Carolina laid in bed, but she couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned, awaken by nightmares each time she even managed to doze off for a minute or two. Unable to take it anymore, she reached for alcohol in a flask at the side of the bed, drinking, trying to drink just enough to put her to sleep, but realized that her flask only had a few sips left in the container. She sighed, tossing the flask aside, knowing that wasn't enough to put her to sleep. She kept seeing the mugging in her head, seeing Noah shot and killed, hearing the gunshots from both his and Bullet's deaths, seeing the men that beat her down and tried to use her for their entertainment.

Carolina tried to force the images and sounds out of her mind, standing, walking toward her desk, grabbing a zippo lighter from a ceramic bowl, looking at it numbly, and reached for another bowl, but remembered that she didn't have any 'stash' left. "Damn it."

Carolina walked toward her bed, sitting down with the lighter, opening it, flicking the flame on, watching the flame for a long moment. She shook her head, blowing the lighter out, standing, walking toward the jacket on her dresser that Georgia gave her, pulling it on, putting the lighter in her pocket. She sat down, pulling on some black biker booties. She didn't bother with getting dressed for real, still in her comfy black pajamas as she walked toward her window, opening it, and began planning how she would use it to climb down and sneak out not just tonight but other times too.

✯

Also being unable to sleep, Georgia was outside, watering plants while also drinking a glass of wine, when she heard a window open, she peaked around the house to see Carolina climbing out of her window and climbing down, jumping down. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Carolina jumped, turning to look at Georgia. "Shit."

Georgia smirked. "Shit is right. Looking for somewhere in town to get a new stash?"

Carolina looked to the side, busted. "Uh..."

They heard Marcus in the direction of his house, clearly not wanting to get caught sneaking in.

Georgia got an idea, pointing at Carolina. "You stay right there."

Georgia chased after Marcus.

Carolina frowned in confusion. "What the hell are you doing?"

Georgia called out to Marcus in a hushed tone. "Hey, kid."

Marcus stopped, turning to face Georgia. "Who are you?"

"My kids and I just moved in across the street," Georgia told him. "I hear you have bud." Carolina walked closer to hear the words, raising her eyebrows in shock. "My daughter and I can't sleep. That would really help out right now." Marcus was stunned, noticing Carolina across the street. "Say something. You got bud or not?" Marcus dug around in his pocket, taking some out, handing it to Georgia. "Thanks, kid."

Georgia smiled, running off.

"It's Marcus," Marcus corrected, watching as Georgia ran over to Carolina.

"Don't do drugs, Marcus!" Georgia called back, running over to her daughter.

"Pot, meet kettle," Carolina told her.

"Yeah, well, I have a delinquent daughter who can't sleep without this or booze to put her to sleep, and a willingness to go out in a town she doesn't know at night just to get some," Georgia replied. "Better you do it with me than with some small-town low life."

Carolina knew that Georgia was trying to help her out, laughing once, smiling a bit, biting her lip. "Thanks, Mom."

Georgia smiled, wrapping her arm around Carolina, leading her back to the house. Carolina glanced back at Marcus across the street, seeing that he was gazing at them curiously. Marcus laughed, shaking his head before returning to his own home.

✯

The first day of school.

Ginny was nervous about trying to make new friends and fit in, however Carolina was nervous about something a lot more serious and concerning.

Caro was worried about whether or not she would have anger bursts or emotional episodes or panic attacks at school and risk everyone at school calling her the crazy one... again.

These things happened since the night of the mugging. Since the night Noah and Bullet died. Carolina couldn't control it. But she was hoping that it wouldn't happen here, because Georgia made it clear she wanted them to be there for a while. Whether or not they would be there for a while or not remained to be seen, but Caro didn't want to risk blowing everything up for herself, or her family. Knowing that her actions or episodes could reflect on her family.

