"The freedom of falling."

-Waves, Dean Lewis

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Turns out the girls' wing in on the other side of the building, so I have to climb inside a random person's room with their window left open and slip out the door to my own room.

Just as I slide into the window, I hear a knocking at the door, and the familiar sound of Rosa's voice calling my name from the corridor.

"Yes?" I ask.

"Olivia, you haven't been attending lessons today. Are you ill?"

I quickly crawl into my bed and yank the covers over my body, running my hands through my hair to make it messy, and croak, "Yes, I think I've come down with something."

I'm impressed by your lying skills.

She's had practise.

"May I come in?"

I try to ignore the voices since they sound like they're assessing me and pretend I'm not listening to what they're saying. "Sure."

The door swings open, and she pokes her head around the door. "Are you feeling alright, Olivia?"

"Not really, but it's nothing to worry about. I think it's something I ate," I lie, trying to put on a nasally voice.

She presses her lips together, and nods. "Okay, if you need anything, come find me."

"Sure."

Just before she leaves, she peaks around the door once more, and says, "If you and Jasper are going to skip lessons together, you might want to at least come up with different excuses." And then she's gone.

***

I'm sitting on Sky's table at lunch, half-listening to a conversation about the bet on who killed Whiskers, when a girl with a bored expression approaches the table.

I look up as she grunts monotonously, "Olivia Mitchell, you're wanted at Headmistress Donovan's office. Immediately."

I shoot the others an uncertain look as they share the same expression- confused- before I stand and follow the girl out of the dining hall.

We walk in silence until we approach Rosa's office door. Jasper is sitting on a chair outside, knee bouncing at a rapid pace. When I see him, I frown and take a seat beside him as the girl walks away. "Jasper?"

He looks at me, surprised. "Olivia. You're here too."

"What are we doing here?" I ask.

He's about to respond, when the door swings open, and Rosa's head pokes around the corner and signals for us both to enter. Her office is huge, bookcases filled with leather-bound books covering every wall apart from the front wall which is completely taken up by three large windows.

And the surprises just keep on coming when I see the person already sitting on the other side of the desk than the side Rosa is sitting at now. Alec. He turns, and when he sees us, he frowns, clearly just as confused as the rest of us.

I settle hesitantly into the seat beside Alec, Jasper taking the seat on the other side of me so I'm in the middle of them both. The positioning makes me feel uneasy, so I clear my throat and focus on Rosa.

"You're all probably wondering what you're doing here." She turns to me and Jasper first. "After your discovery in the woods the other day, I told you to keep what you saw to yourselves. You went against what I asked and now the whole school is aware."

"Neither of us told anyone," Jasper interrupts, sitting forward in his seat a little.

"Well no one else knew about it in the first place. I don't know which of you it was, so I'm going to have to punish you both. I do try to be fair in this school, since many students have gone through lives that haven't been fair. But I did not want this getting out. All it will do is fuel tensions between certain groups of students, which leads me onto my next point." She turns her attention to Alec. "Yesterday in the Common Room was unacceptable. Same goes for you, Jasper."

Alec remains silent, staring at his hands on his lap, eyebrows furrowed.

"And since you're both significant members of said particular groups of students, you will be punished for your actions."

She leans back in her seat, concern furrowing her brow. "All of you will be serving detention tonight and tomorrow night. After lessons are over, instead of heading to any social areas, you must go straight outside to the Groundskeeper's house. I trust Jasper and Alec know where this is, so show Olivia. Mr Jefferson will have some work for you."

"You're making us work on the grounds for something we didn't do?" Jasper concludes, but it comes out more as a question.

She sighs heavily, slouching a little in her seat. "Do you think I want to do this? You're all good students here."

"Then why would we do it?" Alec asks, the first time he's spoken since we got in here. I'd almost forgotten the perfect huskiness of his voice.

"Maybe that's a question you should be asking yourself, Alec," Rosa says quietly, before standing up.

The three of us stand too, and only leave when she nods her head and dismisses us.

I'm not too concerned about the whole thing, since I don't blame her for accusing me and Jasper of telling everyone. I mean, we were the only ones who knew.

I'm more concerned about being alone in detention with only Jasper and Alec there with me.