"Will you be here suffering?"

-Suffering, War on Drugs

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I wake up to sunlight streaming through my window, illuminating the white sheets of my bed with yellow light and the dust fragments falling to the floor. It's a pleasant morning, all the nice colours and nice feelings that are flooding through me.

But then my eyes fall onto my clothes beneath the sheets. I'm fully dressed. Huh. That's strange. I'm certain I changed into my pyjamas last night. And then I see the door. It has a slight gap, exposing my room to the corridor outside. Which is also fairly bizarre since I would've definitely closed it last night.

But I don't have much longer to think about it when my eyes brush across the alarm clock on my bedside table, saying I only have ten minutes to get ready before breakfast.

I dart out of bed and hope I left my door open by accident.

***

When I was younger, maybe six or seven, my dad told me that if you stay in a certain place long enough, you'll go crazy, and you'll experience sudden outbursts of anger towards those who are around you. For example, you could murder someone because they burnt your toast. Cabin fever.

"Have you read The Shining?" I ask out of nowhere to Sky the next day at breakfast. I barely slept last night, Alec and Jasper racing around my mind like by meeting them I had permanently locked them in there. Great. Exactly what I need right now.

Sky looks at me and blinks, chewing on her toast at a slower pace. "Huh?"

"The Shining. By Stephen King?" I elaborate.

She swallows and frowns, thinking. "I think I saw the film. Creeped the shit out of me though. Couldn't look at my dad for a week," she says, eyes flicking across the dining hall for the rest of the group. Jessica and Thomas are already sat down, and are chatting about their 'bastard stepdad' through wild hysterics. "Why'd you ask?"

"After I got diagnosed, I found it in my home library back in London. Obviously, I'm not as crazy as Jack. But it's recently got me thinking- what if all these insane kids trapped in this school go crazy like Jack? What if they just snap and start murdering their friends and teachers and stuff?"

She chuckles just as Daniel and Louise sit down, and replies casually, "You need to stop thinking too much. It'll drive you crazy." I know she said the final part sarcastically, but what if it did happen? What if all these teenagers snapped and this school turned into the newest Hunger Games arena?

I imagine the whole thing going down, daggers and cross-bows and all. It's a sadistic thing to think, but just like Alec had told me last night, everyone outside this school thinks we're psychopaths anyway, why not live up to the assumptions?

You'd be the tribute that sets the arena on fire by accident. But it wouldn't be an accident, would it?

I grip the sides of my head, willing for the voice to just leave. I squeeze my eyes shut, and when I open them again, everyone on the table is staring at me questioningly.

"You alright?" Sky asks, putting her hand gently onto my shoulder.

I nod quickly, and jump from my seat when the bell sounds, letting her hand fall. "I need to get to class," I say, although all of them need to get to class too, and they could potentially show me the way. But I turn anyway and jog out of the dining hall.

However, I take one last glance back, and just as I do, I collide with someone else. Their hands grip my arms to keep me on my feet. I'm about to apologise and carry on, until I see those icy blue eyes and stop in place.

"Jasper," I say. He takes his hands off my arms and uses one of his free hands to run his fingers through his golden hair. He's wearing dark jeans with a navy sweater, and converse on his feet. All together he looks good...really good.

"Olivia, it's good to see you again," he replies in that smooth, perfect voice.

"I'm sorry, I should've been looking where I was going," I ramble, getting completely lost in those eyes.

He places his hand gently onto my shoulder, and purrs, "One thing you need to learn about being here- don't apologise."

"You know what you're doing then?" I say, raising an eyebrow as students stroll to their lessons around us.

His hand slowly makes its way down my arm, and although I'm wearing a thick denim jacket, just the feel of his fingertips lightly touching me makes me feel dizzy. "I have five years worth of knowledge. So yes, I do."

Another boy approaches us, tall and slightly lanky, wearing designer sweats. His brown hair flops in his eyes as he eyes me cautiously. I narrow my eyes, not liking the way his expression is wordless and empty.

Jasper motions to his friend, keeping his eyes trained on me. "Olivia, meet my friend, Jacob."

Jacob looks me up and down, and grunts, "What are you in for? You don't look dangerous."

And just this comment flips my happy mood to infuriated. This boy doesn't know me. He doesn't know what I did. An image of flames, burning toxic and orange appear in my mind. I shake away the image and glare. "And what about you? You step on a ladybug or something?"

"You wish, bitch," he snaps, taking a powerful step towards me.

I growl and take an aggressive step closer to him, hoping my shorter size doesn't make me seem any less threatening.

"Hey, hey, calm it," Jasper says, putting his hand firmly on Jacob's shoulder.

"Not my fault your girlfriend is a chicken," he spits, shaking Jasper's hand off. "You're a wuss compared to the rest of us." Jeez, what is his problem?

What isn't his problem? a grouchy voice hisses into the cracks of my mind.

You got that right.

Some people have gathered around, whispering to each other.

I point to the side of his mouth and squint my eyes, frowning. "You've got a little bit of..." He puts his fingers onto the place that I'm staring at. "If I'm not mistaken, you've got a little bit of...a little bit of bullshit right there."

His hand falls quickly from his face when he realises what just happened while the surrounding students laugh, me laughing quietly with them.

"It's not bullshit. You've got nothing on the rest of the kids here. You're weak."

I take another step towards him until we're practically touching, my face showing no sense of humour anymore, and hiss, "I could kill you so quickly and effortlessly you wouldn't even see it coming. You got that?"

Before he can yell something back, Jasper interrupts, "Enough!"

We both look at him, but he scowls only at Jacob. "Go to class, Jacob. We'll talk about this later in the Common Room."

He tries to protest, but Jasper is already leading me away towards class.

"What lesson do you have?" he asks when we're further enough from Jacob that my hands begin to unclench, his hand still on the small of my back. It's sending chills through my spine. Good chills.

"English Lit," I murmur, still heated from my conversation with Jacob.

"I have English Language, so my classroom is near yours, I'll show you the way," he says.

I force a grateful smile. "Thank you."

His eyes flick over my face, his lips pressed together. "Jacob is always like that with new people."

"An ass?"

He laughs, and replies, "Precisely. But he means well. He probably just thinks you're a Fighter or something."

That makes me think of Alec, and our conversation last night. To others he might be intimidating, but to me, he's...awesome. I look up at Jasper, eyeing his sharp jaw and perfect hair. "You need to tell me what happened to make you all hate each other so much."

"I will, but first, you have English Lit to get to," he says, steering me to the door.

I smile and thank him for showing me the way, but just before we part ways, he says, "Oh, and Olivia?"

"Yes?"

"People here don't thank each other either."