"She knows I'm out of control."

-Dirty Laundry, blackbear

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After my final class, I hurry out of the classroom and quickly head to my dorm. I throw my bag into the corner and stand in front of my mirror, run a brush through my hair and sigh heavily. That'll have to do.

Let's hope your boyfriend knows what he's signing up for, the voice says mockingly.

I shake my head to scare away the voice, and slip out of my room, making sure to close my door behind me. I hurry down the staircase, hand on the polished banister, and head out the front entrance when I reach the foyer.

Jasper is waiting there, hands in the pockets of his black denim jacket, the late afternoon breeze ruffling his blond hair. I suddenly feel self-conscious in my jacket, jeans and converse. But when he sees me, a flawless smile flashes across his face.

"You made it," he says, as if ditching was even an option for me. In fact, I'm more surprised that he turned up.

"I said I would, wouldn't I?"

He smiles and nods, before he begins walking around the back of the school, me following at his side.

The sun is out, which is odd for autumn, but I'm not complaining. It feels good to have its warm rays heating the small parts of my skin that are exposed. We approach the side of the school, a large hedge creating a narrow alley between it and the wall. Jasper turns around and holds out his hand. I hesitate, staring down at it for a moment, before I smile and take it.

It's warm, which conflicts with his colder blue eyes, and just the sensation of our fingers interlocked makes my heart flutter.

He leads in front, towing me along behind. "You know, they teach you at school not to walk off with strangers," he reminds, staring straight ahead.

"What's the worst you can do?" I reply as he stops in place and turns to me. A shadow casts over us from the huge wall of the building, and as I look behind him, it's about another twenty metres or so until we reach the back of the school.

He inches in front of me and gradually pins me to the wall, taking the breath out of me. My heart is beating so quickly I can feel it in my throat. Jasper presses his hands to the bricks behind me, caging me in with no escape, especially with his body slowly creeping against mine.

The breeze smooths over his blond hair, stroking each strand and shiny lock. Our faces are so close to touching that all I want to do is close the gap, but any bit of self-control I have left restrains me.

Jasper smirks down at me, letting his eyes trail over my lips. He bites his own lip with his top teeth, and this sends my heart and mind into overdrive. "What's the worst thing I can do?" he purrs.

"You could chain me to a tree and leave me to starve," I murmur, and he chuckles.

"I can do worse than that."

"You could kill me, chop up my remains, and feed them to the Mr Jefferson's cat."

Jasper laughs, the tip of his nose touching the side of my face and then running down my skin to my neck. He doesn't make contact with his lips, and it's driving me crazy.

Crazier?

And not even the voice's snide comments can make this any less intense. I close my eyes as he murmurs into my neck, "Worse."

He breathes in my scent, his breath warming my neck and then my entire body. "You could kiss me."

I can feel him smirk into my neck, chuckling darkly, before he slowly whispers into my ear, "I could. But I'm not letting you win that easy."

I scowl as he leans back, laughing to himself as he proceeds to walk to the end of the snicket, me shadowing close behind.

Walking in silence, we make it out of the snicket and into a large garden, filled with green grass, a pond, benches, and students walking around here and there. There is a wall of dark green trees at all sides, and a path leading from where we're standing through the woods itself. Who knew this place would be so beautiful?

"Wow," I mutter, awestruck.

"I know," he says with a chuckle, taking my hand once more.

We walk side-by-side along the path, admiring the flowers that line the path. I shoot a glance behind me at the building, which is pretty with the sun illuminating its bricks a soft orange colour.

"Can I ask a personal question?" I ask.

"Shoot."

"What you did to get in here, did it involve killing somebody?" To be really honest, if it did, it wouldn't make much difference. I know that sounds utterly bizarre, but what I did involved someone...

Dying, the voice finishes.

I gulp.

And despite everything, he laughs. "Hmm. I guess it did."

"You guess?"

We approach the woods and allow ourselves to be swallowed up by the thick green trees, their trunks as deep a brown as Alec's hair. It's a stupid thing to think, since I'm here with Jasper, but it's the only thing I can compare their beauty to.

We follow the path as Jasper responds casually, "I did."

I pause. "Oh."

"No running away or screaming?" he asks questioningly, raising an uncertain eyebrow.

"What if I told you that I killed someone too? Would you run away?"

"You killed someone?" Jasper says, surprise intertwining itself into his smooth voice.

I press my lips together. "Didn't expect that, did you?"

"I think a part of me did." He rubs his thumb over the back of my hand in small circles, our hands still connected. "You seem too perfect not to have done."

"It's just not something I like to think about, especially since it was an accident."

He nods to himself. "Then let's not talk about it."

I smile gratefully. "But you don't mind talking about what you did?"

He shakes his head. "Not at all."

"Okay, so what happened?"

He pauses, thinking it over. "My dad died about a year before my thirteenth birthday, which was the year I came here. My mum was struggling financially, and she ended up having to marry a complete asswipe of a person to make ends meet."

"Seems like step-parent issues are an occurring theme at Redwood," I remark, making him chuckle.

I watch the path as he speaks, keeping my eyes trained on my converse as they tread through the silent, dusty trail. "You got that right. Anyway, this guy, Phil, was a moron. He abused my mum and my younger sister, Layla. I hated it, but I was too young and weak to do anything about it.

"But then one day, he came home drunk. Phil started yelling at my Mum, and ended up knocking her out cold." He pauses for a moment, pressing his lips together into a hard line. "And then he started hitting Layla, she was just ten years old at the time, and I couldn't take it any more. I grabbed the lighter from the kitchen drawer that Mum used to light the birthday candles, and I...set him on fire." Jasper smirks thinking about it, his eyes wild and shining. But despite the chaos in his blue eyes, there is a certain beauty to his crazed mind.

"The neighbours heard the commotion, and by the time the police arrived, Phil was dead." He shrugs. "Deserved it."

"What about your mum and sister?"

"My mum was taken to hospital, and they fixed her up. Layla needed to go to therapy for a while, especially since she watched her brother set her stepdad on fire. But we were really close, so she didn't get mad at me. When the police found out what happened, they sent me here, figuring I needed 'proper help' instead of a detention centre. I was lucky."

"You sure were."

"And I've been here for nearly five years."

"You're nearly eighteen?"

He nods, and he's about to respond when his eyes catch sight of something behind me. He frowns, and then his eyes widen.

I spin around and gasp when my gaze falls onto the tabby fur of something in the shrubs.

The groundkeeper's cat.

With a snapped neck.

Dead.