-Oliver-

How was I supposed to follow Jaden without being noticed? I had to do it, or Jack would get mad at me. Meaning there would be no end in my hell. But if Jaden noticed me, or found out what I was doing... I didn't know if Jaden was as brutal as Jack, but his friends were bad enough. They wouldn't forgive me, that was for sure.

My cheek was still sore after the next class, reminding me I had a job to do now. So, when we were dismissed, I slowly picked up my things and followed my classmates on their way out. Once I was standing in the corridor, I stopped to take a deep breath – I would've started crying right then and there if I hadn't.

How did I get into such a big mess? How was this fair? I was powerless to stand against Jack, and there was no one to help me. I couldn't even start skipping classes since the staff at the orphanage would find out about it right away. My teacher would contact them immediately, and they would force me to come to school, and if Jack found out that I had tried to run away...

I took another deep breath. There was one thing I was good at, besides being invisible. Early on, I had learned to lock all my emotions away in order to survive. I had felt fear before, so this was nothing new. I just had to accept my fate, once again.

With that thought in mind, I straightened my posture and hoisted my bag on my shoulder, before I continued walking. Thankfully, the school was small, so it took me only a couple of minutes before I spotted Tilly in the second-floor corridor. I started following her, keeping my head down. I peered at her occasionally, trying to take in everything I saw.

The first and most notable thing I realized about her was that she ignored everyone in a cold manner, like she was a higher being, and the rest of us were not worth to even look at. There were only a couple of girls who tried to say hi to her, but the rest avoided even looking at her. The guys turned to check her out, but no one dared to say a word. It wasn't a surprise, not after seeing how she handled those guys she found annoying.

She seemed to love wearing flashy clothes as well. And high heels. I was still astonished she could kick so high in her stilettos and in a miniskirt without losing her balance. The way her male friends never even thought about backing her up when she was dealing with Jack told me a lot about her as well. She had some kind of fighter's aura or something, and I was sure everyone could sense that miles away.

I started to wonder, if it would've been for the best if I had just accepted Jack's beating. The longer I trailed Tilly, the stronger that feeling became. Jack was nothing compared to her. But... then again... if I just found out where their hiding place was, I wouldn't get hurt at all. Maybe. Hopefully.

I found myself down at the first floor again, and Tilly stopped all of a sudden. She turned her head just a little on both sides, like she was looking for something. I nearly stopped breathing, and retreated behind a row of lockers. I waited for a moment, before I peered at her. She hadn't moved at all. She just stood there, in the middle of the corridor with a bored look on her narrow face.

A moment later, a door of a restroom opened right next to her, and the mohawk-guy, Arch, stepped out.

"Where's Jade?" Tilly asked, and they started walking towards me. Me! I tried to blend in with the shadows, but I guess I really had nothing to be afraid of.

"Getting lectured by Hanson," Arch sighed, as they passed me by.

"Already?" Tilly laughed. "The boy is fast," she muttered, shaking her head.

"The teachers know to contact him now," Arch sighed. "So much for our free reign..."

I started following them, once they were far enough, but not too far so I couldn't hear them.

"Remind me not to cross Jade's parents ever again," Tilly sighed. "I can't believe they went this far..."

I had no idea what they were talking about, but I did know Hanson, the new vice principal. Did he have something to do with Jaden?

"Are we really going to detention?" Tilly asked, and Arch nodded. "Fucking hell... I'm hungry!"

"You should've eaten something at lunch."

"I want real food, not that shit they serve here," Tilly snorted. "Let's just skip the detention, go grab some take-out, and stay at the joint until the coast is clear."

Joint. That had to be it!

"Yeah, no," Arch only said, and Tilly sighed.

They stopped at the same time, and turned to look left into one of the classrooms. It was almost freaky how they moved in unison.

"More detention, you reckon?" Tilly asked quietly, peering through the small window on the door.

"Probably – he threw a book at Benham. Said it was a fly but Mrs. Hailey didn't buy it," Arch explained just as quietly.

"In the middle of winter? How peculiar!" Tilly gasped. "I won't say Benham didn't deserve it, but Jade's not following his own orders. We were supposed to lay low for now."

What on earth were they talking about? I knew they were a part of a gang, but this was getting scary. Who exactly was Jaden? Why did they need to lay low? What did the new vice principal have to do with them, and what kind of people were Jaden's parents?

I looked at the people who were either walking past us, or just loitering around, but none of them seemed to pay any attention to their weird conversation. If they did, they were hiding it really well. That brought me to realize I was standing in the middle of the corridor, not hiding the fact that I was paying attention.

I slowly backed towards the wall, and pretended to be digging my school bag. I felt like I was standing in spotlight. Very bright and suffocating spotlight. I did my best to keep my emotions at bay, but really, I just wanted to cry and run away.

The door opened, distracting me from my thoughts, and I saw Jaden stepping out of the classroom with a murderous look on his face.

"Can we just leave this fucking town already?" he growled.

"Yes, please," Tilly said, but Arch shook his head.

"It's not fun when you have rules, is it?" he laughed.

"This is your fault! If you hadn't kidnapped me the other day..." Jaden hissed at him, trailing off before storming off. His friends followed him, laughing.

I took a couple of steps after them, even though my every instinct told me not to. Jaden was so angry... I... I stopped. I couldn't follow them. I shivered lightly, trying to keep my breathing calm. I felt paralyzed, my body barely did what I asked, which was to find a quiet place where I could sit down. I didn't see where I was going, but finally I was alone.

I was at the back entrance, and I sat down next to the wall, trying to gasp for air. Bad memories were flooding my mind and I knew I was silently crying. I clutched my left shoulder. It was hurting badly. I could almost feel the warm liquid dyeing my pajama shirt in red.

"I am sick and tired of your misbehaving ass!" the man's voice was harsh and cold.

"I'm sorry... I won't do it again..." I whispered.

The corridor in front of me turned into a dark room, and instead of me being alone, I saw two shadows in front of me.

"That vase was my grandmother's!" A woman shrieked. "You horrible child!"

The bell rang, and suddenly the images of them disappeared from my mind, but even though I could now see the yellowish paint of the familiar corridors, I couldn't get up. I could barely even breathe.

My shoulder... I pushed my clothes back to reveal my skin, but it wasn't soaked in blood like I thought. All I could see was the big scars that were left from that night.

I leaned my head back against the wall, letting my hoodie fall back on its place. The scars still hurt sometimes. They were always reminding me not to misbehave.

And to stay away from angry people.