Silence.

"Have a good day honey." My aunt squeezed my arm and smiled sweetly, we sat in the school parking lot in her car with the heat blowing in our faces. She promised I wouldn't have to go today.
"Mhmm, will do. Service with a smile." I said sarcastically faking a smile.
"Olive." That wasn't good, she always calls me Live, unless she's upset and or angry with me. "There's no need to get snippy-"
"It's not snippy, it's sarcasmn. Look it up." I grabbed my bag stepped out of the car and slammed the door. I heard the whiz of the automatic window roll down.
"Live! get back here!"
"Love you too Veronica!" I smiled and blew her a kiss then walked through the breezy doors of the school. People stared at me and gawked, I could practically hear what they were thinking, "why isn't she committed yet? the crazy girl's back. Lock up your valuables!" I made my way to my locker in silence not stopping and chatting with anyone, I ignored the stares and the whsipers and took my punishment. I twisted my combination into my lock and swung my locker door open, my two best friends Keeley and Ivy skipped up cheerfully. Either they hadn't heard what happened or they were making it seem like they hadn't. I shoved my bag and coat into the locker then slammed the door, they're silence was annoying, almost as annoying as Keeley's non stop jabbering.
"Have you heard or not?" I whispered finally. They exchanged looks then sighed and nodded. Ivy put her hand on my shoulder and adjusted her bag.
"Yeah, we heard. By now I'm sure almost the whole town has-"
I put my hand in the air with my palm towards her face, "not helping."
"Want to tell us what really happened?" Keeley asked moving in front of me. I nodded and I lead them to the computer lab. No one was in their this early and we could get our privacy. We grabbed three chairs and formed a little circle.
"My mom died two months ago."
"Yeah, we know. You told us." Keeley replied, she didn't want to hear things she's heard sevral times before, I waved her off an continued.
"People thought it strange that I hadn't acted any different, rebelled or anything-"
"You? Rebell?! HA!" Keeley grabbed her stomach laughing. Ivy hit her and I returned to my story.
"Any who. People thought that, that was wierd, Ihadn't acted rashley or anything. It seemed like they wanted me to, were expecting it or something. So I decided that if they were expecting crazy or rebelious teenage girl that I'd give it to them," I pulled my long brown hair around my shoulder and continued, "you know that store in the mall, the HUGE makeup store?" They nodded. "So me and Nikkita went in there and were browsing and checking out make up for a while. Then I guess the store people got suspicious and we didn't notice, we grabbed a handfull of eyeshadow and eyeliner and pocketed it then made a break for it. I felt so stupid too, cause I saw the store person in the aisle trying to be discreat constantly looking over at us, but I still did it. I still put the stuff in my pockets and ran for the door. As soon as the guy put his hands on our shoulders I screamed and Nikkita blamed it on me. I didn't notice but I turned before her to go out, and I guess she emptied her pockets because she saw the store person, I wasn't as smart though. So I'm getting charges pressed against me and she's not because she sadi it was "all my idea" and I "forced" and "threatened" her to take the stuff. She was crying when the police officers were interogating us. I couldn't stop laughing because that crazy bitch deserved everything I got. It wasn't my idea even. Well it was partly my idea, but still!
So they asked me a question about my mom and they hadn't gotten crazy yet so I gave it to them," I took a deep breath and smiled admirering my work, "I was screaming and crying saying I still saw her and she was still with me and she was standing right beside me saying that their acusations were bullshit and they should let me go. They didn't believe me. So I started screaming some more, that's when my aunt burst through the door saying I'd been through horrifying traumatic events and they couldn't ask me questions like that under these cirrcumstances and they let me go. But Veronica hasn't said anything about it yet. So, it's not good." I was finally finished explaining my story.
"Wow, people were way off." Ivy finally spit out.
"Oh well, now they have a new story to digest." Keeley smiled wiping her cell phone out of her purse. My eyes came almost halfway out of my head I'm sure because Ivy gave me the strangest look. I gasped and grabbed Keeley's phone and looked at her.
"Wtf?! Give it back!" Keeley shrieked, wrinkles creasing her forehead.
"No! Your just spreading another story around the school! Your just as bad as Nikkita!" I stood up and so did Keeley, she bent down to grab her purse and I made my break running through the doorway and down the hall with my best friend's cellphone in hand. Keeley was screaming at me and I was dodging her hits, being tiny had it's advantages. She hit me and I screamed. I was screaming and running through the hallways with my friend chasing after me, maybe I was the crazy girl.