Carolina was walking through the school hallways, listening to Halsey's Nightmare through headphones to tune out the crowd of students, hoping to use music to keep herself calm throughout the first day.

"I / I keep a record of the wreckage of my life / I gotta recognize the weapon in my mind / They talk shit, but I love it every time / And I realize / I've tasted blood and it is sweet / I've had the rug pulled beneath my feet / I've trusted lies and trusted men / Broke down and put myself back together again / Stared in the mirror and punched it to shatters / Collected the pieces and picked out a dagger / I've pinched my skin in between my two fingers / And wished I could cut some parts off with some scissors / Come on, little lady, give us a smile / No, I ain't got nothing to smile about / I got no one to smile for / I waited a while for / A moment to say I don't owe you a goddamn thing / I'm no sweet dream, but I'm a hell of a night / No, I won't smile, but I'll show you my teeth / And I'ma let you speak if you just let me breathe / I've been polite, but won't be caught dead / Letting a man tell me what I should do in my bed / Keep my exes in check in my basement / 'Cause kindness is weakness, or worse, you're complacent / I could be play nice or I could be a bully / I'm tired and angry but somebody should be. / Someone like me can be a real nightmare, completely aware / But I'd rather be a real nightmare than die unaware / I'm glad to be a real nightmare, so save me your prayers."

Ginny walked by Carolina, seeing she was zoned out with music and reading a book, poking her in the shoulder to get her attention. "Come on, we got to class. Can't be late to class on first day."

Carolina turned the music off. "Whatever."

✯

Ginny and Carolina were in their first period class, AP English.

The teacher, Mr. Gitten, was one that would cause them enough problems throughout the year. "Virginia, Carolina, I should warn you. We keep a, uh, rigorous pace in AP English. The AP students take this very seriously. So, if my class proves to be too much for you, I suggest you do yourselves a favor and move down to regular English, okay? I'd hate to see you bite off more than you could chew."

"Do yourself a favor, Mitten, and don't underestimate us," Carolina replied.

Ginny gave Carolina a look.

Gitten narrowed his eyes at them, but continued on. "It's Gitten." Carolina nodded, obviously not caring. "Uh, we cover all the greats. Steinbeck, Salinger, Miller, Homer, Fitzgerald, Shakespeare, of course. Um, 16 books total. Okay?"

"It's Ginny," Ginny told him. They walked away toward their seats. "We're living in a Crest commercial."

Carolina scoffed a chuckle. "You're telling me."

Ginny turned to face Carolina. "And what was the 'Mitten' for? You know his name."

"Yeah, and I don't care," Carolina replied. "If I could, I would say Shitten to his face."

"Please don't," Ginny told her.

Carolina shrugged. They sat down. Ginny was sitting next to the brunette girl in a pink jacket, Maxine Baker.

Gitten spoke to the class. "Welcome back, AP English. Hiding in the back there, you will find our new students, Carolina and Virginia Miller. I trust you will make them feel welcome."

"It's Ginny," Ginny said softly.

Gitten started to pass out papers. "I know it's our first day back from summer vacation, but I thought it was an excellent opportunity for a pop quiz. Those of you who didn't do the summer reading of 'The Crucible' are in for a world of pain. Uh, Carolina, Virginia, don't worry. I don't expect you two to have read it." Carolina raised her eyebrows, looking over the list that Gitten gave her and Ginny, turning her head to look at Ginny, giving her a fake smile as she raised her hand. "Oh, you have a question?"

Carolina lowered her hand. "There are 16 books on this syllabus."

"Yes," Gitten agreed. "Like I said, you can always drop down--"

"I won't be dropping down to anything, since I've already read most of them," Carolina replied.

"14 of them are written by men, 15 were written by white people, and I'm willing to make a guess that the one black author will crop up in the syllabus just in time for Black History Month," Ginny told him. "Am I right?"

"Excuse me?" Gitten asked.

