Madelyn doesn’t text during class so I’m lounging around the house doing nothing. She DID text me this morning after homeroom tho, to tell me that Tilly Marlow woke up in the woods last night and it’s annoying the shit out of me.

I can just imagine everyone fawning all over her, begging for all the details, and Tilly sitting there all coy saying the same thing all the other girls say: she doesn’t remember anything, she just woke up in the middle of the woods, in the middle of the night, completely alone.

But like — c’mon, that’s bullshit, right?

On the off chance that another human person is reading this for some reason, I recognize that this probably took a confusing turn, so let me back up a little bit:

I live in Black Lake, Washington and girls have been waking up alone, in the middle of the night, in the same spot in the woods, for generations.

Or at least, that’s what they say is happening. The girls have never — and I mean literally never, Madelyn and I did research — said anything other than that: woods, alone, middle of the night.

I think we all sort of figure it’s some kind of secret sorority or something. It always happens the first weeks of September, right as school starts, and it always happens to a handful of senior class girls. So that seems like a hazing ritual, right? Like some kind of lame tiny town secret society? What else would it be?

Anyways, we’ve been speculating who it would be in our class for years.

We all expected Tilly. Her family has lived in Black Lake for literally a hundred years. Her older sister woke up in the woods, and her dad is the sheriff. She’s a legacy kid for sure.

Also, Tilly’s cool. It’s undeniable. She’s just got that it-factor. She’s the kind of person who’s so cool you sort of want to hate her on principle, but she’s so great you can’t help but like her. Plus she’s in a band with some girls who graduated last year and moved to Seattle.

Usually it’s the cream of the crop that wakes up out there, and Tilly’s definitely that.

It’s so annoying.

Not that I’m jealous or anything. Okay, maybe like a little bit, because I really want to know what the whole mystery is about. But like lol I’m definitely not on the roster. If girls were waking up in a bog I might be in the running.