"Olive! Give it back you bitch!" I doged another hit and screamed again. This was fun. I ran up a flight of stairs and ran into a thin dark curly haired woman with green eyes like mine. Mom. I screamed a bloodcurdling scream that ran through the halls and up the stair wells. I backed up a step and mom came forward, I screamed again, then slipped and fell backwards down the stairs crumpling on the landing in a heap. The woman that looked like mom bent down and looked at me worridley.
"Honey? Olive? Are you ok?! what happened?!" Her voice echoed through the hallways but no one looked at her, they were looking at the crazy girl in the corner screaming and crying holding a cell phone so tight the bone over her knuckles turned white.
"Your not real!" I screamed in the woman's face. "You died !" She inched closer and put her hand towards me and I screamed even louder.
"What are you talk-"
"Shut up! Your not real! Go away!" I was crying harder and harder every second choking and coughing wih every breath. A staff member ran up and touched my arm, Mr. Beckett, he put his arm straight through mom.
"What the hell?!" Her image flickered and then she disappeared. I was freaking. Mr. Beckett, Keeley, Ivy and several other staff members were holding me down. I was shaking and crying. Every couple seconds I thought of her and would scream again. Someone pinned my arm back and I thrashed against them and screamed louder. More then half the school was watching, taking pictures, videos.
"Call her mom!" Someone screamed from the crowd. It had to be a joke. They were kidding, she was dead. Everyone knew that. Ivy shook her head and screamed louder then anyone to call my aunt and father. Something pricked my skin and I cried out in pain.

"Olive?!" Veronica was at my side in seconds as my eyes fluttered open. "Honey? Are you ok?" She whispered suddenly.
"Mhmm," I nodded slowly.
"Good, good. Dave, go close the door you idiot." My father nodded then came over and hugged me. He stepped back immediatley, as if I were contagious and he didn't want to catch my bug. I looked around the room. I was at the hospital. Why? I scratched my head. My hair was disheveled and out of place, there was a bandage wrapped around my head and bandages everywhere.
"What happened to me?" I asked suddenly, worried. Aunt Veronica exchanged a glance with my father who shook his head. She rolled her eyes and looked at me.
"You were running down the hall with Keeley's phone, you ran up the stairs and saw something that..... spooked you. And you fell." I nodded it wasn't something that spooked me. I saw my dead mother, the one who had been gone for two and a half months now. That wasn't spooky, that was unexplainable and illogical and... terrifying. I nodded only because Veronica was waiting for a response.
"Honey? Your going to a..... group home, for a couple of weeks, just because they need to run tests, and see if your ok. Alright?"
"Well, do I have a choice?" I was perched on my elbows glaring at my father who was texting rapidly and ignoring us.
"Uhmm, not really." Her expression made me want to cry. I wanted to scream, she was heartbroken and disapointed. Well, they got their freakin meltdown, much better then the fake one I gave them I'm sure. I looked in the corner away from my aunt who was now crying and saw my mother yet again, also crying. I shook my head and blinked several times. She was still there.
"No! Go AWAY!" I Screamed crying and thrashing climbing to the top of the bed, something faintly brushed my arm but it didn't feel right. I peeked down and I saw the palest hand ever brushing my arm. I followed the hand and looked into her eyes. It was mom, no question about it. I screamed and then the nurses and doctors came in pinning me to the bed as I screamed and kicked and I felt the familiar pinch of a needle going into my skin, and I was asleep, somewhere far away.


Aunt Veronica was staring at me while I opened my eyes. I inhaled, the smell of her car flooding through me.
"What?" I snapped finally, she looked hurt. I hoped she was. Why was she making me do this?! I wasn't insane!
"I'm going to miss you honey." She said, blinking back tears. I nodded one stiff nod.
I inhaled again, "how long will I be here?"
"Two weeks. Five at the most." She said the last part quietly and I nodded again. Welcome to my personal Hell. I opened her car door grabbed my bags and walked slowly up to the door. I looked nack at my aunt and she motioned for me to knock. I did as she wanted. The door swung open after 15 seconds.
"Olive! We've been waiting!" A woman wearing loose fitting jeans and a baggy t-shirt whisked me along. The clothing she was wearing didn't fit her figure. Her apron swayed as she walked through the house with me. Her curly grey hair got into her eyes and she pushed it behind her ears.