"I'm very serious about my education, Mr. Gitten," Ginny told him. "I'm worried I might internalize an ideology that the main viewpoint, the viewpoint worth studying in class, the viewpoint of the 'greats', is only that of the white male, thus eradicating my voice as immaterial. Not just mine, but Carolina's too."

Max smiled, pressing her lips together, impressed. Nearby, her friend Hunter Chen was smiling, looking at Gitten.

"And like I said, I've read most of these just over the last two summers," Carolina told him. "Not everyone is allergic to the written pages as you seemed to make us out to be. I'm worried I won't be stimulated intellectually." There was snickering across the class. "And I've also read 'The Crucible', and I'm confident I can take the pop quiz today."

"So am I," Ginny agreed.

Everyone was speechless with impressed awe, some of the students trying not to laugh.

"Are you two quite through?" Gitten asked.

"No," Ginny answered. She leaned forward against her desk with a smug smile, elbows propped up on her desk so she could put her chin on her hands which propped up her head. "Please call me Ginny."

"Carolina, Ginny, I don't know how things were done at your last school, but here, we don't tolerate political outbursts and grandstanding at the expense of your peers' class time," Gitten told them. Max raised her hand. "Yes, Maxine?"

Max lowered her hand. "Hi. I'm, like, also super concerned about my subconscious digestion of the superiority of the white male perspective. And also, I have period cramps, so can I go to the nurse?"

Max smiled, tilting her head. Students were chuckling.

Gitten glared between the three girls. "Okay, that's it. For the rest of the class, we will be silent and take the pop quiz. It's worth 10% of your first semester grade."

Max looked at Carolina and Ginny with a smile, applauding them slightly.

Carolina smirked. Ginny smiled.

Carolina leaned toward Ginny to whisper to her. "So I thought you wanted us to keep a low profile? You didn't help with that."

"You started it," Ginny replied. "And shut up."

Carolina smiled, leaning away. Carolina and Ginny exchanged a pleased look, smirking.

✯

Carolina was at her locker, closing it.

Marcus was on the other side of the locker, leaning against it. "You're new, right? Just moved in across the street?"

Carolina raised her eyebrows. "Shouldn't you already know the answer to that? My mom asked you for weed last night."

Marcus chuckled. "Right. What kind of Mom smokes with her daughter?"

"A badass one," Carolina answered.

Marcus chuckled, pointing down the hallway. "I was heading that way. Where you headed?"

"Third period class," Carolina answered. "Geometry."

"That's my third period too," Marcus told her, pointing behind him. "That way."

Carolina tilted her head. "If it's that way, why were you going the other way?"

Marcus shrugged. "I was gonna skip."

Carolina nodded sarcastically. "Uh-huh. Knew you would be a bad influence."

"Like you aren't?" Marcus replied. "I told you I was planning to skip third period on the first day of school and you didn't say anything about it."

Carolina smirked. "Touché."

Max and Ginny walked closer.

"Marcus, be gone," Max told him.

Marcus rolled his eyes, before looking at Carolina. "See you around, neighbor. Let me know if you or your mom need weed again."

"That's probably gonna be likely," Carolina admitted.

Marcus smirked, giving Carolina a salute, before turning around and walking away.

Ginny and Max turned to Carolina.

Ginny looked at Carolina. "Hey, you okay?"

Carolina sighed, rolling her eyes. "Fine."

"Sorry about Marcus," Max told her. "He's an asshole."

Ginny watched Marcus go. "Looks like it."

"Yeah," Max agreed. "He's my twin brother."

Ginny regretted what she said. "Oh, I'm sorry--"

"No, I'm sorry," Max told them. "I should've strangled him with my umbilical cord in the womb and done humanity a solid." Max and Ginny started to walk away. Carolina frowned, raising her eyebrows. "Are you coming?"

"Come on, Max said she could introduce us to her friends," Ginny told her.

Carolina considered for a moment but decided to go with them.

"So where are you from?" Max asked.

