Get Back to You 122 Desperate efforts

As soon as they exited the cafeteria, the lunch bell rang to their disappointment. The guys stood in the aisle, looking disheartened. Anna and Diego signaled at each other worriedly. When both turned to see Lillian, they got startled. The girl wasn't even alarmed from the lunch bell. Her orbs thwarted from surrendering.

It is not possible for the two to convince Lillian from abandoning her resolution. Nonetheless, Anna wanted to try reasoning with her friend.

When Anna began to speak up, Lillian grey interrupted.

"You guys can go ahead. I'll search for Giselle by myself. Also, be on alert, I'll text you guys."

"But, what if she's already in the class?" Anna questioned; still trying to draw sense to her friend.

Lillian looked over at Anna and concluded,

"No, you're wrong."

She stated and then moved. Anna's plan failed even before trying.

Watching her stiff shoulders, Anna could feel the fuming heat waves burning inside Lillian's heart.

'Why?'

'Why are you so worked up for this issue?'

'Is it what I think it is, Lilly?'

Anna's mind disputed over Lillian's behavior.

"Lilly," Anna called.

Lillian halted on her spot without turning and waited.

"By any chance, are you the other girl from the recording?" Anna appealed.

It was quiet for a few seconds. None of them moved an inch and waited patiently; Lillian Grey's back, still cold and tense.

"Yes."

She replied and then disappeared without wasting another second. Anna and Diego stood in the aisle dazed and, bothered. Diego appeared gloomy but never showed it out. Instead, he signed Anna to return to their class.

They both left the area together, leaving their friend, Lillian Grey in executing her search.

…

Lillian Grey's worried eyes hunted wherever her body reached. She didn't miss a visual and kept searching for Giselle. Something inside of her told that Giselle should be out there all by herself. Lillian carefully avoided the staff and kept roaming around the school to find Giselle.

She looked over at the ladies rooms, the labs, the library, the stadium, and the grounds and finally went to the music room. She found no presence inside the room, but the place looked grubby. Things seen scattered on the floor, and there, Lillian noticed a piece of fabric. She looked at it for a long time before eventually ignoring it for some costume malfunction.

Lillian came out drenched in sweat. She looked out for the nearby lavatory. As she was about to go in, a quiet whimper she heard from the inside. Lillian's heart pressed anxiously. She swung opened the door by shouting for Giselle. As soon as she opened it, the noise faded. She found no one inside the lavatory.

Except for one cubicle, that appeared to be locked and occupied, the rest were all either fully open or slightly closed. Lillian hesitated for a second. She went and banged on the locked cubicle, screaming for Giselle.

No response.

Lillian continued for a few seconds before getting tired.

'I think it her.'

'She is inside.'

'Why is not answering?'

'Is she alright?'

Even those few moments of stillness swelled with millions of questions for Lillian Grey.

'She might be scared. Let me try again.' – Lillian decided.

"Gi- Giselle"

"It's me, Lillian Grey, your- your classmate."

"Is it you in there?"

"Please respond to me."

Lillian's voice appeared to have calmed down, and it was considerate enough for anybody to reply, in case if they heard her talk like that.

However, there was no response once again.

"Please, if it's you in there, come out."

Lillian begged only to get no reaction.

She has two reasons to think that there might be a chance that this cubicle held by Giselle.

One, if occupied by someone else, they would have already responded to Lillian for her yelling, and two, if the occupied stall is empty inside then the fact that Lillian Grey yelling to an empty lavatory stall remains valid.

It is her hunch that keeps telling that it might be Giselle who's inside this space. After a few minutes of trying, Lillian Grey finally gave up.

***

Giselle looked crushed when the broadcast ended. Her face, which was already dried up from all the crying once again became damp from the newly pouring hot tears. Her heart froze from hearing Bridgette's announcement. She knew that the blond girl would surely pick on her for slapping her face, but Giselle didn't expect things to turn out like this.

Her sexual identity, the confession, she is framed as the perverted stalker, the audio clip, and the public announcement all took a toll upon Giselle as her body trembled from panic.

Giselle cannot hold back any longer as loud sobs escaped from her mouth. When she tried to clamp her mouth shut to stop, it only resulted in more sobbing. She pressed both hands on her mouth and managed to hold them back so that only the sound of muffled cry heard.

Giselle's peaceful life had been shuffled harshly in recent times with the gossip girls, but none of it hurt like this incident. It broke Giselle into pieces. She found herself clinging on to her body, wrapping herself into a small bundle. Even the injuries from Mike hadn't wiped yet, Giselle had to go through these difficulties.

It wouldn't have mattered much had Bridgette didn't share the evidence of Giselle confessing to Lillian Grey. For one, she thanked that her enemy had the courtesy enough to change Lillian's voice. But, that doesn't change the fact that Lillian wouldn't notice it.

The entire school has heard this broadcast. One can only be stupid enough to believe that Lillian Grey didn't listen to it. Giselle found herself getting shivered from facing Lillian in the future.

'She must hate me now.' – Giselle's sobs stretched as she couldn't find a way to stop it.

...

When Giselle heard her name echoed outside the lavatory, she covered her mouth from making a sound. She didn't want to be seen, heard, or discovered. Giselle wanted to run away from all this humiliation, but she couldn't.

Giselle stayed shut inside the bathroom. She didn't recognize the voice as her mind preoccupied with lots of troubled thoughts. However, it all got shattered when the echoing roar barged into the lavatory.

Giselle's system faces an emergency shutdown as she could now clearly recognize the owner of the voice screaming her name.

It is Lillian Grey.

The voice kept speaking as Giselle's mind collapsed. None of what Lillian said reached Giselle as the beaten up girl hanged onto her soul from death. It was hard, Giselle feared over meeting Lillian and the consequence of facing her directly after what Bridgette had done to avenge her.

Soon, the voice disappeared, and its surrounding became silent. Giselle still covered her mouth tightly, not even letting her breath out. She concealed her presence from responding to Lillian Grey's desperate efforts

After a few seconds of stillness, Giselle heard the door kicked violently. Giselle trembled, her whole body gave up on her as she feared being discovered by the one person she doesn't want to.

Shortly, the door flung open to the image of Lillian grey in a mess. She was sweating all over that her top entirely soaked in her body sweat.

Giselle's terrified eyes found its way to Lillian's concerned orbs.

They both looked at each other for a mere few seconds, before Lillian took note of the sight. She looked at the girl being in a state of crumbled.

Chapter end