**TRIGGER WARNING**: This chapter contains upsetting topics. Self-harm, body hatred, bullying, and suicide are mentioned in this chapter. Reader discretion advised.

Spotify Playlist for Enraptured: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/73oUCRZyiIMfRoqckvtDtk

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4 years ago

Brittany looked at Julia with pure jealousy. "That bitch always brags about how pretty she looks," she said to her friends crossing her arms. From the corner of her eye, Julia was laughing with her friends, ignorant of all the shit spoken about her. She is beautiful as much as she hates to admit it. Julia has medium length silky black hair paired with innocent almond eyes. She has a small scar on her upper lip and hell, that even added to her elegance.

Brittany yawned. There were no recent scandals or rumors in her elite private school yet and she's bored. She thrives off the gossip and humiliation of others in her class. She loved coming up on top of everything; status, academics, and popularity. Julia Kim's demise would be very interesting and it would be a great addition to Brittany's long list of victories.

Her phone buzzed. It was a message from one of her many side hoes. The text message read, "I found dirt on Julia. Turns out, she's not the 'natural beauty' she claims to be." Another text message appeared. This time it was an attachment of Julia's childhood photo. She had a cleft lip, monolids, a bald patch of hair on top of her head, and a large disgusting mole on the right side of her face. Brittany's friends looked over her shoulder and gasped.

"Ew she looks like a fucking freak!" one of them exclaimed. Julia stopped talking when she heard one of Brittany's minions shriek. She ignored it and continued talking to her friends. Little did she know, Brittany has been plotting a course of action that will knock Julia's ego down a notch.

The next day, Julia's childhood photos were plastered all over her private school. Every inch of the walls and windows were covered and not a single inch was left naked. Brittany was elated to see Julia's horrified expression when she saw pictures of herself all over their school. Her childhood features were one of her many insecurities. At the end of the school day, all of their phones buzzed. Julia's childhood photos are now surfaced on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and even Tinder.

Brittany was called into the Principal's office the following morning. She was infuriated. She was careful about leaving any bread crumbs that would trail back to her. She was accused of posting offensive comments and rumors about Julia on social media. Brittany's parents were furious because her stunt was published in the tabloids. They underestimated her.

She was devious and like her parents, she was an amazing actress that can play the victim. It was no secret that she was a conniving bitch but her lies twisted the accusations to her advantage. Brittany was able to manipulate everyone that she was the victim of false accusations. It also helped that her parents threatened to sue the school for causing distress to their only daughter.

Julia's family are powerful on their own. However, they were no match for Brittany, whose parents are award-winning actors. In fact, this scandal tarnished her parents' business reputation. Brittany's family has many connections in any industry and this power aided in her victory of damaging Julia's ego and personal life.

Brittany was shown to be the victim instead of Julia and this gave her friends the warrant to continue bullying Julia. After all, they were only protecting and defending their beloved leader by dumping their food and drinks on her every day at lunch among other examples of bullying. All Brittany did was sit back, look pretty, and observe. Eventually, Julia disappeared and Brittany remained as the most popular girl in the elite private school. Julia eventually stopped attending classes after she had enough of the neverending abuse from her classmates. The last time she showed up to school again was to dropout with her parents.

Two months later the school was notified that Julia killed herself. It wasn't a clean suicide. Julia didn't hang herself. Instead, she gouged her own eyes using sharp pieces of glass from her broken mirror, before slitting her throat with a kitchen knife. According to forensics, there was a lot of blood in her bedroom. It looked straight from a horror movie. She laid on her floor dead, bloody tears dripping down the sides of her face with a note clutched to her chest. In the note, Julia apologized to her Mom and Dad for causing their businesses to fail and their reputations to be damaged. Her shame of dishonoring her family was the final straw that led to her decision.

Brittany was overwhelmed with guilt. She didn't expect Julia to kill herself over some stupid photos. Her friends assured her that it wasn't her fault because she was just a bystander. Someone else showed those photos and it wasn't her. It wasn't Brittany's fault that Kim's business empire failed and became bankrupt.

She became depressed and blamed herself but she didn't have the guts to admit that she was the instigator of bullying Julia. Eventually, her parents relocated her to a different school. This time, it's not a private school but a public school. There, she would have a fresh start.

Present

Brittany broke down crying. To this day, I could tell she still felt guilt and remorse for what she did to that poor girl. She hid it well for three years. Now the truth was out in the open. The group remained quiet and it became stuffy inside the car.

"I can only imagine how you're feeling every day for the past three years," Daniel told her. "But that girl you described to us is not you anymore. It's time for you to forgive yourself and make amends."

I didn't know what else to say.

We stopped at a couple of gas stations to stretch and take breaks from Ethan's small car. The sun was rising when we finally reached Brittany's parents' mansion in LA. We scrambled out of Ethan's car and stretched.

We entered her house. Her parent's mansion still looks the same. But I didn't have time to admire and reminisce all the times Brittany, Summer, and I spent hanging out. The guys raided her room for clues. "Guys, take it easy! Some of my shit is expensive!" Brittany scolded them.

"Well I wanna live for another day, what's a ruined Prada bag gonna do?" Ethan said sarcastically.

After three or four hours, my friends and I couldn't find anything. We tried to brainstorm from Brittany's story on what the murder weapon would be. If it was a knife, then it would probably be back in Julia Kim's home. We sped through the 405 to get to Julia's house to no avail. Her parents don't live there anymore. According to the neighbors, they moved out after their daughter's death. The bloodstains from her bedroom could not be removed so the interior of the house was repainted a new color. We were running out of time. The sun was almost setting and we only had five hours left before our 24 hours were up.

I cursed. Aurelio knew this weapon would be something hard to figure out. An idea popped in my head.

"Guys..." I began. "What if the murder weapon is still with Julia?"

Brittany looked at me in confusion. But Ethan understood what I meant.

"What if it's in her grave? Literally." Ethan said.

"Oh fuck no," Ted whined.

Ethan ignored him. "That's right, we're gonna do some grave digging." 

Hi everyone! I updated earlier than scheduled since my anatomy class is kicking my butt and I need to catch up and study >.< I hope you guys liked this chapter! What do you guys think of Brittany's past?  Also, check out my new story that I posted called University Delinquents :3