| l a n a |

"In other news today is the one year anniversary of a horrendous tragedy that struck the Portland community a year ago today.

The Fellows family never knew they would lose their daughter on this fateful night a year ago tonight.

The Seventeen-year-old young woman will forever be remembered by her

community and family, it is truly heartbreaking to lose such an amazing member of our town,

especially so soon. From others that know her she is described as full of life and compassionate

towards other it is truly a tragic loss-"

The eerie and dark landscapes rush past me until everything comes a blur of greens and greys. My headphones drown out the radio reports and I rest my chin in my hand noticing the thick grey fog that blankets the damp and reflective ground of the road. My reflection comes into a vague view as my eyes aimlessly take in the thick lush forest I had been to in what felt like years. Everything was exactly the same as it once was, that was the thing about nature it didn't change. The ocean was never one day going to pick itself up and leave, the trees weren't ever going to walk away, its something I admired about nature.

It seemed like for the most part everything in my life had changed or was seen as interchangeable. Nothing ever stayed the same.

Rain drizzled on the windshield up in the front where the driver kept his eyes promptly on the road ahead of him. He smelt of spearmint that spread about the entire car and at times was slightly overwhelming but I would never complain. All he was really here to do was take me to the cable cars safely. His kind brown eyes look into the rearview mirror as the cable car comes into fuller view, the fog surrounding us with an exception of the headlights that cleared a path for us. I slip my headphones from my ear and slide my backpack on getting ready to thank him and hop out.

"I think this is it," He said making eye contact with me through the rear view. I nod and take a deep sigh as he comes to a complete stop.

"This is me," I give a weak smile and open my door feeling the cold breeze graze my face delicately as I glance back at the driver who grabs my attention.

"Are you sure you don't want to wait in here for a little while?" He asks concerned as we both look out at the foggy setting where there is one lone street lamp dimly glowing up ahead.

"Thanks but I am okay, I am sure my friends will be here soon," I answer stretching out my legs to get onto the ground where the gravel crunches beneath my feet. "Thank you again," I say shutting the door and approaching the street lamp. I watch the silver SUV pull away and feel a shiver down my spine from the whistling wind.

I sigh and walk towards the little open boarding area for the cable car and notice someones Gucci printed backpack slouched against the old paint chipped bench. I look around and walk towards the railing of the station to look out at the dark that sprinkled over the thick pine trees shading the ground underneath. The air is rich in the scent that glazes over after a rainstorm, it encapsulates this entire forest as the breeze bites my cheeks.

"Finally someone shows up!" I jump at the interruption of silence and turn around to see the girl with dark black hair and perfect skin that glistened under the dingy lights above. Her dark brown eyes make their way over to me and she runs over to me with open arms.

"Janessa!" I gush hugging her taking in the expensive Chanel that she was doused in. She pulls away and gives me her million dollar smile that people often paid her for.

"Lana, why have you been a stranger? Where have you been? You like disappeared," Janessa says threading her perfectly manicured nails through my ponytail. Her big brown eyes look at me with her delicate fluttery lashes.

"I umm-"

"God, you weren't knocked up, were you? I remember when Elena Holdings her parents shipped her off to someplace in Norway!" Janessa interrupts as I tighten my jaw a little. I didn't know what rumors circulated when I left, I didn't want to imagine what they were. My school could be a little vicious, they were all animals salivating at the thought of drama.

When Elena was shipped away the school was like a pack of wolves ripped Elena apart. Her departure brought speculation of an abortion and how her parents were making her kill her baby against her will. When she returned back to Skyline the rumors ripped her apart day in and day out. No one ever figured out what happened to her but when she came back she was never the same after.

"No, I wasn't pregnant! God no! I was just enrolled in a boarding school on the east coast," I tell her as she drops her hand by her side, her jaw dropping. I give her a weak smile and the vision of me walking into the plane flashed in my mind. Tears welling in my eyes while I look back at my parents waving me off, telling me it was for the best.

"Boarding school? How in the world did that happen? I swear you are the most unproblematic girl in Skyline, if anyone should be sent to boarding school it should be Serena!" I giggle and shake my head, I missed hanging out with Janessa.

"Hey Serena is sweet once you get to know her, she's just been through some shit," I defend smiling at Janessa's taken reaction.

