Engraved (Harry AU)

When people think of pain, they think of a treacherous feeling that is unbearable and that brings dread, apprehension, and just darkness in general like water to a burning fire in the middle of a silent, dead night. But Lolita thinks of it as a relief and a feeling of feeling, actual feeling and that has been enough of a reason to cause tolerable and self inflicted physical pain to herself. With a lit up cigarette resting in her mouth between the roof of her tongue and her row of top teeth, and with a razor blade in her free hand, she feels like an actual human being instead of an unknown species that is alien and foreign to everyone, including herself. She's envious of the smoke that leaves her lips, right when it is created, it floats into the atmosphere and ends up disappearing to an unknown destination. She would always think that smoke is just a soul that has finally been freed from this frightful and judgmental world.
The dark gray color it obtains soon fades and becomes a lighter shade as it flies away, as if it's living backwards and becoming pure once again, like how a baby is when it is welcomed into the beginning of its new life. Many people want to be birds after they perish, but not Lolita. Lolita wants to be free. She wants to forget her worries and regrets and just become born again, but in another world. A world that makes her want to live, to breathe, to never blink so she would never miss a moment, for all the moments in this heavenly land would be as glorious as heaven and its bright, glowing clouds surrounding it.
The journey that was supposed to be lightning quick, felt as if it took more than an hour and was agonizing yet beautifully traumatic for Lolita. She could feel her chest attempting to burst through the soft and fragile flesh of her pale chest, as the only source of oxygen within her began to run out of body. She is now drenched in her own disgusting sweat and feels utterly exhausted, making her feel as if she just finished running a twenty mile marathon. The photograph of her grandfather is barely being held by the tips of her now trembling fingertips and a weak smile is plastered on her face as she finally opens her eyes, noticing that she has succeeded.
She is lying on a dirty and cold white marbled floor and is surrounded by many new looking wooden desks, some with backpacks resting on the very detailed looking surfaces and others marked by pens, revealing dying inked words.
She sits herself up and slowly wipes the moisture off of her forehead with the back of her right hand, chuckling out of anticipation and excitement before glancing at the image in her hand more precisely. She compares the chalk board behind her with the one from the picture and even begins to assume that she is just delusional when she notices that the similarities are spot on.
"Come over here boys." A male voice echoes through her ears and paralyzes her once she realizes who its owner is.
She doesn't even dare to move, feeling that once she does she will finally wake up from this magnificent fantasy she is dreaming of and begin to question her own sanity.
Graceful footsteps are heard from behind her and she's beginning to feel sick to her stomach. She didn't think that this would actually work, thus meaning that she has no idea of what to say. The urge to hug her grandfather as tightly as she could is being held back by her reasoning and the urge to speak is being held tight in an intensifying painful embrace by her fear and inner coward-like self.
"Why don't we take the picture over h-"
She hears immediate silence, meaning that she has finally been noticed. Shit.
"Excuse me miss, may I help you?" He says as she feels him poke the upper part of her back, trying to catch her attention.
Her bottom lip begins to quiver and she quickly shoves it under her top row of teeth to help ease her nerves and anxiety that is rising quickly within her. She slowly turns around and picks herself up before finally gazing into the middle aged looking man's light icy blue shaded and slightly wrinkled eyes.
The brim of her own eyes begin to fill with liquid as they land on his legs that are actually holding him up and that are not resting on a those of a wheelchair. Just the sound of him actually breathing, the view of his eyes blinking, and the sight of him being alive is beginning to overwhelm her and Lolita feels that if she doesn't leave right at this moment, she will drown herself with her own sorrow and with the inner demons that have been haunting her ever since that amazing angel perished and returned back to heaven.
"Um can you speak?" He adds, breaking her out of her own thoughts that are beginning to devour her insides.
She feels her cheeks heat up from embarrassment before she nods slowly.
"Yes sorry. I-I'm just slightly tired." She responds shyly.
His eyes narrow at her and she can tell that he is trying to see if he knows her face.
"Um I better go. Again I apologize." She adds as she walks passed him in a very obviously rapid pace.
"Hold on. Wait a second."
Pain shoots up her right arm automatically, making her groan from pain as his hand wraps around it.
Alerted and guilty, he lets go, feeling ashamed at himself at the fact that he hurt a student, even if it was by accident.
