Still slightly in shock, I found myself in Chemistry, partnered with Lawrence. As soon as we were told we needed partners, he'd made a beeline straight for me. While I was grateful to have a partner, I also really didn't trust him around the chemicals. I had half a mind to take the hydrochloric acid and run out the classroom just to keep it from him.

"I hope I didn't alarm you too much this morning, I was merely trying to make sure you knew exactly what you were getting yourself into. I wanted to give you a clear, early exit," he said with a smile as we set up a titration together. His calm words set me at ease. He didn't seem so much like a crazy pyromaniac; the fire now seemed like it had been a measured and calculated move.

"I must admit, I was very alarmed. But you guys were nice enough to give me a group. So, I want to stick with you guys, at least for now," I told him. 

Lawrence smiled at my honesty. "I endeavour to show you we are exactly the group you want to stick with. In fact, I had a word with the house staff, and I got you moved into a room next to Judy. The rest of us are all nearby," I smiled at him gratefully.

"I'm surprised they were so willing to switch, I got the impression they were quite strict about who slept where."

"Well, I may have had to slip them a little something," he said with a sly smile. I raised an eyebrow at him. Just how influential is he here?

The next class I had was P.E. where the teacher had us playing dodgeball for a fun first lesson back. The two captains chosen were Ethan and a boy named Jack. To my surprise, Ethan chose me for his team before anyone else. Even I could see there were better choices, but Ethan just stood there with an unreadable expression as he calmly picked the others players for our team. A determined expression crossed my face. There was no way I was going to let Ethan down. I was going to prove to him that I could be of help.

The two sides stared each other down. The tension in the air was sky high. It seemed more like a shoot off than a friendly school dodgeball match.

"Stay behind me," Ethan muttered quietly, just as the coach yelled for the match to begin. 

It was brutal. The painful sound of dodge ball slapping skin echoed around the gym hall. But I wasn't going to let fear stand in my way. I viciously threw ball after ball at the other side, a great many hitting targets. The other side glared savagely at us, coming to think of it, the clothes they were wearing were all quite similar, most wearing all black. I found myself wondering if they were one of the rival cliques the guys had been talking about this morning.

When I took a second to gather my surroundings, I saw that Ethan was standing right in front of me, deflecting any ball that came our way with a dodgeball of his own. I smiled to myself, was he trying to protect me? Well, whether he was or not, it gave me free rein to take our opponents down. Soon, it was just me and Ethan left on our side, with three guys left on the other. As I ran to pick up another ball, I heard Ethan yell, "Look out!" A guy had thrown a particularly savagely spinning ball my way. It was headed straight for my face, and it looked like it was going to hurt. At the last second, however, Ethan dove in front of me, taking the hit himself and falling to the ground.

"I will avenge you!" I yelled as I jumped over Ethan's fallen body and hit one of the guys on the opposing team straight in the stomach. Like some kind of ninja, I dodged the attacks of the other two as I picked up two more balls. I was starting to tire. I had to take them down now! I threw my first ball. It hit one of them square in the leg. The other, with fire in his eyes, threw his last ball at me. I jumped high into the air to avoid the missile and threw my last ball straight at him. It just managed to graze his arm. The coach blew his whistle and my side erupted in cheer. Ethan smiled and nodded at me.

"Are you alright? That looked quite painful," I said worriedly.

Ethan grimaced, grabbing his side. "I'll be alright."

"Thanks for protecting me," I said with a shy smile, Ethan looked to the side and nodded.

Xxx

That evening, I took a long hot shower to try and wash away the worries of the day. The warm water soothed my skin, and I finally allowed myself to breathe a sigh of relief. I came out pleasantly sated, only to find that my towel was missing. Alarm bells went off in my head. Who took it?! And my clothes were gone too! That meant the key to my room was gone as well! What was I going to do?!

Just then, Scarlett entered the empty bathroom. Panicking, I covered myself with the shower curtain.

"Scarlett! Can you help me? Somehow stole all my stuff!"

"Yeah, I know!" she scoffed, "It was me," she said casually.

"Give them back right now!" I yelled at her. She just laughed at me.

"Look, I thought of plenty of ways I could make your pathetic life miserable, but I've settled on this. A warning. You're going to think I'm crazy, but just trust me on this. Girls that don't have a boyfriend here, or some guy fawning over them, well, sooner or later, they get expelled, or... they go missing."

I just glared at her. Does this bitch really think I'm so gullible? What kind of lie even is that anyway? It's not even believable.

"Just how stupid do you think I am? What kind of sexist message is that anyway? That a girl can't survive here without some guy protecting her? I hope you're not spreading this lie to any younger girls here, that's a damaging message!"

"Look, take my advice or leave it. When you've been here a while, you'll believe me," she paused for a second to sigh, "Look, I'll give you your clothes back if you promise to stay the hell away from Zion, okay?"

I stare at her like she's crazy. "Okay, yeah, sure, whatever." Scarlett nods at me and comes back in with my clothes.

Annoyingly, she stays as I get dressed. "Look, a last piece of advice, if you want Judy to survive here, stay away from Harry."

"You're completely insane! Look, I'll stay away from Zion if it will keep you off my back, but I am not buying into your crazy conspiracy theories."

Scarlett sighs and turns to leave, "I'm trying to help you! Get a guy to love you or you will not last long here!" she said, and with a last flick of her long blonde hair, she left. I returned to my room feeling very disgruntled. I fell into an uneasy sleep wondering just what the hell I'd gotten myself into here.

Xxx

Hey guys~ So, I came to a realisation, and that is that Scarlett is called Scarlett because she has red eyes - I just feel that that needed to be mentioned.

And my editor had some funny things to say about the guys, I feel like I need to share them:

In reference to Eugene, "Why does he never wear the mask properly? It's pissing me off!"

And in reference to Zion, "His gloves make me uncomfortable," and also, "Why would you name your child Zion? Zion is the name you give a baby before you drop it."

Also in reference to Zugene, Zion x Eugene, I've realised that in the cover pic Zion is wearing a mask. Coincidence? I think not! Zugene confirmed - officially canon.