Leah was in a daze for the rest of her shift. Lucien hadn't moved from her spot for two hours, and it was finally time for Leah to clock out.
"Thank you for your service," Mrs. Radcliff said cheerfully as Leah handed in her apron.
"Uh-huh," Leah muttered absently, barely registering the words.
She grabbed her school bag and, as she headed out, glanced at Lucien. She was still there, hunched over her books like nothing had changed. But everything had changed for Leah.
Lucien... a girl?
Leah's mind was still reeling, the revelation gnawing at her. Everyone at school thought Lucien was a boy. Hell, even Leah had always thought Lucien was a boy. He looked like one. She looked like one. Was that the joke? Had everyone been in on it except her?
She dragged her feet over to the corner where Lucien sat, trying not to trip over the mental mess she was in. As she approached, Lucien didn't even look up. It was like she was in her own world.
"Hey," Leah started, her voice coming out rough. She cleared her throat. "Still studying?"
Lucien glanced up, her expression neutral, before nodding. "Yep."
Leah blinked, her brain a blur. She couldn't stop herself from blurting out, "So... you're a girl, huh?"
Lucien's eyes widened slightly, but she quickly returned to her textbook, like the world wasn't about to implode around them.
"Yeah," Lucien replied, as though it was the most casual thing ever.
Leah stood there for a moment, processing. "Huh."
Lucien didn't even flinch.
"Alright," Leah said, suddenly feeling like the floor had just disappeared beneath her. "Well, see you tomorrow."
And with that, Leah turned and left, still half-convinced she might wake up from some weird dream where everything was upside down.
Her walk home was confusing, to say the least. Lucien was definitely attractive, but that was a boy kind of attractiveness. Lucien was hot, but like, boy hot. Not that it was a bad thing...hot was still hot...but now that Leah knew Lucien was actually a girl, everything felt... off. She couldn't help but replay the mental image of Lucien's sharp jawline and dark eyes, but now her brain was adding girl to the mix, and it was like trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole.
"So, was I just into a girl all along?" Leah muttered to herself. "Am I... gay?"
She sighed dramatically. It was too much to think about.
By the time she got home, she was pretty sure she had talked herself into circles. "Alright, fine, I'll figure this out later," she decided, as if that made any sense at all. "Tomorrow. Definitely tomorrow."
Leah staggered into the house, still processing everything about Lucien. She barely noticed the glass cup that seemed to fall from nowhere, until it hit her square on the head.
She froze for a split second, before her body reacted and she crumpled to the floor, a sharp pain shooting through her skull.
Seraphina appeared from behind the corner, her phone held high, a grin plastered on her face. "Gotcha!" she exclaimed, her voice dripping with amusement. "You guys, if you want to see more pranks, follow my channel! That was hilarious, wasn't it?" She turned the camera toward herself, smiling sweetly as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Leah, hands instinctively going to her forehead, felt something warm and sticky trickling down her skin. Blood. She blinked, the world around her suddenly spinning.
Her legs felt unsteady as she pushed herself up, determined to get to her room. She stumbled forward, but each step felt more wobbly than the last. By the time she reached the threshold of her bedroom, her vision blurred, and she collapsed onto the floor, her body giving in to the dizziness.
Hours passed, and Leah was still nowhere to be found. Her phone calls went unanswered, and she didn't show up for their plans, something Taylor and Adelaide both knew was unlike her. Leah would never miss the chance to escape her house, even if just for a night.
Growing concerned, Taylor and Adelaide began pacing around, their worry rising with each passing minute. They exchanged frantic glances. "She wouldn't just forget about us, right?" Taylor said, her voice filled with unease.
Adelaide frowned, shaking her head. "No way. Leah's always up for some fun. Something's definitely off."
After a brief, tense silence, Taylor's thoughts turned to her father. "We have to go check on her," she decided, her voice firm.