Lolita crumples up the picture secretively and silently in her left hand and hides it in her fist, knowing that many questions would be asked if the image is exposed to a source other than herself.
Her knuckles begin to whiten as she grips the photograph tighter and turns around to see her grandfather's concerned and confused face gazing at her right arm. Damn it. She didn't even think about hiding her wounds.
She tries to step back slowly as he holds his hand out, attempting to grab her arm in a more delicate way to observe it more intently.
She slams into two young teenage looking boys holding a camera and notepad and apologizes quickly before nodding her head.
"Um it was nice talking to you Mr. Langley." She says nervously before she waves awkwardly and rushes out of the classroom , feeling even more physically drained then she has ever been in the eighteen and a quarter years of her entire existence.
"But how do you know my na-"
His voice dims as she scurries herself through the large and empty hallway in search of the ladies room, her safe sanctuary where she can finally be alone.
There is no sign of it anywhere and she is beginning to feel her knees weaken from the lack of rest and rising dehydration.
If she wasn't afraid of someone catching her, she would fall to the floor and just scream at the top of her lungs. She should've planned this out more precisely, she should've asked more questions, she just... she just should have.
As all the hope in her body was beginning to deteriorate, God answered her prayers by placing the bathroom all the way at the right corner of the hall. Her feet drag her with all the strength they have left at a quickened pace, her breathing beginning to quicken in an un orderly pace.
Questions begin to frame in her mind as she notices how no one is in the halls and how no one was in her grandfather's class. They are most likely at lunch or school could've ended for all she knows. The picture only contained the date, not the time, so she is unsure of everything at this point.
The blue sky colored lockers are all lined up on each side of the hall side by side, taunting her and telling her that she is not going to last the full two days. Well that or the side effects of having a deprived sense of sanity are starting to finally kick in.
Once in the bathroom, she locks herself in a stall and rocks herself back and forth as she begins to weep into her hands, hoping that this 'magic' will finally do her good instead of bad, or that she will stop freaking out about everything and start taking charge of the situation at hand.
...
A bell rings, calming her inner child as she hears many young female voices enter the bathroom and the sound of wild beasts abusing each other from the hall outside.
She contemplates with herself whether or not she should sacrifice herself already to the fiery pits of hell known as the hall way, or if she should just keep herself wrapped in her own embrace pitying herself until the chatting dies down.
Memories of her grandfather actually walking and breathing strangle her mind and she decides to finally take a deep breath, flush the picture down the toilet so there is no evidence of her journey, wipe her tired and dried out eyes, and walk out of the clean restroom chamber.
She avoids all of the glares from the younger looking teens around her and responds to their whispers with a blank and non caring expression on her face. She has the costume and the setting, now she must finally take stage and act the part.
The hallway is filled with students and she practically stumbles as she feels herself being pushed back and forth by the lake of bodies.
"Sorry." She hears herself apologize repeatedly as she barges into bodies. All of them being rude and not even acknowledging her and her existence, but then again it's better than being pushed on by purpose then by doing it for the sake of making it to class on time.
"Sorry. Sorry. Sorr-"
Her face hits the ground, her body landing on another. Fuck.
"I-I apologize so much. Oh dear please forgive me I-"
"No it's um okay." she hears a boy mutter apologetically as he assists her in getting back up.
"Thank you." She responds timidly as she wipes the dirt off the skirt of her atrocious looking dress.
When she glances up, she notices a shorter kid who looks to be about thirteen. A suede dark brown colored fedora is on his head, practically swallowing every last bit of hair he has. He is wearing a simple white long sleeved dress shirt buttoned all the way to the top, dark brown dress pants with a matching dark brown colored leather belt, and plain white vintage looking converse.
Lolita tries to stare into his eyes, but feels awkward and a little intimidated when she sees how pitch black sunglasses are covering them. He has quite a strange sense of fashion, but who is Lolita to judge? This is a completely different time period and she isn't even considered 'fashionable' in her own era.
"No problem." He mutters as he begins to bend down.
She is unsure what he is doing, until she gazes down and sees many books and a faded brown satchel on the floor.
Man he really likes brown.
"Oh god I'm such a klutz!" She admits with the taste of guilt in her tongue.
She immediately joins him and gathers two pencils, an eraser, and five sheets of wrinkled line paper covered with violently erased writing.
He chuckles a little and grins when they stand back up. She towering over him like a giant once again.
"Um here. Sorry again." She comments as she hands him back his belongings.