"I mean first I never thought I would hear Serena and sweet in the same sentence and secondly aren't we all?" Janessa says and I nod agreeing with the last part of what she says.

"Hey, she is! She's just got a little bit of a different personality she isn't the warm and fuzzy type," I say adjusting the strap of my backpack as I feel a chill run up my spine from the icy breeze.

"You mean she's no Lana Fellows?" Janessa's lips curl at the corner as she giggles to herself referring to me. "I'm kidding, I love Serena! It's just unfortunate for all the people she isn't friends with which is basically the entire school for the exception of us! Speaking of one of those people I'm sure you haven't heard about Naomi's beef with Serena," Janessa crosses her arms and walks towards her backpack while I follow behind her with a deeply furrowed brow.

"Naomi and Serena have issues?" I ask as Janessa slides her arms through the straps of her backpack. Flipping her hair out from under the backpack she widens her eyes and scoffs.

"Issues is putting it lightly I will be surprised if they both come tonight. They can't stand each other!" Janessa tells me as I get a lingering smell of her expensive perfume once again.

"What happened? When I last talked to Serena she didn't mention anything about Naomi," I tell Janessa who walks to the cable car entrance. The cold fall air felt more like winter nipping at our faces as we waited for more of our friends. It looked like Janessa was done waiting for our group.

"Yeah well it's a messy situation but to be fair respectfully Serena has always been a tad messy. She's the bad girl so I mean you can kinda just expect it," Janessa says and I agree but still, I was surprised Serena hasn't told me anything in regards to her beef with Naomi. Serena was my best friend and we told each other everything.

"So what happened?" I settle into the cold seat of the cable car my legs quickly turn into ice as I shiver in place. Janessa sits across from me and takes a deep breathe as if she is about to run a marathon.

"Alright so basically after you left Tate broke things off with Naomi to get with Serena. Tate was seeing Serena on the down low after you left and Naomi flipped one! So now Tate and Serena are together and Naomi just got together with Adam who is of course is-"

"Serena's ex..." we both say in unison as I sigh out loudly from the mess that had become our friend group.

"Yes! And we all know the only reason Naomi is with Adam is to get back at Serena for quote on quote "stealing" Tate. It's all just a mess really so that's why this week will be quite interesting, to say the least," Janessa says with a sly smile almost as if she had spilled a cup of tea into my lap.

"Was I really gone that long?" I ask sitting back into the cold metal bench I am perched upon. I pinch the bridge of my nose and shake my head.

"A lot can happen in a year especially when you are talking about a group like ours but hey have you talked to Harry since you've been back?" Janessa asks with big curious brown eyes that search me for some sort of answer. She bites her bottom lip but I shake my head.

"No, I mean aside from responding to the group text that I was coming to this thing. I just don't really know what to say to him," I say truthfully watching the landscape shift slowly behind Janessa as I avoid eye contact. I didn't know what to say about him truthfully.

"Don't tell him I'm telling you this but while you were gone he actually had a hard time. He thought you left because of something he said to you or something he did after Bianca," Janessa tells me in confidence.

"Oh my god no! I don't want him to think that! I left because my parents told me it was for the best for everyone involved," My eyes averted down to the floor where I feel that void again.

"Hey! Hey! Lana, I know what you are thinking right now and it's not true. Let's not even think about that tonight, let's just have fun and hey maybe you might get lucky later with Harry!" Janessa rushes to my side and grabs my attention and I smile. She always knew how to turn things around and it really helped that she's known me since elementary school.

The old rickety cable car comes to a halt causing both Janessa and I to hold onto each other. Feeling the swinging sensation we wait for the door to open up before carefully making our way out.

"I'm pretty sure this has been the same car since we were kids," I say hearing the creaky board under my dirty Adidas shoes that were in separate need of a wash.

"I wouldn't doubt it," Janessa says coming out as we both round the corner to the ending of the station.

Looking out into the foggy forest my heart jumps and stops, I cling to Janessa when the features of a man jump into our face. We both scream in unison feeling each other shake while we squeeze each other like we are one another's lifeline.

"What the fuck Luke?" Janessa screams letting me go as soon as she figures out who scared the both of us. Luke topples over in laughter while Janessa walks over and harshly pushed him over. "You are such an asshole," Janessa tried to adjust herself, combing her fingers through her hair.