Without hesitation, they begged Taylor's father to take them to Leah's house. Mr. Brown, ever fond of the girls, agreed with a warm smile. He had a soft spot for them, especially for Leah, whom he knew had her fair share of troubles at home. "Of course," he said, already reaching for his keys. "I'll take you right now."
The ride was a quiet one, the air thick with worry. Neither Taylor nor Adelaide could shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right. When they arrived at Leah's house, they rushed to the door, their hearts in their throats.
They knocked frantically, their impatience growing by the second. Finally, the door swung open, revealing Leah's mother, Cecilia. The woman had once been warm and kind to them, but since the incident, her eyes held a distant, almost cold look. To her, Taylor and Adelaide were no longer the lively girls they once were, they were a reminder of her past, one she had desperately tried to forget.
"Hi, Mrs. Daniels. Is Leah home?" Taylor asked, trying her best to sound polite, though a knot of anxiety had formed in her stomach.
Cecilia scoffed, her expression barely masking her disdain. "What do you want with her?" she snapped, crossing her arms tightly over her chest.
Adelaide stiffened beside Taylor, feeling the tension in the air. She took a step forward, her voice firm. "We have a sleepover tonight. And we haven't heard from her, so we thought we'd check up."
Cecilia's lips pressed into a thin line, but she didn't say anything immediately. There was a sharpness to the silence that made both girls uneasy. They had been told, time and time again, not to step foot in this house, thanks to Seraphina's insistence that they weren't welcome. It was as if their mere presence was a threat to everything her daughter had, and the girls had long stopped trying to understand it.
But what they did understand was the subtle, almost imperceptible change in how Leah had become. They remembered how she used to smile freely, how she would laugh without worrying about the world. That had faded long ago, replaced by the quiet intensity of someone who carried far too much on her shoulders.
Leah's family couldn't afford her tuition during her first year of high school, not with Seraphina in an expensive private school and all the attention lavished on her.
The memories of how hard Leah had fought for a scholarship still haunted both of them. They remembered the late nights, Leah hunched over her textbooks with bloodshot eyes, the deep, permanent dark circles under her eyes, her skin looking more and more pale with each passing week. The hair that used to shine was thinning in places, and they had seen how it devastated her, but Leah never let them see how much it hurt. No, she kept pushing, kept trying, determined to not let her circumstances defeat her.
But they knew, they felt it, the toll it was taking on her. The night she found out she'd received the scholarship? She was so exhausted, her smile barely registered, but they saw it, the relief. Leah had finally fought for something she could keep. And now, as they stood here in this house that felt so far removed from the Leah they knew, they just hoped they'd find their friend was safe.
"You girls are not welcome. Leave," Cecilia said, her voice cold as she tried to shut the door. But Mr. Brown, always one to stand up for what was right, held it open.
"Please, Cecilia. Let them see their friend," he pleaded, his voice softer than hers but firm.
Cecilia's expression didn't change. "No. They're not allowed in." She tried to close the door again, but after a moment, she sighed and relented. "Fine. I'll call her down."
The door shut with a thud, but Adelaide, unable to contain her growing concern, couldn't wait, she shoved the door open with a force that startled even her, running into the house. Cecilia's voice, still sharp and warning, echoed behind her, but she paid it no mind.
"Adelaide, what are you doing?!" Taylor hissed, already following in her wake.
Ignoring the protests, Adelaide rushed down the narrow hallway, pushed open Leah's door, and froze in the doorway. The sight hit her like a punch to the gut.
Leah was on the floor, sprawled unnaturally, her usually vibrant hair now matted and dark with blood. A slow trickle had spread across the wood, and for a moment, the world seemed to stop.
Adelaide let out a strangled scream, and Taylor, pale as a ghost, moved forward, her voice thick with panic. "Dad! We need help!"
Taylor's hands trembled as she reached for Leah, checking for signs of life, but it was the coldness of the room, the stillness, that unnerved her the most.