"Give the bruises out like gifts."

-White Teeth Teens, Lorde

________________________________

There is no blood, but the smell is vile. I'm not exactly sure why we didn't smell it earlier.

Jasper headed back to the school to find Rosa, while I sit and wait beside dead Whiskers. When I look at its mangled fur and closed eyes, a bad feeling stirs in my gut, almost making me dizzy. It's not the death part that's making me nervous though. I just don't know what the part that is making me nervous might be.

Jasper returns soon after he leaves with Rosa and a few other teachers shadowing right behind him. I stand up and brush myself off, watching their concerned reactions soon turn to shock when they see the body.

A few of the teachers gasp, but Rosa just stares, pressing her lips together in thought. She turns to us. "When did you find it?"

"About ten minutes ago," Jasper replies, keeping close to me.

"And you don't know what happened to it?" she questions while the other teachers turn back to find Mr Jefferson.

We shake our heads. "Its neck is snapped, obviously, but we don't know anything else," I say, and she nods more to herself than to us.

Her hands are on her hips, her eyes calculating. "Okay, we'll clear this up. Go to the Common Room," Rosa instructs.

We nod and begin to walk down the path.

"Jasper, Olivia?"

We turn around again while she says without inching her gaze from the dead cat. "Keep this to yourselves."

***

"You think someone at school did it?" Jasper asks as we make it inside the building again.

"Like a student?" We make a slow walk to the Common Room.

He nods.

"But who?"

He responds smoothly but quietly, like anyone walking past is a suspect, which I guess they are, "This is a school full of psychopaths. About half of the student population has killed somebody, accidentally or not, and another quarter has hurt someone with every intention of doing so. It's not a question of who, it's a question of why."

"This school was built for mad teenagers with a hankering for murder. The reasons are endless," I mutter in return as we make it to the door of the Common Room.

The ceiling of the room is extremely high, and the space itself is huge. Bookcases are standing in rows on one side, and on the other side are desks with computers and sofas with coffee tables in the middle. There's a pool table which some students are crowded around, and I notice them to be Sky and her friends. Thomas catches sight of me and waves, catching the attention of the others, but when they see Jasper, Jessica elbows her brother in the ribs and he looks back to the game.

Are they afraid of Jasper?

Huge windows which stretch from the ceiling to the floor cover the back wall, exposing a view of trees and fields that surround the school.

"Apart from fights and arguments, there hasn't been an incident like this for about a year," Jasper explains as we walk to a group who have squeezed themselves onto two sofas. The sofas are facing each other and there's a coffee table in the middle of them. They are Socios, so they remain composed while the talk. A somewhat deceiving composure.

"Why now then?" I ask, to which he shakes his head. We stand behind one of the sofas and listen to the conversation. Jacob and the blonde girl from lunch, Lydia, are sitting beside each other, and I notice him kissing her neck while she tilts her head back.

That makes sense, a voice grunts.

Jasper stays close beside me, keeping his hand on the small of my back. He runs his other hand through his golden hair while a few of the others begin to notice us.

Molly jumps in her seat when she sees me, smiling happily. "Olivia! Jasper was worried I'd scared you away at lunch today, but I told him you were cooler than that. And I was right!"

I turn my attention up to Jasper, who is scratching the nape of his neck nervously. It's the only time I have seen him slightly flustered, and it's cute. "You were worried?"

"Don't remind me," he murmurs awkwardly.

I chuckle and turn back to the group. Jacob and Lydia are glaring at me intensely, but I don't look away despite their scorching looks. My eyes don't waver from their's until Jasper growls, "Jacob, Lydia, cut it out."

Lydia clenches her hands into fists on her lap and hisses back, "Or what?"

Jasper takes an aggressive stance and snaps, "Or I'll make you."

She doesn't say anything, and neither does Jacob, and I can tell that the disagreement is over. For now.

"What are you guys doing here?"

All of us turn to a group of aggressive boys and girls who have approached us. They are wearing leather jackets and black boots. Their hair is wild. And at the front of the crowd of Fighters? Alec. Beautiful chaos in his brown eyes.

"You know it's our day to use the couches," a girl beside Alec snaps, her hair blazing bright red but her eyes scorching deep green. I notice how most of them have tattoos or dyed hair or piercings or intense eye makeup. But Alec is just Alec. Natural rugged hair. Casual black jeans with sneakers and a black hoodie.

"Get lost, morons. It's our day and you know it," a boy beside Jacob hisses, as the rest of the Socios stand up aggressively, hands clenched.

Jasper moves from my side to stand in front of the Fighters, eyeing them fiercely. The rest of his group stand beside him, leaving me to witness this like I'm watching a TV show.

"I don't know if breathing in the scent of all that hair gel makes you delirious, but try again," a tall boy with blonde hair says on the other side of Alec. Alec stays quiet, sighing tensely and running a hand through his deep brown hair, like he'd rather be anywhere else but here. I don't blame him. I feel the same way.

"And I don't know if all those cigarette fumes are making you delirious, but you need to leave," snaps Jasper.

Alec is about to respond, but then his eyes fall onto me, and he stops and frowns. I shrink in place a little, before he shakes his head quickly and turns back to Jasper, taking a step towards him so they're standing a few inches apart. "Move it," he hisses darkly, putting enough threat in his voice that it sends chills through my own spine.

"Make me," Jasper grunts to Alec.

In a split second, Alec pushes Jasper back. He stumbles, but a few of the others catch him in time. He growls and pulls his fist back, swinging it around and plunging it into the side of Alec's face. I gasp, but before I can move to help, all hell breaks loose, and every boy and girl who is standing there begins to fight.

All I can do is watch. Sky appears beside me, shaking my shoulders to snap me out of my daze. "Olivia!"

She grabs my arm and tows me out of the Common Room.

________________________________