He places the things in his hold in his satchel and places it on his shoulder, before turning back to her.
"Thank y-"
The boy's face freezes as his eyes lock on Lolita's arm, making Lolita regret not wearing a sweater for the second time today.
She would run, but her body has not fully recovered from her last dash and will most likely cause her to faint if she even dared to push herself.
She covers her forearm in hope that the boy will not question anything and just leave to his class.
"I think you're going to be late." She mutters, not wanting to seem suspicious if she just leaves him alone out of panic.
Even though his eyes are hidden behind those shutters, she can still sense his attention now on her face. His stuff that Lolita collected for him, hanging loosely in his right hand.
"Is it done to you too?" The boy questions in the softest tone that has ever entered Lolita's ears.
She shakes uneasy and rubs her wrist softly, wishing so solemnly that she could disappear right at that moment.
"Done what?" She asks, wondering if he hurts himself as well.
Before she knew it, Lolita witnesses the boy unbuttoning the cuff at the end of his sleeve, rolling it up right after to reveal many cuts and bruises.
Lolita feels all of her insides die within her as this stranger she has never met in her life admits to her his most likely deepest darkest secret.
Rein's words echoe in her head at that exact moment, trying to remind her of one of the most important rules.
' You must not get attached to anyone. It would actually be better if you didn't interact with anyone at all besides your grandfather. You could change that person's whole life by just saying a sentence, so you must be careful with what you say.'
But before her , all she could see was a reflection of her own soul, causing tears to stream down her face unwillingly as the glass mirror shatters as it always does. This boy, this so young boy is broken like she and she more than likely anyone knows how it feels to be detached from yourself. All you want is for someone to say those four simple words... And so that's what Lolita does...and she says them with all the emotion she possibly bares because it is not only the words she wants him to hear...they're the words her ears have been craving to hear for the past months.
"I care. Please stop." She says as she grabs his wrist softly and traces lines over each one as if she's drawing on his skin.
Her tears touch his broken skin that is so recognizable to her and she feels herself shatter like glass when she hears him whimper and flinch from the touch, causing her to let go.
"Oh I'm sorry I-I."
He pulls down his cuff and looks around him at the now empty hall before buttoning it back up and glancing at me with his lips slightly separated.
"It's impossible for it to stop. It's not that easy. If I tell him, well.... he'll just do it harder." He retorts.
Lolita's breath hitches once she realizes that her assumptions were incorrect. They weren't self inflicted and she practically told him all about her own problems.
"Ya um that's true. Sorry I was ju-sorry." She replies, trying to end the conversation completely.
"You apologize too much."
Lolita just shrugs.
"Sorry. I me-uh. It's not that easy." She says as the mood lightens a little.
Chuckles escape his mouth.
"I can tell....So tell me."
She raises an eyebrow.
"Tell you?"
He nods and grabs her wrist as delicate as she held his.
"Which one did this to you?" He questions intrigued.
The mood deepens once again, drowning her and not giving her any air to breathe or chance to escape.
"Don't you have class?" She tries to see if he's the type of student who loathes and panics on the idea of getting a tardy, but then becomes disappointed when he responds with a shrug and continues to hold her arm.
She sighs and stares a her own destroyed limb, trying to think of an answer that won't give too much away.
"The worst of them all." She mutters before she shuts her eyes closed and licks her lips, feeling her arm being released and soon placing it back to her side where it should always be.
"I understand." He whispers back, causing her eyes to finally reveal themselves again.
She nods and they both just stand there in silence, just looking at each other, both unsure what to do.
"I think I'm going to head to my class like you suggested. They might think I skipped or something and besides you have to go to your class too I'm guessing. What are you, in your last year of high school?"
He asks.
Lolita feels her eyes widen, but she quickly shakes off her nervousness when she finds an answer.
"Oh um ya. And what about you? What grade are you in?"
Lolita mentally high fives herself at her rapidly and logical thought up response.
"Second year of middle."
At least one of her assumptions were correct. But even though they were, he still seems very mature for his age.
"Cool. Well I better go. It was nice knocking into you." She states with a small smile and dried up tears.
He laughs slightly and rubs the back of his neck.
"Ya it was nice knocking into you too....."
"Lolita." she finishes for him, before he nods his head and walks into the third class at the right, causing her to smile because well...he is the first person that has actually had a decent conversation with her, and she feels that it is a shame that she shall never see him again.
