Lulu spent endless hours with Lexi, helping her out with her play. She arrived early at school to brainstorm staging ideas, she stayed late for rehearsals and they were on the phone on the weekends.

Fezco watched with a growing smile as Lulu was blasting music in her headphones, refining the cheerleaders' choreography in the middle of the living room.

He sat down on the couch, lighting a blunt and very explicitly staring at her, definitely wondering what he had done to deserve a free show like this one in his own home.

Fezco's burning eyes finally caught Lulu's attention and she cut the music, throwing her phone on the nearest couch, heavily panting.

"Liking what you see?" Lulu asked with a smirk.

"Hell yeah," Fezco replied, "Why'd you stop?"

Lulu let out a loud laugh as she sat down next to him and stole the blunt from his lips, "You stupid... Was it good though?"

"You really askin' me?"

Lulu blew some smoke with a lazy shrug, "You do have a reputation to be honest."

"Well, it ain't gonna be as cool if you ain't on that stage," Fezco said as he retrieved the blunt.

Lulu shook her head with a small smile, "But you're coming to see it, right? The play."

"Hell yeah, I am."

And, of course, with Lulu's name associated with the play, Lexi now had a massive budget to bring her idea to life.

"I don't know how to repay you for this," Lexi said, scratching the back of her head.

"Why the hell woud you have to repay me for something like this?"

The two girls were walking side by side in the school hallway, going in the cafeteria for lunch.

"Uh... maybe because someone actually agreed to produce the play," Lexi explained, "Like, produce it with actual money?!"

Lulu shrugged, opening the doors to the cafeteria, "So? You deserve it, the play's gonna be fucking cool. And you actually don't want me around when you work on certain scenes so that says a lot."

Lexi's cheeks turned red, "I... uh... I just, I—I just don't—"

Lulu interrupted her, putting a hand on her shoulder, "It's all good, you know I like mysteries, Lex."

They were about to stand at the end of the line when a voice calling out Lulu's name caught their attention.

The girl turned around to see Jules happily walking in her direction, wearing a bright smile and clapping her hands cheerfully, "Lulu, oh my god!"

Lulu intently scanned the room, her eyes finally connecting with Elliot's who had his eyes opened wide and she flashed him a confused look, somehow assuming that the two had stopped hanging out —therefore had stopped hooking up as well, since Jules had absolutely no clue about what Lulu had in store for her.

"Lulu!" Jules shrieked as she got closer and closer, "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

The brunette turned towards Lexi with an apologetic look, "Don't hate me for this."

She spun on her heels and her hand flew against Jules' cheek so sharply that every single soul in the cafeteria stopped breathing, all waiting for Lulu's next move.

Jules let out a painful hiss, instinctively bringing a shaky hand against her burning cheek, fearfully looking up at Lulu.

Lulu leaned forward until her mouth was just inches away from her ear, "I know what you did with Elliot."

She had whispered it so slowly and with so much confidence twisted with a hint of disgust that Jules' heart missed a beat, literally frozen on the spot.

Lulu let out a raspy laugh, totally aware of the power she held, "Now, I suggest you stay the fuck away from Rue or I'll fuckin' kill you."

And Lulu turned around, meeting Lexi's gaze and giving her a warming smile —as if nothing had happened at all, and she sighed in content, "Ah, that shit felt good!"

Lexi giggled, trying to avoid all the glances thrown their way, and Lulu wrapped her arm around hers, confidently dragging her to the beginning of the line. There was no way she would wait to eat the disgusting food served in this school.

... ... ...

Lulu walked inside the house, dropping her helmet carelessly on the ground, already knowing that Fezco, Ashtray and Faye wouldn't be around for a little while, busy running their business at the store.

"Zahia?" Lulu yelled, "Zahia, you around?"

She poured herself some juice and noticed an opened letter on the kitchen counter. She looked around and saw Zahia's bag and her jacket on the couch.

Her heart started pounding in her chest and she swore she could feel a prickle of sweat at the top of her forehead when her hand reached for that letter.

As expected, it was a letter letting them know that the social workers would be coming over in a week.

"Zahia, where are you?" Lulu asked as fear started growing inside of her.

The girl tried to remain calm but she knew that this whole situation was affecting her younger sister just as much as her, and maybe even more.

It had been months since they first went down to the police station and here they were, still waiting to hear back from them about their mother, yet, it seemed that their biggest concern was to find out if the two sisters should be separated or not.

Lulu let out a loud breath after searching Ashtray's bedroom, which was empty.

A muffled whimper caught her attention and she sprinted in the opposite direction, towards the bathroom. She cracked the door open and gasped when she found her sister on the ground, near the bathtub, glossy and soulless eyes staring at the ceiling with a few tears rolling down her cheeks and her body shaking like a leaf.

Lulu crouched down, "Z... o-oh my god," but her sister didn't even notice her presence and Lulu started shaking her body slightly even though her eyes were still glued on the ceiling, "Z... Z, look at me!"

But Zahia's brain wasn't working clearly and she was slightly choking, staring at that ceiling that had turned into one of her nightmares. She could see her sister up there, covered in blood and lifeless, letting out her final breath until vanishing forever. The panic grew inside of her limbs and her ragged breaths became erratic, it was almost insufferable for her to be alive.

Lulu finally noticed an orange bottle, opened and dropped on the tiles right next to her, a few pills scattered around them, her eyes opened wide, "Zahia! Zahia! How many did you take?"

Her tone had been strong, almost violent, but Zahia didn't budge. Lulu didn't wait another second and forcefully lifted her into the bathtub, carelessly spraying cold water on her sister as she finally gasped, coughing some water out of her lungs.

With a pounding heart and trembling hands, Lulu shook her sister again, "How many did you take!"

Zahia's pupils were abnormally dilated, and she blinked a few times, glancing from the ceiling back to her sister with a confused look, "Uh... t-three..."

Lulu released a breath she had been holding in and cut the water, finally letting go of her sister and sitting on the cold floor, knowing that three pills would never be lethal.

Zahia started coming to her senses, seeing how pale her older sister was, "I-I'm so sorry... I... I just felt, I felt a panic attack kicking in and... and I just—", but the younger one couldn't even finish her sentence and she started bawling her eyes out in the tub, freezing in her wet clothes.

Lulu lunged forward, hugging her sister tighter than ever as she soothingly stroke her hair, "Shh, hey, hey, it's okay... It's okay..."

Zahia nodded, sniffing loudly, "I... I just... I saw y-you and, and you were—"

"Whatever you saw," Lulu interrupted, "It wasn't real, look, I'm here. I'm here... it's fine..."

They stayed in this position for quite a while, Lulu slightly rocking her back and forth until Zahia started breathing slowly, until the panick leisurely melted away and became only just a memory.

... ... ...

, hey, i'm back! i actually updated earlier than i thought but writing has helped me cope for the last few days and it felt good to escape from reality by doing something that i love.

i'm forever grateful for all the love and the support i get from every single one of you, you truly all are the best

we're getting closer and closer to the end of season 2 in this book so i really wanna know what you guys wanna see next, what you all are expecting in the upcoming chapters!!!