It's been a while, my patients! Sorry for the holdup, but I had the cursed writers block. Since it's out of the way now, however, this one should be pretty long! Enjoy!

As you can guess, I was pretty shocked that calm, layed-back Greg was related to Professor Sparrow, who seemed like a horrible human being. I was also pretty shocked that Greg hasn't told me. Then again, I couldn't really blame him. It must be a sore subject to talk about how your step-mom's grandfather was the person who created this horrible place. And then locked you up inside of it.

I went through the rest of the day like I normally did, except for the fact that I couldn't stop thinking about this Greg thing.

At dinner, I set on the edge of the table farthest from Greg. He obviously noticed this, of course.

"Hey Seph, you okay?" he asked, a concerned look on his face.

"Yeah, you've been acting weird all morning," Patty said, frowning.

"I'm fine," I muttered, poking at my spaghetti with my plastic fork.

"It's obvious you aren't. The Persephone I've learned to know would devour that spaghetti." Greg pointed to my still-full plate. "What's wrong?"

"I'd rather talk about it in private, Greg. Without Patty."

Patty's eyebrows raised . "You aren't talking about anything without me," she stated, like that was a fact. "I'm your best friend."

"Patty-"

Patty shook her head. "I won't tell a soul." She raised her right hand as if she was taking an oath.

I realised there was no getting rid of her, so we walked to the quiz room, which was mostly empty during dinner. I turned to Greg and crossed my arms. "About Luke..."

Greg's eyes widened in surprise. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, uh, I meant to tell you about that."

Patty narrowed her eyebrows. "Who's Luke?"

Greg put his hands in his pockets. "Great-grandson of Professor Sparrow. Next in line to take over the asylum. He's the guy who sits at a different table every day."

Patty groaned. "Man, I hate that guy."

Greg coughed. "He's also my stepbrother."

She started at Greg with wide eyes. "Are you serious? You? Related to that jerkwad? Hah. Very funny."

"Come on Greg. Tell us the truth about
Luke."

Greg sighed. "My mom died a few years ago, and my dad married Sparrow's granddaughter. They had a kid. I hate him. He hates me. That's pretty much all the is to it. So there." He scowled and walked away. Great. Only been here for less than a month, and I've already lost one of my only two friends.

Patty saw the look on my face. "Hey, cheer up. He'll come around. How about we check out the TV wing?" I nodded silently and followed her.

The corridor she led me to had multiple doors. One had a ladybug and a cat. Another had a DW on it. Near the end, I saw a pony on one of the doors. Patty headed towards the door with the ladybug. I could faintly hear music on the other side.

"Miraculous, the luckiest, the power of Love always so strong!"

I walked through the door and was immediately confused. First, there were girls with red masks and jumpsuits with black spots. Ladybug jumpsuits, I guess. The boys were dressed in black, using belts for tails and had fake cat ears in their hair. They were fighting with yoyos and staffs.

I was slightly envious when I saw they had their own little playground. There were high surfaces to leap from, and monkey bars, where people were using their yoyos to swing from them (unsuccessfully, I may add). They even had a little butterfly garden, with purple and white butterflies filling the air.

A girl with long blonde hair in double ponytails wakes over to me. She, too, was wearing the ladybug outfit, but also had the PJO pen in her hair.

"Hey!" she said, boring a loose strand of hair out of her face. "Nice seeing you again Patty! And you must be Persephone? Are you really named after the goddess, or is it a nickname? I've always wanted a nickname, but the closest I've gotten to was- oh, sorry. I tend to go off topic sometimes. I'm Clover Brooks." She reached her hand out, and I shook it.

"Nice to meet you Clover." I looked around the room. "So what fandom is this?"

Covers eyes lit up at the mention of her fandom. "This is the miraculous fandom. It's all about superheroes and a super complicated love square and Hawk Moth who's trying to take over Paris and-"

"Hold up, Clove," Party interrupted. "This girl needs something to take her mind off of losing a friend. Can you help with that?"

"Oh yeah. Now just come this way, and stare directly into the screen..."

---

A few hours later, I was feeling better. I want thinking about Greg and my guilt every ten seconds. I was thinking about how weird that show was.

As soon as I saw him in the hallway, though, all my feelings resurfaced.

His curly red hair was covered by a Yankees ball cap, and his eyes wouldn't meet mine. I knew he was probably still upset about Luke.

"Greg, I'm sorry. I knew it would be a sore subject for you, but I asked anyways, and I'm a horrible friend for that, and I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

Greg sighed. "Fine. I'll forgive you. But can we not talk about.. him? It brings up bad memories." I nodded, and he smiled. It was a warm and gentle smile, and I wondered why I didn't notice it before. And his eyes. His eyes, his dark brown eyes, they were stunning.

I don't know how long we stood there in the hallway, gazing into each other's eyes. It was like I was caught in a spell, a spell where I couldn't look away, couldn't move, couldn't speak.

Greg was the first to break contact. "So, since we're cool again, you wanna go go read some books?"

I smiled. "Sounds great." He smiled back and grabbed my hand gently. I mentally squealed. And as he led me toward the library, part of me wished he wouldn't ever let go.

Wow! That was long. Over 1000 words! Sorry if it seems a bit sloppy, but.... Yeah. Peace!