Lolita stares down at the now closed classroom door, unsure of what to do or where to go. She kicks some dirt around on the floor below her, most likely left from people's shoes while they we're rushing to class, and suddenly feels her eyes widen at the realization. Rein said that a woman named Nancy would help her.
Lolita feels her feet beginning to move for her, leading to an unknown place and she is unsure if this Nancy woman is even in this building.
Nancy could be a student or could even be in another city or state all together, but right now she doesn't want to start driving herself mad by all the details until she sees if she's here.
This school is almost similar to her own, so she tries to search for the office, where in her school is found at the front near the building's entrance.
She mentally praises herself once she finds a glass door that has the word 'Office' plastered on it. She crosses her fingers and takes a deep breath before walking in, the smell of paper and burnt coffee filling her nostrils.
A woman is sitting at a desk in the front, wearing a very tired and annoyed frown that matches the bags under her eyes. Her dead red looking hair is held loosely by a pencil and her triangular looking eye glasses are practically falling as they sit on the tip of her nose.
Lolita feels a little uncomfortable as she holds her hands together and walks up to the very cranky looking lady.
"Um hello." Lolita mutters with a small forced smile.
The lady looks up from the paper she's reading, most likely a contract of some sort, and raises and eyebrow as a response.
"What do you want?"
Lolita squeezes her hands tighter and straightens her back to stand up more straight to seem more conservative.
"Does a Nancy work here?" She questions, hoping so much in her soul that Rein's friend is actually present in this building at this moment.
The woman with her smudged red lipstick rolls her eyes and turns herself around facing the rest of the room filled with small looking cubicles behind her.
"Hey Nancy! Some girl here is asking for ya!" She yells in an annoying high tone.
Lolita moves her head to the side to see a black haired woman holding a tower of textbooks walking towards them.
"Just a minute!" The Nancy chic, Lolita is guessing, exclaims.
The woman at the desk just shrugs before turning back and continuing to read the paper she was reading before, ignoring Lolita completely.
Lolita bites her lip and her eyes roam the room as she awaits anxiously.
"You can walk to the back if you want sweetie." The red head says, still looking at the paper.
Lolita looks behind her, making sure that she is the one being spoken too and just nods her head before slowly walking passed her.
The room looks much bigger and more open as she enters. Several teachers and staff walk back and forth, some holding folders, while others are just chatting away about student gossip.
Lolita practically jumps as she feels a hand touch her shoulder along with heavy breathing.
"Hello. I'm Nancy. What do you need?" The black haired woman asks in between deep breaths, most likely due to her exhaustion from holding all those heavy books.
Nancy is a really pretty woman with light green grayish eyes and thick brown eyebrows. She is really thin and looks around Rein's age.
"Do you know a Rein?" Lolita asks, crossing her fingers slightly once again.
Nancy's eyes travel to Lolita's injured arms before looking back at her and nodding.
"Lolita right? Come with me."
Nancy slides her hand off of her shoulder and instead wraps it around Lolita's wrist, looking around before walking her into a room all the way at the end of this massive office.
Nancy's hold is hurting Lolita slightly, but Lolita does not complain, because she really doesn't need more people to notice her wounds. Three people knowing is more than enough, and is quite embarrassing.
"Where are you taking me?" Lolita questions as she stares at the back of Nancy's head.
Nancy stops for a second and turns to Lolita, lowering her head to her ear.
"Shh. Be very quiet about this. I'll explain everything to you now. Just Just... act casual." Nancy whispers into Lolita's ear before pulling away.
Lolita nods in understanding and continues being dragged by Nancy to the mysterious room.
No one seems to notice, since no one is paying attention, or maybe just nobody really cares.
Nancy stops in front of a closed brown wooden door, Lolita stopping right behind her and again looks around before taking a key out of the right pocket of her fuzzy light yellow sweater, making Lolita feel a little anxious.
Lolita spots her turning the door knob slowly and opening it, the door making a creaking noise as she does.
Next thing she knows, Lolita is in a room filled with many many file drawers, most likely containing each record of every student and teacher that attends this school.
Nancy locks the door behind her and Lolita slides her hand out of Nancy's hold before sauntering to a desk in the middle of the room and sitting herself down.
"Where are we?" Lolita asks.
Nancy walks up to the desk Lolita is sitting behind and crosses her arms.