"What are you doing out here? Where is everyone else?" I ask Luke once he stands up and takes a drag from his joint. Janessa takes the joint and throws it in the woods clearly annoyed with his antics.

"What a waste of a joint that was, what do you think I'm made of money like you?" He asks Janessa with a lazy smirk smeared across his face. His greasy hair falls in front of his face in mousy blonde curls.

"Oh please don't pretend like you don't hustle on the side selling grass. You are well off sweetheart just like the rest of us," Janessa rolls her eyes and comes back to stand next to me.

"Well, at any rate, I've been waiting for the group for over an hour. I would have just walked alone but I don't remember the way to Harry's cabin," Luke says rubbing his hands together from the cold that nips at our exposed skin.

"Are you sure you weren't just scared?" Janessa arched a brow teasing Luke enough for him to send her a smirk back.

"Wanna cuddle up?" He asks as she shakes her head and grabs my hand pulling me towards the path outlined in the forest.

"Dream on Aerosmith," she says to him.

| s e r e n a |

"Just admit it, you don't know where you are going," I said as Tate's eyes search around for something familiar. He had given me confidence that we didn't need to wait around for the rest of the group, that he knew exactly where he was going. "You are completely lost without Siri," I tease biting my bottom lip walking in front of him making sure not to run into anything since I was walking backward.

"First of all we aren't lost and second of all even if we were it's not like you don't love an adventure," Tate says to me pulling his yellow and black detailed beanie down a little to adjust it. His honey brown eyes are like liquid gold as a flash him a smile and stop him in his tracks. Moving in close to him I tease him coming in close as if I am going to kiss him.

"You aren't wrong, and I also know that you can resist the chase," I whisper bolting away from him knowing he would chase me. The icy air glazed my face and tangles my hair the fast I run into the lush green pine trees that tower over me, holding me in their wonderland.

I peek back to see Tate charging after me with a smile lacing his face. His lips parted while his breath is visible against the thin cold air that encapsulated us. The tip of his nose is a shade of rose and his cheeks flush the same color under the autumn atmosphere that was slowly transitioning into winter. The fog thickens from a haze into a wall of grey and white that blind me from where I am actually running to.

I feel Tate's hand grasp me, enough to knock me off my balance until I feel my feet stumble over themselves. I scream and fall on my back slowly after seeing Tate do the same. I brace myself seeing that he was going to fall face first into me, my shit my eyes and tense up but the moment where we crash against each other never comes. I flutter my eyes open and see Tate hanging over me, his palms pressed against the damp ground next to my head on both sides.

"Gotcha!" He smirks and a smile plays on my lips feeling his body heat radiate off of him above me. I lightly tug at his grey school sweatshirt and feel him lower his body until I kissed him hard. I keep him captive here until I feel the cold penetrate through my black leather jacket letting shivers bubble up over my skin.

"Cold? Or is that the kind of an effect I have on you?" Tate asks me noticing the surge of coldness had caused me to jump slightly.

"Don't pat yourself to hard on the back, you might break your arm," I tell him pushing him off so that I can get up off the damp floor of the forest. "It's freezing out here we need to find the cabin, and then maybe if you are lucky tonight we can finish what we started,"

"What's that over there?" Tate asks me as I dust off the dirt from my jacket and shake out my hair looking over to where Tate is pointing. In the lonely corner of the forest stood an old and tired cabin that quietly hid under the thick pine trees and smokey fog.

"An abandoned cabin, we should go check it out," I say immediately taking Tate's hand to bring him towards the dark corner of the forest.

"Didn't you just say we needed to find Harry's cabin? The sooner we find the cabin the sooner I can try my chances at getting lucky with you," Tate says trudging a small distance behind me while I continue to pull his hand coming closer to the abandoned cabin.

"Come on, it'll be just a quick detour! What if we see a ghost in there it will be like our own little version of ghost hunters," I tell him coming up to the rickety old door that hangs slightly shut. I pull on the handle with ease and feel the door swing open before looking back at Tate who seems unsure. "Scared yet?"

"No, just cold and bothered, come on Serena lets get out of here," Tate begs as I shake my head and prance inside the dusty one-room cabin. The couch is slumped into the floor while the faint floral wallpaper is peeled and tore at the corners.

"Come on Tate, live on the edge a little! We have this whole place to ourselves why don't we take advantage!" I bite my bottom lip and come to the door opening where Tate stands with my black backpack in hand and his strapped to his back.

