Jon Jasper did not consider himself a lonely man as much as he considered himself a man who preferred solitude. He knew he was far from alone when it came to enjoying time to one's self more so than spending time with others, but he most of the people he knew were not people who carried the same sentiment.

Of course, this meant that there were always people who pushed to get to know him and pushed to talk to him. He always did his best to ignore and pass by any of these conversations, but sometimes it was impossible to escape. Sometimes it happened whether he wanted it to or not.

As the chorus teacher, Jon had a connection with the other arts teachers regardless of if he wished to create one. Mr. Criss, the drama teacher, tended to stick around him far too often. He always seemed to have some new story at his lips, ready to share it with Mr. Jasper. Somehow he never realized that Mr. Jasper would rather have him keep it to himself.

But, at least for the moment, he would keep telling his stories of previous days, standing beside the chorus teacher's desk.

"You should've seen Rosa's mother, back in the day," Mr. Criss said. "You should've known her. She was just as wonderful as her daughter is in all sorts of ways."

"Of course she was," Mr. Jasper said, continuing to shuffle through his stacks of music.

"Practically every boy in town wanted to date Isabel, but in the end Eric ended up winning out. And so the rest of us were left to watch as they became the area's childhood sweethearts and ended up leaving this all behind for a while, just for them to have Rosa return."

"I'm guessing that you were one of the boys who wanted to date her?" Mr. Jasper said. He had little desire to keep this conversation running, but he couldn't avoid everything that Mr. Criss was doing and saying. He would simply have to stay there and listen to whatever fell from the drama teacher's mouth.

"Well, yes, I thought that would be pretty obvious," Mr. Criss said, letting out a laugh. "So did Alex Greggs - that's Rosa's guardian, Mr. Greggs, of course. Guess he was the closest to being Rosa's father as he could be. I know he was good friends with Rosa's father the whole time..."

"Of course."

"It's kind of odd to think about how much has happened in and around Cloisterham and just how little has changed overall. Isabel and Eric went here, and now their daughter is here too. Most of the teachers went to Cloisterham, too - I went here. I know you didn't, but I guess you're the exception to prove the rule."

"Well, my nibling goes here," Mr. Jasper said. "I have at least them to keep me locked in to Cloisterham. And yes, very little has changed here. Almost nothing has changed since I've arrived. I think I would've noticed if something was different."

Despite the obvious boredom in Mr. Jasper's voice, Mr. Criss couldn't help but push on with his own revalations.

"Maybe that's the reason why everyone thinks it's kind of dull here in terms of new information - everyone here has been here forever, and so it's rare to find anything different," he said.

"I've been here less than three years. I still think it's pretty dull here," Mr. Jasper explained. "It doesn't seem to be something that's unique to the people who have been here forever."

"Well," Mr. Criss said, somewhat shocked by this response. If he had paid more attention to Mr. Jasper during the conversation, this would not have been such a surprise. But, of course, if he paid more attention the conversation would have ended far sooner.

"Well," he repeated. "At least you have to admit that being new here does give you a different experience than those who have Cloisterham running through the family."

"Yeah, I guess so," Mr. Jasper replied, somewhat pleased that Mr. Criss was at least trying to move the conversation along in one way or another.

"I feel almost guilty for bringing the Lanka twins here."

"Oh, do you? Why would that be?" Mr. Jasper said, still focused on his paperwork.

"Well, they're the most interesting thing currently at Cloisterham Academy now. Everyone is going to be focused on them and them alone. They're destined to be the subject of scrutiny, and it's all because they're new here. If they'd been here forever, no one would care. But they're brand new, and suddenly everything's a mess."

"Doesn't seem like much of a mess to me," Mr. Jasper said. "If their life was really so bad before they came to Cloisterham, then Cloisterham should seem like a godsend. They shouldn't be upset about it. What's a few rumors compared to whatever they've been through before?"

"These are very vicious rumors, Mr. Jasper," Mr. Criss replied. "I mean, I've never heard anything like it around Cloisterham. I shouldn't be surprised, I guess, but everything I've heard said about them is terrible..."

"It'll fade away soon, I'm sure."

"I'm sure. But, anyways, I was telling you about Rosa's mother. Oh, Isabel. Everyone was somewhat relieved when she finally ended up dating Eric, you see - before that point everyone was wondering who she was going to go for. Of course I hoped it would be me, but...well, you know."

"I know."

"And when they ended up going to the same college, everyone thought that they might break apart. At least they had a chance because they were still together, but there were still those of us who hoped..."