"This is the room filled with each student's academic records." Nancy answers.
Lolita just nods and continues gazing at all the steel drawers before turning back to Nancy, unsure of what to say.
"So Lolita. Am I correct?"
Lolita nods once again.
"Do you speak? I mean all you do is nod." Nancy jokes followed by a few giggles.
Lolita chuckles a little.
"oh ya sorry. Ya I am Lolita...Um Rein kinda told me that you would help me an-"
Nancy's face brightens at the mention of Rein, causing her to uncross her arms and seem more loose and comfortable.
"Oh geez I'm so sorry. Okay well let me just get to the point. Um What has Rein told you so far?"
Nancy seems like a very charismatic and outgoing person, resembling some of Rein's personality and Lolita finds it pleasant.
Lolita explains to Nancy all the rules that Rein has mentioned and soon waits patiently for Nancy's input.
"Okay well she pretty much told you all the basics so..."
Nancy bites her bottom lip and glances at the ceiling in concentration, seeing if there is anything missing. She soon comes back to reality and snaps her fingers as she turns her attention back to Lolita.
"You can't go into the same picture twice. Hmm...Also you may not use the picture method twice, meaning that it's one picture a day and that's it."
Her tone sounds a bit unsure, making Lolita unsure herself whether she should trust her word.
"Why can't I use the picture spell twice?" she asks, making sure that this time she will ask enough questions to fully understand everything.
"Your body can only handle so much. If you go twice in a day, then you will most surely faint or even get a heart attack or maybe even a-"
"I understand." Lolita interjects, not really wanting to know any more horrifying details.
Nancy clears her throat and nods her head.
"Ya well... I think that's pretty much it... So tell me. Who are you here to see? People don't usually choose this time period."
Lolita begins to regret flushing the picture of her grandfather down the toilet, even though she can't use it again for the spell, she still would've wanted to keep the photograph for a keepsake.
"My grandfather. He's a science teacher here." She retorts as she begins to twirl a piece of her unruly brown hair around her pale and petite long index finger.
"Oh. You know that if you really want to see him, then I can kinda pull some strings here and there and make you a 'student'. I'll put you in one of his classes and you can see him every day." Nancy suggests excitedly.
Lolita raises and eyebrow in confusion, causing Nancy to giggle.
"I keep on forgetting that you're new to all of this time thing. Well, look. I'm the vice principal of this school and since today is Tuesday, that means you will be back in your time on Thursday afternoon. So all I have to do is take a picture of anything on either Thursday right when you leave or Friday, whatever you like and I send it by mail to Rein's store at the date of the present day that you would be in, in your time period. I mean sure the envelope will be pretty ancient looking, but it would be worth it because you would be able to see your grandfather every day."
Lolita's head begins to hurt a little as it fills with questions and just plain confusion from all this time stuff. It's pretty overwhelming information, I mean she didn't even expect the spell to actually work in the first place, much less have to deal with everything that is to come since everything is actually a reality and not just another one of her dreams.
"So it's like I'll have to go to two different schools and do all the work and do extra tests..." Lolita states.
Nancy bites her bottom lip and shrugs.
"I mean when you put it that way it sounds bad, but just think. You can fail here and it won't ruin your future because I mean you don't exist yet and besides I would think that you would want to see your grandfather as much as you possibly can. I'm guessing he has passed away already in your time am I right?"
Lolita's stomach hurts at her last words. Even though it has been two years since his death, it still affects her deeply. He was her best friend.
"Ya um your right and yes he ugh has." she replies in a low tone as she tries to think of happy things to push away the sadness of the sudden reminder.
Lolita can tell that Nancy noticed her change of attitude, since she rests her hand comfortingly on Lolita's.
"I apologize. I shouldn't have said it that way. I send you my condolences." Nancy apologizes.
Lolita looks back up at her and stares into her smoky mint colored eyes.
"Thank you. It's fine. It's been two years, I mean he's dead. I just have to... I don't know."
She wanted to say that she had to move on, but the words couldn't come out of her mouth because she knows she would be lying to Nancy if she told her that she's trying to move on because that's why Lolita bought the pink magical liquid anyway...because she can't move on.
"So tell me what your grandfather's name is." Nancy says, trying to change the subject, Lolita mentally thanking her for it.
"Garrett Langley. Mr. Garrett Langley." Lolita answers.