"My name is Ms. Rose by the way." She said adjusting her apron again. "The other kids are out shopping with Ms. Logan. They'll be back later. We want to make you feel comfortable here. So we're giving you space. You can set things up in your room and then it will be time for lunch and the other kids will be back." I nodded and Ms. Rose escorted me up to my new room. It looked like any other room. Except it had two beds, same comforters, same sheets, same pillows. The same dressers, mirrors and bedside tables. It looked like one half of the room was staring at itself in a mirror. I opened my dresser drawer and shoved my clothing inside, shirts on top, then underwear and bras and socks, then pants then nightwear. I reached the bottum of the bag and found the hair dye I'd gotten for my birthday. Purple. I stared at the box, i wanted to use it. I glanced down at the other box I had boughten. Blonde. I was going to have fun here. The door suddenly swung open and I shrieked slightly.
"Hey, I'm Avery." I nodded and zipped my bag up. She gasped really focusing on my face. I looked down at my feet.
"What happened to you?!" She asked worridely.
"Nothing."
"That doesn't look like nothing." Avery walked over and leaned on my dresser staring at me. I looked at her straight on.
"I tripped and fell down the stairs at school." I finally said feeling the back of my head. She nodded slowly.
"Are you ok?" I nodded and shoved my bag under my bed.
"It's time for lunch." She said slipping something into her dresser drawer. "We need to be down there in five minutes." I nodded yet again and she slipped outside. I glanced in the mirror looking at my scratches. There wasn't to many and they weren't that bad. I had only two on my face that were really bad. I shrugged and made my way to the dining room. There were 8 kids there. 4 boys and 5 girls, not including me. I found Avery and sat with her. We had pizza, juice boxes and fries for lunch. Two boys looked at me and smiled. "Hey, thanks for coming today, I did not want the casarolle we were going to have. Blech." He stuck his toungue and returned to his lunch. The other boy was still staring at me.
"Hey, I'm Zayne."
"I'm Olive."
"Hi Olive." I grimaced.
"Call me Live. Please."
"Live. Ok." He nodded and took a bite of pizza. Avery engaged me in conversation about how many kids there were, apperently by tomorrow there would only be six of us. Rory, one of the girls was going home with her parents, and Brady, was a high risk and wasn't right for the home. A girl with shoulder length dark auburn hair and piercing blue eyes stared at me and smiled, she looked nice. Normal. Why was she here?
"Hey, I'm Rory." She said smiling sweetly.
"Hi, I'm Live." I munched on my pizza and took a swig of my pop. Bleecch! it was Diet pop, it was disgusting. I quickly stood up and went to the recycling bin to discard of the piece of disgustingness.
"Don't like Diet?" Zayne asked quietly, staring straight at me. I shook my head rapidly. I wanted the taste out of mouth. He chuckled quietly.
"Here, come with me, I'll get you some real pop." I smiled happily and hopped out of my seat following him into the pantry. As I rounded the corner I tripped over my shoelace and landed in Zaynes arms.
"Clumsy?" He asked very quietly.
I blushed deeply. "Just a little." He stood me up right and I brushed myself off.
"Ladies first." Zayne said smiling opening the pantry door for me. We walked in and I coughed, Zayne covered my mouth telling me to be quiet. I nodded and he slipped into the back and pulled out two Pepsi cans.
"Oh my god, your my new favourite person ever !"
"Haha, good. But sshh." He smiled and we snuck back out to the dining room. I took my spot beside Avery and we resumed conversation as I sipped my Pepsi I noticed Zayne staring at me sveral times, and I liked it. I stared back, hoping he didn't notice.

"So after lunch we-"
"Zaynes nice." I said cutting Avery off as we walked into our room. I flopped onto my bed and looked through my books I'd placed on my bedside table.
"Do you like him?!" Avery shot across the room and wa sitting on the edge of my bed staring at me. She wanted gossip, she was craved for gossip.
"Uhmm, no. I don't know him. I just met him a half hour ago and we barley talked." Avery nodded taking in my denial. She wasn't convinced at all.
"I don't! I swear on my life !"
"Mhmm." She stood up and returned to sorting her underwear. I picked up a book and took my ipod out. Time to relax, I could start to like Avery quite a bit, she was nice and didn't press me when I didn't want to go on about things.

I woke with the sun slanted at an awkward angle in the sky, shinging through the window but hardly. I looked around sitting up now and my book slid down my chest and clattered onto the floor, I ripped my earphones out and called for Avery. She pbviousley wasn't in the room. I stood up and went to my dresser. I wanted to change into yoga pants and a baggy t-shirt. I changed throwing my other clothes into the proper drawers, then I spun around and screamed. I backed against the wall and mom came straight up to me.