"Seems like you didn't hope quite hard enough," Mr. Jasper mumbled under his breath, hoping that Mr. Criss wouldn't hear quite what he'd said.

"But then the two of them got married soon after their years of college were done. Rosa came soon after, and it seemed like the two of them were living the dream. It came as quite a shock when the riptide came along and ended up drowning Mrs. Burgos...and I don't think it affected anyone the way that it affected Eric."

"If my wife died, I think I would be rather affected as well," Mr. Jasper said.

"Well, of course - but thank God Rosa had a nanny. She would've been neglected when that father of hers got drunk night after night...it must've been horrible for her. And everyone knows he still cared about his daughter, it was just that he might never recover from his wife's death..."

"And then Mr. Burgos died," Mr. Jasper said, finishing off the story before it could continue to wind on.

"As well as Elliot's dad, of course. That was one of the greatest tragedies we'd ever seen. Both Rosa and Elliot orphaned at such a young age...but now you've seen how far they've come."

Mr. Criss shook his head before continuing. "You probably didn't think you'd end up having to be a guardian at such a young age. How old were you when you took Elliot in?"

"I was twenty five," Mr. Jasper sighed. "Before then Elliot had been under the care of my parents, and then I stepped in."

"Twenty five," Mr. Criss echoed. "And that was, what, ten years ago?"

"Nine."

"So much has happened," Mr. Criss continued. "Seems almost like Rosa and Elliot are going through the same thing as their parents. Sort of. At least Rosa seems to be attracting a lot of attention from-"

Mr. Jasper slammed down his pen, effectively ending the conversation. He hadn't intended the action to be quite so violent, but as it managed to shut Mr. Criss up he couldn't say he regretted it. He didn't want to hear about the hordes of students who adored Rosa, who would chase after her.

"Excuse me," Mr. Jasper said. "I think I have some matters to attend to...elsewhere. I need to go speak to Durham."

"Oh, Durham?" Mr. Criss replied, amused by this news. "What do you need the janitor for? Are you planning to have a confetti cannon at your chorus concert?"

"No," Mr. Jasper said. Refusing to divulge any more about what he was going to, Mr. Jasper collected his things and began to leave. He didn't want to stick around Mr. Criss and his endless speaking for any longer than he needed to. Sometimes the drama teacher was bearable, but this was not one of those times.

He'd acted on a whim by saying he was going to speak to Durham - although it was something he'd considered doing for quite a while, he hadn't set a certain time to do anything about it until that particular moment. He knew he needed to leave the conversation and so he did.

Mr. Jasper didn't want to hear a year by year recount of what had happened to the Burgos family, but it was given to him anyways. At least he could move away from it and towards something more interesting. All he could hope for now was that he could get something out of Durham.

"Durham," Mr. Jasper called out as soon as he set his gaze upon the janitor. "I need to talk to you."

"Oh, Mr. Jasper!" Durham said, allowing his deep southern drawl to come out. He stretched the chorus teacher's last name into three separate syllables, somehow - instead of Jasper, it became Jay-es-per. Mr. Jasper decided not to let it bother him, but the slight discomfort it caused him settled within the back of his mind.

"Yes, yes, I have a favor to ask you," Mr. Jasper said. "I want to know if you could, perhaps, show me around the grounds of the school."

"Thought you would have too much to do. You have classes, don't you? You've gotta teach the classes, it's your job, just as janitor is mine."

"Not during the school day," Mr. Jasper continued. "I want to go around the school at night. Whereever you feel you can take me, I want you to take me there."

"And why would you want to go skipping around Cloisterham at night? It's the same as in the day, just darker."

"I don't get to see Cloisterham in the day," Mr. Jasper replied. "I'm stuck in my chorus classroom. I thought that at night I would have greater freedom to look around and see all that there is to see."

"Well, alright then," Durham replied. "Still don't see the great reason why you'd want to go, but..."

Mr. Jasper sucked in a deep breath, closing his eyes. He didn't enjoy how Durham seemed to be making fun of him for everything he did. He just wished to see Cloisterham. He just wanted to know Cloisterham, to know there was something more than the boredom he'd become accustomed to.

"I just want to know more about the school. I've been here three years, while most teachers have been around here since they were students."

"Yeah, funny how many of the teachers decided Cloisterham was the perfect place for them even though they were students here ages ago. It is an interesting school when you get to see it, I guess."

"It's strange to think about how much the school I know almost nothing about, all because I've been cooped up in one building the whole time. And in that building I really only see my own room. Occassionally I'll get out to the auditorium, but other than that..."

"Sounds like it must get kind of boring up in there," Durham replied. "Don't know if I could deal with living like that."