Nancy's eyes widen a little and she bites her bottom lip nervously.
"Sweetie..." Nancy begins, causing Lolita's nerves to rise.
"Oh dear what's wrong?" she dares to ask.
Nancy narrows her eyes and turns away from Lolita, placing her hand from Lolitas to her arm.
"Mr. Langley...he's a science teacher..." She adds, her black hair being placed at the side of her face as she combs her fingertips through it nervously.
"And...."
Lolita can practically hear Nancy gulp.
"He's a middle school science teacher sweetheart. I'm sorry. It just wouldn't be believable if you tried to pass off as a middle schooler."
Tears begin to well in Lolita's eyes at the realization and the urge to run a sharp blade down her fragile skin is growing, growing to the point where holding back is more painful than the actually wounding itself.
"What do I do now? I have to see him Nancy. He's all I have left! He's all I ever had and without him I have...I have nothing else to live for."
The last part was spoken not from Lolita, but from the deep cave inside her cold hollow soul. She hated that she blurted out one of her darkest secrets, but she couldn't help herself. Besides she's never going to see Nancy again and this is the first time they meet, so Nancy won't really even mourn or care.
But the gloss, that tiny bit of gloss that is revealing itself in Nancy's eyes at Lolita's words, is making Lolita consider to think otherwise.
"Oh dear." Nancy mutters before she places her hand on her forehead and rubs it down to her lip and up again. Her charismatic attitude has now been replaced with worry and concern, making Lolita feel guilty for being the cause for the sudden disappearance.
"Nancy I... I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to say it out loud I-"
"Do you have any more pictures of your grandfather?" Nancy interrupts as she paces back and forth.
Lolita shakes her head.
"My grandmother burned them all when he passed. That picture I used was the only one I had left...the only one I could save."
The memory of her now mute grandmother burning several albums filled with the best moments of Lolita's life still traumatize her and she is still unsure of the reason why her grandmother who seemed so in love with her grandfather would do such a thing. She believes it to be that her grandmother was in denial and or that she just wanted to believe as if he didn't exist at all so she wouldn't have to face the fact that the most important person to her left without her.
Nancy stops and stares at Lolita with eyes filled with a mixture of hope and uncertainty. She has a plan. Lolita knows it.
"I'm not allowed to promote anyone since I am only the vice principal here... But in four years, I'm going to be promoted myself, meaning I would have the ability to... I can help you Lolita. I can.." Nancy admits.
"How do you possibly know that?" Lolita asks, her heart still hurting in her chest.
"I know my whole future Lolita. I know that I'm never going to marry, when I'm going to retire, I even know when I'm going to die... To be able to do this 'job' for Rein and her mother I have to know these things..."
Lolita is left speechless and is unsure of what to say. Nancy knows when she is going to perish and each year she celebrates the day of her birth, but also the day and time of her death...yet she is probably one of the most happiest people she has ever witnessed or maybe she is just the best actress.
"I can promote your grandfather for you if you would like in four years and I'll send you a picture. Then you can come and your life will be worth something again. You can start a new life and be someone you want to be... It would be like a rebirth. You can't form bonds with people so no one can pick on you, no one can do anything to you unless you let them. Are you in? I can send a telegram to Rein informing her of the plan. She's pretty understanding, so I don't think it would be much of a bother."
To be a new person...Rebirth...
It all sounds like such a luxury and Lolita has been craving it ever since she could remember.
"Thank you." She simply says, her eyes watering from relief and a little happiness.
Lolita always puts herself down, always blames everything on herself and her existence, but maybe it's not only her fault... Maybe it's the beasts and monsters that act as if they're human when they are actually just misfits like everyone else, misfits in disguise that are the ones that cause her pain. This can be like a little experiment for Lolita. She won't let anyone step on her anymore, at least not in this time.
"Trust me Lolita, everything will get better. I promise." Nancy mutters as she places her hand delicately on Lolita's cut up arm.
Lolita stares at Nancy's hand and slowly places her own hand on Nancy's before taking it off.
"Call me Zoe. Here, I'm Zoe. Lolita doesn't exist yet remember?"
Nancy just stares at Lolita with her lips slightly parted before grinning and nodding her head.
"Okay. Well Zoe...I hope you enjoy your year at Dusten Junior/Senior High. Well at least in four years."
Lolita grins back.
"Trust me. I will."

Notes

What do you guys think?? :D