone off on one and been very petty about the situation.
Instead, Lilith ignored the couple metres away from her and the boys, instead bringing her attention to Willie of whom was patting down his smart attire, consisting of a formal looking jacket.
"Willie you couldn't look worse if you tried stop." Willie narrowed his eyes at the girl, flinching himself towards the girl, Lilith fake gasping as she jumped back from the boy, the two beginning to laugh.
"No really Willie... you look fine, stop worrying so hard." Billy agreed, the two exchanging smiles within themselves and to Willie, when their attention was brought to the sound of the graveyard door screeching opening.
This time it was Saya.
Lilith locked eyes with the girl, both exchanging smiles with Lilith waving her hand over to the girl. Saya nodded her head, dismissing the looks she was receiving from Maria until Marcus turned around, him too now looking at Saya, but with a different type of expression written across his face. Lilith alongside Willie and Billy inched themselves forward, all intrigued in what was going to happen between the three students.
"Hey." Lilith raised an eyebrow as Saya crossed her arms, waiting for what the boy had to say.
"She... she did it to help us all."
The three students watching from afar looked at one another, eyes wided as they noticed Saya walking towards Marcus, a blank but also angry expression written across her face as her arms dropped to her side.
"She did it to help herself, but that's not a bad thing." Saya spoke, Lilith noticing a surprising sense of calmness to her voice, of which Lilith would have not been able to handle if she was in Saya's shoes, considering the events that occurred today before and during the lockdown period.
"It's important not to forget that's the way people operate... Less of a surprise later on."
Lilith clapped to Saya's words as the girl dismissed any further conversation between herself and Marcus, continuing her way over to Lilith and the boys, before the interruption of Marcus.
"Damn, the freakiest shit always be happening during lockdown." Lilith turned her head to Willie, to see a smug look sprawled across Billy's face as he was now stood beside the boy.
"Well technically for Billy... nothing happened for him." Lilith teased, a shove being thrown her way by Billy of whom scoffed and shook his head at her comment, causing both Lilith and Willie to break out into a light laughter.
"What..." Saya spoke up, pointing at Willie's attire, specifically pointing to the black tie that had matched his blazer. "What are you dressed up for?"
"I'm a go surprise my girl after her shift." Lilith faked to swoon, Willie shaking his head at the girl standing before him beside Saya, Lilith giving the boy a faint smile afterwards.
Saya also smiled at Willie, her too impressed at the affectionate and considerate side of Willie that no has seen before since him meeting Gabrielle, of whom Lilith knew she meant the absolute world to Willie.
"Taking your advice, working on being more honest." Willie spoke again, looking between Saya and Lilith, the two nodding their heads, both impressed that Willie had decided to take their advice into consideration.
Lilith was about to make another comment to Willie about his cuteness for Gabrielle, when she heard movement behind her. Turning around, she saw Marcus standing up on the wall, looking out to the group of which were once seen to be friends, separated around the graveyard, Billy looking out to the surroundings of San Francisco and Maria still sitting in the foldable deck chair.
"I got to talk to everyone about something." Marcus announced. "It's important."
Those words caught the attention to the whole Las Vegas crew, Lilith moving herself to stand next to Willie, leaning against the wooden bean as she focused on the words Marcus was beginning to say.
"Secrets got us into this... holding onto bad feelings." Marcus started, looking around at the King Dominion students that he considered to be his close friends, his eyes lingering more on Lilith. Lilith, however, did not return the eye contact for long, instead raised her eyebrows, telling the boy to stop looking her way.
"Not being honest... not trusting each other, all this back-biting and shit-talking and drama." Marcus jumped down from the wall, now leaning against it, before bringing his eyes up to look at the group, noticing that Maria had began to inch herself closer to the group, allowing herself to hear Marcus's words more clearly.
Lilith caught Maria's eye, Lilith giving the girl a brief smile, to which she received a shocked look from Maria. Lilith expected that kind of reaction as her smile was genuine and not one of her infamous fake or sarcastic smiles she used to send Maria's way.
"You guys are the only family I've had since my... my folks died."
Lilith's heart dropped, a sad smile appearing onto her face as she looked directly at Marcus, understanding the pain of having friends as your only family because you no longer had your parents to be your family. Even though Lilith has Alec and Tia, she did not know they were alive, so naturally she began to think she was all alone, making her now all too well what Marcus was getting at.
"And I can't lose you."
Lilith saw Willie look down at her, causing her too to look up at her best friend, the two smiling at one another before showing that smile to Marcus as Lilith leaned off the wooden beam, straightening herself up.
"Come on man." Willie shook his head, attempting to lighten the mood, not wanting to be in such a serious atmosphere.
"Yeah, well, in the spirit of full disclosure... I want to tell you all the truth about me." Lilith nodded her head, mentally applauding the boy standing before her. Marcus looked at Lilith, of which Lilith held her thumbs up, giving him that supportive boost.
Lilith watched as Marcus took a deep breath, his eyes wandering to his friends standing before him.
"I didn't kill those boys at the boy's home." Marcus stated. "But... when I escaped, I let loose the guy who did." Lilith nodded her head, Saya looking her way as the two remember the time when Marcus had told them about what really happened back at the boy's home.
Maria dashed to Marcus's side, placing herself on the wall beside him, Lilith not feeling any sense of jealously coming her way as she knew it was time that Marcus told her and the others the truth about his reputation and the only way Maria would be able to hear it clearly, would be too sit next to him.
And that her being a supportive girlfriend could also be a reason why.
"I had this roommate, a psycho named Chester." Maria placed her hand on Marcus's knee, Willie looking down at Lilith of whom nodded her head, pointing her finger to make Willie focus his attention back on the boy that was speaking, not wanting him to miss out on any important information.
"He followed us to Vegas, and he found Chico's body."
"What?" Maria whispered, her face only inches away from her boyfriends.
"That's not the worst of it." Marcus shook his head. Directing his eyes away from Maria, Lilith felt his stare fall onto her, of which she returned the eye contact, giving the boy a reassuring smile, imagining how difficult it is for him to announce this to the group.
"He... He has this deadline... and we're running out of time."
"What do you mean we're running out of time?" Willie exclaimed, Lilith sighed stepping forward, Marcus's eyes following her movements as she walked to the other side of Marcus.
"It means..." Lilith spoke, wrapping her arm around Marcus's shoulder, ignoring his intense stare upon her. Billy placed himself were Lilith was standing moments ago, leaning himself against the wooden beam, both his and Willie's attention brought upon to her.
"It means that we need to get Chico's head back."
"And how are we going to do that?" Willie questioned, as he noticed a sinister smile crawl upon Lilith's lips.
"It's simple." Lilith answered. "We have to kill Chester."
Saya nodded her head, walking over to Willie and Billy, of which the two boys looked at one another before looking back at Lilith.
"And this time... we leave no fucking witnesses."
———
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