"Sssh! Honey! Stop screaming, they'll come up here."
"B-b-b-but, your dead mom! I can't believe I'm even seeing you right now! I mean, I'm probably not. I'm hallucinating, or this is a dream." I looked in the mirror slapped myself closed my eyes and reopened them. She was still there.
"Baby, I know I am. But you are seeing me, I'm a-"
"Do not say ghost."
"I'm a ghost." She said shrugging sitting down on Avery's bed. She didn't move the blanket, and there was no indacation she was even there. If Avery came up and sat where she was, mom would vanish and Avery would be taking her spot. I shook my head groaned and rubbed my temples. This was just a nightmare. It had to be.
"Baby, it's ok. But remember when you were little and you saw shadows, or things fell off the counter or things moved? It turned out to be ghosts. Who would have thunk it eh?" She smiled the smile that I found so comforting and I had the urge to hug her and cry into her shoulders, but I was afraid that if I rouched her she'd disppear again.
"What? I see..... ghosts? But wait, why are you here? Shouldn't you be in like, heaven or something like that? Don't ghosts go to heaven when they die?"
"The good ones yes."
"Your not good?"
"Oh no, I am. I need to go a little later though. They aren't letting me in because I need to help you. You need to help spirits cross over honey." She stood and was reeching out for me, no, no, no. This was a dream, she wasn't real! I felt her cold touch that wan't hers, an aliens. It was cold and transparent. I shrieked as she touched my face. I stared at her, she looked like she was going to cry.
"I-I'm sorry, but, this can't be real. I love you." I shook my head and the door opened. They didn't believe in knocking here?
"Olive? Are you ok? We heard, you. You sounded scared." What had they heard?!
"What did you hear?!"
"We heard you scream." I sighed and fell against the wall, they hadn't heard me talking to myslef. Good. If they had I would have been out of here and somewhere else right away. Ms. Rose escorted me to the rec. room where Zayne, Avery, Rory a girl named Isabella and Blake were. Isabella was sitting next to Zayne, not touching but almost. She was that kind of girl. Didn't matter who the boy was or where he was, she needed a boy to like her or a boy to like and be with at all times. Blake was cute, but not as cute as Zayne, she showed absolutly no interest for him at all, which wa sad. As I sat down on the lazy boy Isabella glared at me, her glossy black hair framed her face perfectly, not a strand out of place. For a second her eyes looked red, terrifying. She looked away finally and smiled at Zayne, she tried starting a conversation, and rubbing his arm (showing me he was her territory and to back off no doubt) but he showed no interest and dove off the couch and into the other recliner that was facing mine. He started a lenghty conversation with me about music and movies and books, I couldn't help noticing Isabella's eyes on me the whole time. I rubbed my temples again and Zayne slipped into the pantry returning with two tyleonols and a glass of water.
"Headache?"
"Yeah." I replied taking the pills and water glass happily. Isabella stood finally, she was wearing sweat pants that were chopped off and were now very short shorts. If she bent down you could see her underwear, Brady gawked as she bent to pick up her phone she dropped. Zayne looked away horrified. I could tell that he didn't mind it, but not with her. Probably any other girl that did that he'd stare, but not Isabella. Just by looking at him I could see the distaste he had for her. Zayne stood up and motioned for me to come play pool with him.
"I don't know how to play." I admitted once he handed me the stick thingy.
"I'll teach you," he said smiling widley. I was ok with that, Isabella looked over at us from the computer, she obviousley didn't like me very much. I squirmed away from her stare as Zayne wrapped his arms around me and hit the Q ball presicly knocking in one of the balls. I smiled happily and Ms. Rose walked in annoucning that it was time for supper. Everyone left the rec. room. Isabella and I were the only two left, I picked my sweater up from the recliner then I felt something push against my windpipe and my breath escape in a lame attempt at a scream. Isabella had me pinned against the wall away from the dining rooms so no one could see. I squirmed and thrashed against her hold and winced as she pushed harder.
"Listen "Olive" Zayne is mine and you need to back off. Your a just a little girl that he'll like for two weeks then run off to the next. You go it? Stay away from him, he doesn't like you, he likes me " She released me and I crumpled to the floor catching my breath. She flipped her hair and spun around heading for the dining room.