"I'm not so sure I can," Mr. Jasper said, releasing a sigh. It was boring. It was utterly horrible and made him feel as if he would go mad. But that wasn't something he cared to share with Durham. Before Durham coud pick up any of what he had mumbled, Mr. Jasper spoke up again.

"Well, I'll see you later tonight. Thank you for this, Durham."

"Don't see what harm it'll do, so you're welcome," Durham replied. "Bye for now, Mr. Jasper."

He walked off, somewhat glad he was out of the conversation. He could move out of it all now that Durham had officially said goodbye to him. Though the Cloisterham day would go by as eventless as it always did, at least he had something to look forward to. And he wouldn't have to deal with any sort of tormenting from Durham or anyone else.

But as he began his trek back to the arts building, back to the chorus room, he had to pass through the grass field where many students chose to eat their lunch. Most of them wouldn't notice him (and thankfully so), but there were a few within the masses that he ended up looking at.

Rosa was right there, right out of his grasp as usual - it was almost impressive how she managed to elude him in the same manner whether it be in real life or in opium-induced dreams. She didn't notice that he was anywhere near (which was most likely a good thing, whether he cared to admit it to himself or not).

Instead of paying attention to him, she chattered on with one of the girls from chorus class. It wasn't one of her good friends, he knew, just someone who hung about her just as most people in Cloisterham seemed to. She attracted people time and time again but there were only a few who stayed.

...and that brought a new thought to Mr. Jasper's mind. If Rosa was sitting over there, then where was Elliot? The two tended to spend all of their time together, and he wouldn't have expected them to separate from one another. Soon, however, a voice from behind him gave him an answer.

"Uncle Jon? What are you doing around here? Thought you never left the chorus room."

"Usually I don't, but I decided to change that today," Jon Jasper replied, turning around and somewhat shaken by the sudden appearance of his nibling. "I decided I was sick of being bored and stuck within the arts hallway."

"So you decided to stay in Cloisterham, just not in that building."

"Well, yes. I haven't actually seen much of Cloisterham Academy, not the way you have, at least. You get to see far more of it than I do each and every day."

"Let me save you the pain, Uncle - it's not that interesting." Elliot released a sigh. "It might be interesting the first time, but then you'll just get bored of it the same way that every single student here has."

"Thank you for letting me know, but I'm sure there are things to be found that I will find interesting. Pretty much anything outside of that chorus room is a welcome change...and, on a different note, it's probably a good thing I ran into you."

"Well, Uncle, if we're going to be technical, I ran into you. Not the other way around, of course," Elliot said, a smile pushing up the corners of their lips.

"You're right, Elliot," Jon admitted. "But it doesn't matter because we've managed to find a moment to speak to one another. I need to speak with you about Rosa-"

"Did Mr. Greggs talk to you too?" Elliot asked. "I mean, he just popped in the other day and more or less told me that Rosa wants to go off on her own world tour or something like that."

"Have you talked to Rosa about that at all?" Jon asked. "I mean, you two have been planning to go off together for quite a long time. You would pursue photography, and she..."

"...and she wouldn't have anything to do except stand beside me as we went off to see everything."

"But it sounds like the kind of thing she would like," Jon said. "She would get to see the entire room in a very comfortable way and then go off to all sorts of places as long as you were taking pictures there..."

"Have you even met Rosa?" Elliot said, letting out a laugh. "She wants to do whatever she wants to do. And she doesn't want to stand there beside me while I'm taking pictures. If anything, she wants to be in those pictures."

"Well, yes, but-"

"But nothing," Elliot finished. "She probably isn't going to come with me on my big trip around the world for photography. She probably isn't going to stick around with me much at all after our time at Cloisterham Academy is done."

"Do you really think that's what will happen?" Jon asked. "You think she's...she's going to leave you behind?"

Elliot paused for a moment before asking, partially to gather their thoughts and partially to attempt to decipher why their uncle seemed so engrossed in this situation. It barely had a thing to do with Jon Jasper, and yet...

"Leave me behind? Last time I checked, I'm the one who's planning to fly around the world and take pictures of whatever I please. I don't know where she'll be, but..."

"You don't think she's going to be with you."

"Probably not," Elliot admitted. "And I'm not going to force her to do come along with me, especially because it seems like she doesn't want to."

"Do you think she's going to break up with you?"

At this, however, Elliot seemed rather alarmed by their uncle's questions.

"I don't...I don't know. I don't know what she's planning to do. I guess there's always the chance, but..."

"But what?"

"Never mind," Elliot replied. "I should probably head over to her right now, actually. Bye, Uncle Jon."