I take my bag from his hand and set it aside pulling him by the drawstring of his sweatshirt. I pull him into my lips and hear him close the door behind him the blue light streaming in through the open frosted windows.

"Do you think the ghosts are watching?" Tate asks pulling off my jacket and swinging my white crop top over my head. I unbuckle his belt and pull down his pants swiftly hearing him giggle from the coldness trickling through different parts of his body.

"If there are we should give them a show," I say smashing my body into Tate's while I lock my lips with his and tangle my fingers through his shaved sides. Throwing his beanie to the side I feel him run nails down my back causing me to roll my eyes and moan out from the sensation.

"Is this going to happen?" Tate asks through kisses that light me up and drive me crazy. He tugs at my black jeans until they pool around my ankles just as I pull down his boxers. My feeling and urges felt out of control as I reach down and touch him.

"You like that?" I ask him roughly hearing his soft moans and groans I take them as a sign to continue. "Well, I am just getting started," I lick my lips and begin to sink down to the ground on my knees.

"What the fuck?!" I hear a voice say from behind just as the cabin door swings open. I jump and instinctively Tate pulls up his boxers and skinny jeans.

"You've always got to ruin the fun don't you?" I bite bitterly rolling my eyes as when I see the tall blonde in the doorway with her jaw-dropping. "How did you find this place anyway?"

"I obviously took the wrong turn and I heard you guys from the outside," Naomi says scoffing while I recover my top and jacket sliding each one on until I'm completely covered.

"If you heard us then why come in? Obviously, you heard we were busy," I mock her voice when I enunciated obviously. I look over at Tate who slips his beanie back on.

"Let's just get out of here," Tate says picking up the bags and walking out swiftly while I cross my arms and saunter over to Naomi.

"It's a little pathetic even for you," I tilt my head and look into her ocean blue eyes that captivated everyone, everyone but me that is. I knew better than to be trapped by her perfect appearance on the outside.

"You Serena Winters... talking to me about pathetic? I'm not the one being a try hard to get attention," Naomi says with a smug smile curled on her red lips.

"Pathetic is still fawning over a guy that doesn't want you anymore. You are used goods, Naomi," I say walking past her sighing when I turn away from her and head towards Tate.

"At least I'm not someone else's trash which given your track record you always are," Naomi says as we walk through the lush forest that harvests dark shadows and cold breezes that run down your spine; or maybe that was Naomi's personality showing through.

| l u k e |

"If we are sharing rooms we should bunk up like old times Nessa," I say to Janessa who gives me the side eye while we walk all next to each other.

"Just because you keep saying stuff like that doesn't mean it's one day going to happen. If we have to share rooms it won't be with you, I would rather share a room with Serena and Naomi," Janessa tells me scanning me up and down before laying her eyes back on the path in front of us.

"How long have you been chasing Janessa anyways?" Lana asks me from the side. Her ponytail catches the breeze and sneaks up her shoulder as she looks at me with her pretty little doe eyes.

"Since middle school, I would have thought by now you would have gotten the hint?" Janessa says to me while I comb my hair back with my hand sighing.

"Persistence is key if you know what you want you have to go after it," I tell them coming up to the end of the path. Looking a few inches away the cabin comes into full view the place we had all grown up it felt like. Every summer break all our families with the exception of mine would spend two weeks out of the summer here.

My family wasn't as well off as everyone else. I'm not even sure how I fit into the entire group but here I am and here I always will be.

"Hey, guys over here!" I hear Harry call when we all stop to look at the mansion looking cabin. I notice Lana's breathing picking up and furrow my brow.

"Hey, Lana, you good?" I ask her, her soft face turns to me with a set of worried deep brown eyes.

"Yeah, I just haven't seen him since..." she trails off but I know what she's talking about.

"Hey Lana, it's all good. This weekend is going to be fun and you won't even have to think about that," Janessa goes over to comfort her and she nods just as I turn around hearing petty fighting in the background coming from Naomi and Serena.

Everyone was here. And what a weekend this would be.

N. And now we begin! If you didn't see my message on my profile I want to let y'all know this is considered a short story and will only be 10 chapters however these chapters will be nice and chunky like the one you just read. Buuuut let me know, did you like it?

Yours truly, the content queen;)