A/N: this is the song mentioned towards the end

I walk into the cafeteria, and immediately get hit with a wave of panic and anxiety that almost drowns me. All I have to do is make it to Luke and everything will be okay. I keep repeating that to myself as a guy and his friends walk up to me.

He says, "OH MY GOD! Is this Lost Lili?! Guys! Didn't they think she was dead!!!?" He looks to his friends for approval of his jokes. I look down, and try my best not to lost focus on finding Luke. I feel the panic rising up too much, too fast. I'm finding it hard to breathe as they starting bullying again. "She should be dead. You know what I bet ACTUALLY happened, boys? I bet she had to go away to a crazy house. I mean, annoying might need to, if they were brought up in the Hemmings household." His expression turns from smiling and joking to pure rage as I can't breathe and can't see through all the tears. "YOU SHOULD BE DEAD BECAUSE OF HOW LONG YOU WERE GONE! NO ONE WANTS YOU HERE! NOT EVEN YOUR KIDNAPPER WANTED YOU! YOU'RE WORTHLESS!"

At this point I have lost the battle against staying calm. I am in the midst of a panic attack as a girl in a leather jacket steps in between him and me. "You're pathetic, you know? Pathetic." She pauses as she walks towards them to widen the space between the boys and me, but they mostly scoff. "You should be very, very afraid of me. I have a favor with a very angry, very powerful Puerto Rican Mafia. So, you better run along and never step near her again before I call them up. And ask for that favor." She has successfully terrified them, and me.

I calm myself down as best I can as the guys run off. She turns around and I immediately back up, not wanting to be in the path of her anger, but when she spoke it was very gentle. "Hey, hey. I'm not going to hurt you or yell at you. I just wanted to help." She puts her hands up in a surrendering gesture. I smile weakly as I'm still scared of her, but I nod in thanks to her. At this point, I take a better look at her because the tears have cleared from my vision. She's really pretty. She has brown hair and brown eyes, but she's commanding attention with the confidence she's wearing. She has winged eyeliner and red lipstick on. I wish I could be a little more like her, she looks so fearless.

"My -uh, name is L-Lili." I look up at her.

She holds out her hand for me to shake as she says, "I'm Eliza." She pauses while we shake hands. "Do you have someone to sit with or would you want to sit by me."

"I-I have my brother, but I d-don't know where he is. His name is Luke and he's probably sitting with Ashton, Calum, and Michael. D-do you know where they'd be?"

She smiles and nods."Ah, those dorks. I'm so sorry you're related to that group." She laughs and I do too. "Follow me, they're sitting at their normal table." She leads me to their table and says something to them before I can hear it.

She turns to me before walking off, "I'll see you around. Just holler if those guys harass you again." I smile and nod as I take sit in the open space beside Luke.

"Hey, Lil. The principal told me what was going to happen, so I grabbed you lunch too." He slid a tray of food my way.

"Thanks, Luke." I smile and grab the apple from the tray.

Surprisingly, Ashton says something next, "There were guys harassing you? What happened? We heard a commotion we just didn't know that it involved you. I'm so sorry we didn't notice."

"I-it's alright. I'm okay now. They just said some mean things, nothing I'm n-not used to." Luke grabbed my hand in support, and Michael grabbed my other. I knew they were the right people to surround myself with.

After lunch, Luke has choir. The other three boys also have choir too. Which was better than three other strangers, but it freaked me out a bit. We walk into class together, and they seat me between them.

I was absentmindedly tuning in and out until, Mrs. Florence, the teacher started calling on people to sing. She chose someone who got up and sang Stitches by someone named Shawn Mendes. The next person she calls up sings Human by Christina Perri. I hadn't heard of either of the songs, but they both sang beautifully.

Mrs. Florence walks around the classroom, until she stops near me. "I haven't seen you before." She looks puzzled until she sees who I'm around and smiles. "Alright, you come up here and sing next. We only have time for one more and that's going to be you, no ands, ifs, or buts."

I focus on my breathing as I walk up to the front. I whisper to the teacher, "I don't know anything new, is it okay if I sing something older?" Mrs. Florence smiles and nods.

I take a deep breath and close my eyes, imagining that I'm just singing this with Luke like we used to. I used to sing this song to help get me through the day when I was taken. It's the only dong I know all the words to. I take another deep breath preparing myself to sing it.

Whenever I'm down, I call on you my friend
A helping hand you lend
In my time of need
So I, I'm calling you now, just to make it through
What else can I do?
Don't you hear my plea

Friends may come and friends may go
But you should know that
I've got your back, it's automatic
So never hesitate to call
Cause I'm your sista and always for ya
And I

I don't know what I'd ever do without you
From the beginning to the end
You've always been here right beside me
So I'll call you my best friend
Through the good times and the bad ones
Whether I lose or If I win
I know one thing that never changes and
That's you as my best friend

Whenever I'm down, with all that's going on
It's really going on
Just one of those days to ya
You say the right thing, to keep me moving on
To keep me going strong
What else can I say?

Friends are there through thick and thin
Well I've been told that
And I believe that it's automatic
Call me when you need a friend
Cause I'm your sister and always for ya
And I don't know

I don't know what I'd ever do without you
From the beginning to the end
You've always been here right beside me
So I'll call you my best friend
Through the good times and the bad ones
Whether I lose or If I win
I know one thing that never changes and
That's you as my best friend

I don't know what I'd ever do without you
From the beginning to the end
You've always been here right beside me
So I'll call you my best friend
Through the good times and the bad ones
Whether I lose or If I win
I know one thing that never changes and
That's you as my best friend

Buddy, I can always call on my best friend
Buddy, I can always call on my best friend

I'll be there for you
When you're going through
Times that you may think that you need a friend
You can count on me
Call me when you need
Won't you call me up? Cause I

I don't know what I'd ever do without you
From the beginning to the end
You've always been here right beside me
So I'll call you my best friend
Through the good times and the bad ones
Whether I lose or If I win
I know one thing that never changes and
That's you as my best friend

I open my eyes to see the teacher's shocked expression, nearly matching the boys's expression. Except Luke who looked like he was going to cry.