"Goodbye, Elliot."

Jon walked away from the conversation, unsure of what had just happened. He chose not to ponder it, however. He would much rather move past it, as he had something to look forward to that night. He would just wait, wait as he always had.

- - - - -

Mr. Jasper began his journey out of the arts building after his tedious day of paperwork and classes and planning for more of the same thing the next day. He worked for so long that the sun had already disappeared beyond the horizon and twilight set into the skies surrounding Cloisterham.

Mr. Jasper expected that the area would be clear - the students would most likely be off in the surrounding city area or stuck in their dorms or a library doing homework. At first, that was how it seemed. But as he continued walking on to find Durham, he found that there was still someone who remained.

"Watch out!"

It was the voice of a child, paired along with the sudden appearance of a stone streaking across the sky. Whoever it was didn't sound old enough to be at a high school, but they were most certainly there anyways. And, apparently, they were throwing stones about everywhere.

The stone landed just inches away from where Mr. Jasper was. So this child who wasn't already supposed to be there was aiming stones at teachers? He picked the stone up, turned it around in his hand, and then looked around for who had been the one to toss it in the first place.

"What are you doing here?" he barked upon seeing the child who threw the rock. "You shouldn't be here, and you most certainly should not be throwing stones at teachers. Do you know what you could've done? Do you know how much trouble you could get into?"

"Sorry, sir, I thought you were someone else!"

"Who around here would you be throwing stones at?" Mr. Jasper said, gritting his teeth. "Is this a normal thing you do?"

He continued to move towards the child, eventually realizing that it was a young girl who had been tossing the stones. She had a sour pout on her lips and another stone clutched within her small fingers. As he continued to move toward her, it seemed as if she might try to throw it at him.

"I do it because he tells me to, but-"

"Someone tells you to hurl rocks at them?"

Before Mr. Jasper could get close enough to the girl to perhaps seize the stone within her hand, he heard a voice from behind which stopped him in his tracks.

"Deputy, what are you doing?" asked Durham.

"Deputy?" Mr. Jasper echoed. "You know this...this child?"

"Yeah, she's Mrs. Rice's daughter. The math teacher."

"Not math!" the girl snapped, crossing her arms as she stomped over to see both Mr. Jasper and Durham better. "English. She teaches English here."

"How old is she?" Mr. Jasper asked.

"I'm nine years old and I go to Evergreen. I'll be coming in here in just a few years, just you wait!"

"But what are you doing here now, Deputy?" Durham asked. "I didn't ask you to be here to night."

"What are you doing here?" Deputy responded, tilting her head. "It's the middle of the night."

"It's only seven o'clock, Deputy," Durham sighed. "And you shouldn't be around here right now."

"You say that every time," Deputy replied. "I thought I was supposed to be your helper. What does it matter if it's nighttime? If I want to be here then I'm going to be here. It's not even dark yet!"

"I didn't ask you to be my helper today," Durham said. "So you're going to have to go."

"I don't believe you."

"Not asking you to believe me, Deputy. I'm asking you to head off and come back another day."

"And I'll need the stones?"

"You'll need the stones."

Although Deputy didn't seem too pleased about this particular arrangement, at least it was better than thinking she wouldn't be able to do anything at all. Just later. She crossed her arms and then turned away, humming a taunting song under her breath. Obviously she was not the sort to say goodbye when she was angry.

"I'm glad we got rid of her," Mr. Jasper muttered as soon as she was out of earshot.

Durham brought his shoulders into a shrug. "I don't mind her. She does help sometimes."

"Well, she shouldn't be scampering around Cloisterham in the night! Why do her parents let her do that?"

"Somehow I don't think they have much of a choice," Durham replied. "You saw how Deputy is - she doesn't listen to anyone, not really."

"Then she'll fit right in here at Cloisterham," Mr. Jasper said.

Mr. Jasper, however, didn't find that his mood improved much as the night went on. The twilight faded away into pure darkness of night where only a few pinpricks of light appeared in the sky. He toured around the school, seeing the deserted buildings and wondering why so many people felt the place was so wonderful. It was boring. It was horrible. It was driving him mad.

Although he attempted not to let this disappointment show too much, he couldn't help but feel incredibly sour as he followed Durham around. This was meant to be the one thing which would help pull him into a better part of his life, give him something to look forward to at Cloisterham.

At the very least, Mr. Jasper realized something about himself - Cloisterham Academy would never be enough for him. There would always be things he loathed and it wouldn't get more fascinating. Perhaps he should never have come. But he didn't know how he could leave, not with Elliot and Rosa keeping him there.

He was stuck.