"A lot of places, but most recently Texas," Carolina answered.

"Texas," Max repeated. "That's so exotic. Are you two straight?"

"What?" Ginny asked.

"You know, like, gay, straight, them/they?" Max asked. "Do they even let you be gay in Texas?"

"Um, I'm straight," Ginny answered.

"So am I, but I'm not interested in anybody right now," Carolina told them.

Max threw her head back in complaint as she led them around a corner into another hallway. "Ugh. That's such a bummer. There are no good gays here." She led them into the cafeteria. "You are going to love my friends, okay?" She pointed them all out. "So that's Norah, that's Jordan, that's Brodie, that's Hunter, that's Press, and this is Abby." They all waved, except for Press, and Carolina was lost on the names because Max was talking too fast. "Guys, this is Ginny and Carolina. They are my new neighbors. They're from Texas. And I'm in love with them, so you need to worship them and be nice."

Ginny smiled nervously. "Um, howdy."

Max sighed dreamily. "Howdy. God!" Max and Ginny sat at the table with the others, while Carolina sat on the table behind her away from them. "I love southern accents. You know, I feel like you could say the nastiest shit, and it would still sound all sweet and charming like you were offering me lemonade, you know? Like..." Max imitated a southern accent aggressively. "I'll cut your face!" Ginny's eyes widened. Carolina raised her eyebrows skeptically, weirded out. "See? It's still charming. Max stood, reaching toward Ginny and Carolina with either hand. "And your skin is flawless. Do you jade roll?"

Ginny moved her head away.

Carolina leaned back, giving her a look. "Hey."

Max pulled her hands back. "Oh, sorry. Is that like when white girls touch black girls' hair? Look, if I'm being a dick, it's just because we have more Starbucks than black people." Carolina was getting more and more annoyed, looking away. "So why'd you move to Wellsbury?"

"Um, our stepdad died," Ginny answered. Max, startled, knelt down to look in their eyes. "Oh, it's fine."

"Well, how did he die?" Max asked.

Carolina looked like she had other suspicions about this but kept them to herself. "Um... car accident. Well, heart attack, then car accident."

"That's horrible," Max told them. She stood, sitting across from Ginny at the table. "Was anyone else hurt? Was he on the highway? Was he on a motorcycle? I saw the most gruesome motorcycle accident one time. This guy's arm was literally four lanes away from the rest of him. Know what? My stupid idiot twin, he's probably gonna end up the exact same way. Right? Because he just bought a motorcycle, which is more pathetic than it sounds because our birthday is not even until December, which is when he could even ride the damn thing. And by that point, the roads will be all icy. He'll probably just die immediately, you know?"

Carolina took a deep breath like she was trying to tune her out when things took a turn for the darker.

"Chill, Max," Hunter told her, checking Ginny out, smiling, eating a chip.

Ginny noticed Hunter looking at her and tried to hide a smile.

Carolina saw Press looking at her but ignored his look completely.

Max realized she was going overboard. "Oh! I didn't mean to, like, bring up painful memories for you. It's just, I really love all that gruesome shit, you know? I'm so morbid. I've seen every episode of SVU, and I only listen to podcasts about girls like me getting brutally murdered."

That was more than enough to push Carolina over her limit of sticking around.

Carolina stood. "You know, I'm just gonna go."

Ginny looked concerned. "Caro, wait."

"No, I just need to bathroom," Carolina told her, walking away.

The others all watched her go, frowning.

Max frowned. "What'd I say?" Ginny sighed in frustration, shaking her head. "Do you want some yogurt?"

Ginny tried to speak. "Uh--"

"You know what?" Max asked. "You're right. The food here is crap. Let's sneak off campus and get some tacos." She stood. "Come. Seriously."

Ginny exchanged a look with Hunter before getting up.

Carolina really just wanted to be alone, and Ginny knew that. She would try to talk to her alone later.