The scream seemed to startle everyone in room. My head snapped up and I looked toward the doors. A short brunette was throwing her around an Italian boy who looked about seventeen.

"Sometimes Mackenzie gets a little too excited when Isaak comes in." A blonde had settled into the seat beside me during the chaos. A bunch of kids had bolted upright and out of her seats.

"Sorry I didn't mean to startle you, Lilia, you just looked spooked." She knew my name? Maybe she knew more stuff.

"It's fine. I just thought that it was something else." I smiled at her. "Sorry."

"It's fine, Lils." The blonde seemed nice.

She was very pretty with straight natural blonde hair and blue eyes, something about her seemed to say she was a sweet girl, and she definitely knew something about me.

She wasn't the stunning kind of girl like Maddie or Millie, but to me she looked even prettier than them. Maybe it was the kind smile and calm voice.

She studied me a minute. "You okay? You're looking at me like you've never seen me before."

"That's because I don't remember anything." I confessed. "I woke in the middle of class with no memory of anything before yesterday."

It felt good to get that off my chest and when I did it felt like a weight was lifted off my chest.

"Well," She stuck her hand out. "I'm Emily. Emily Skinner, and you are Lilia Charlotte Buckingham. My best friend."

Smiling, I shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you again, Emily."

"Call me Em."

+++++

The sound of shouting awoke Lyliana and I around three in the morning. There was running in the halls along with hushed voices as everyone rushed toward the stairs. Lyliana and I were right behind them, taking the old staircase two at a time.

The commotion was coming from outside where a redish-brown haired boy was sobbing uncontrollably.

I found Emily and slid in beside her. "What's happening, Em?" I asked quietly.

She glanced at me. "Another girl went missing." She explained. "Olivia. That's her boyfriend Joshua over there. They just told him that she's been missing."

"How long has she been missing?" I watched Joshua, a feeling of dread coursing through me.

"I don't know. She was at breakfast this morning." Emily sighed. "She was really nice. Always helped out the new kids when they got here."

Lyliana had filled me in on the fact that girls had been going missing from Washington Cavanough for two months now; one a week. The first was Lexi Jayde, and now the newest is Olivia Rodrigo.

That's why there are faces of girls on Lyliana's wall. She draws them from a photographic memory so people won't forget them. Because apparently after like a week or so people start to forgot that girls even went missing.

This place was crazier than I thought to begin with.

Joshua was led away by the headmaster while the headmistress shooed us girls back inside, ordering us to go straight back to bed.

Lyliana grabbed her sketch book the minute we were safely in our room and flipped to a fresh page.

I watched as she began to sketch out what Olivia must have looked like.

"That's a shame." Lyliana sighed. "She was nice. I don't get why they take the nice ones. Couldn't they take Maddie or one of her little bimbos?"

I laughed, flopping back onto my bed. "I don't know, Lyls." I turned to watch her sketch. "Did you know any of them?"

"How do you think that bed you're sleeping on because available?" Lyliana paused to point at one of the pictures. "Anna CartCath was my last roommate. She was really nice."

The thought of sleeping in a missing girl's bed made me shudder. I wondered if she had somewhere soft and safe to sleep tonight. I mean I couldn't blame Anna if she ran away.

Olivia didn't mean like the kinda girl to run away especially leaving behind a boyfriend who seemed to really love her.

Maybe I would ask Emily tomorrow if she knew anything about the girls who went missing, or about how I lost my memory. Maybe the second would be better.

"Goodnight." Lyliana mumbled, but I knew neither of us would sleep for the rest of the night.