"Listen Bella he obviousley does not like you at all. Your just a girl that's fallen for him. You just need a boy to like, doesn't matter who just any boy-"
"Shut up, you have no clue what your talking about. I have a boyfriend."
"Then you don't need Zayne. And I don't like him I've known him for two hours. Get over yourself Isabella." I pushed passed her and she grabbed my shoulder HARD throwing me onto the couch.
"Your just a little damsel in distress thats to dumb to do anything for herself, you are a dumb little girl. I'm tougher and smarter then you. Leave Zayne alone you little flirt." She spun around fixing her hair and skipped into the dining room. I was not a dumb little girl. I was a straight A student for god's sake. But I'd show her how much of a flirt I could be. I quickly ate dinner then was excused to go to my room. I ran up and took my suitecase out grabbed the boxes of hair dye and a pair of scissors then tip toed to the washroom. I'd cut people's hair before and I'd done my own, it wouldn't be to hard. I cut my hair to just above my shoulders and cut my bangs so the were on my forehead instead of sideswipe. I took my shirt off then applied the blonde hair dye and waited. Once it was all out I added purple streaks and I stared in the mirror. I didn't look the same, I looked like one of the girls from the covers of magazines. I smiled the tossed the boxes and rant o the room. I dug throught the remaining contents of my bag and found the sparkly eyeliner I wanted, I applied it perfectly staring at one of Aery's teen magazines. Now, I was a dumb little girl. I heard video games downstairs and I knew everyone was in the rec. room. I made my way down the stairs dumping into Avery.
"Holy crap! Olive! You look amazing!"
"Thanks," I said smiling sweetly. I walked into the rec. room and sat down in the same recliner I had earlier and wiped my i pod out before I had the headphones in Zayne, Brady, Blake, Cale, Isabella, Olivia and Rory were staring.
"Your hair is amazing!" Rory finally said breaking the silence.
"Thanks Rory, I'm glad you like it!" I said smacking my lips then flipping through the songs. Someone tapped my shoulder and I looked up Zayne was smiling a breathtaking smile and I pulled my ear buds out.
"Why'd you dye your hair?"
"Dunno, time for a change. I thought I was a little plain, now it's more... flirty." I said staring at Isabella who was giving me the death glare, I giggled and returned to my conversation with Zayne.
"Your still the smart brunette you were ten minutes ago. Don't forget that." He said narrowing his eyes. Why did I do this to my hair?! Zayne obviousley liked it though. That was good. I smiled then put my head phones in my ears and cranked the volume.


The week passed without incident. Zayne and I grew closer and closer. Ms. Rose and Ms. Logan made me feel like one of the other kids. Like I'd been here for months. They handed me a chore list and decided that I'd go get Avery to help me with the laundry. We decended into the laundry room and started sorting piles. Everyone had their names on EVERYTHING. I guess Isabella didn't want Cale wearing her underwear. I giggled to myself quietly.
Avery noticed and gave me a confused look.
"Well, I noticed the names on people's clothing and stuff. What if they didn't have that? And what if brady ended up wearing.... this?" I asked still giggiling holding up a very skimpy thong that belonged to Isabella. Avery laughed and said that, that would be hilarious, except he wouldn't know which side would go where.
"People are saying you see ghosts." Avery spit out after we sorted half of the laundry. I looked up holding a shirt that belonged to Olivia.
"Who said that?" I asked after several seconds of silence. I threw the shirt into the coloured pile and moved onto the next.
"Uhmm... Isabella. But is it true? I won't tell any-"
"I don't know. I said cutting her off mid sentance.
"But it could be?"
"Maybe, that's what I got sent here for. Want to know what really happened?"
"Uhmm, duuuuh!" I smiled as she threw a pair of underwear in the coloured pile.
"Ok, so I told my friends Keeley and Ivy why I was in trouble and why people were saying I was insane-"
"Why were people saying you were insane?"
"Er, because I stole some makeup from a store and they caught me, then I started freaking out saying I saw my mom, who's been dead for two months, in the interogation room. They were holding me down but I was screaming and cring and stuff so they let me go. So after I told my friends that, Keeley took her cell phone out and was going to spread yet another thing about me around the whole school. So I grabbed her phone and took off down the hall. She chased me and I ran up the stairs, I made it to the top one but froze because I saw my mom. I mean, I actually did see her. I tried to get away from her but slipped and tumbled down the stairs. So that's it."
"Hmm. You haven't seen ghosts before that?"
I inhaled deeply, "maybe, I'm not to sure. I've seen things moving and stuff. And last night when everybody was in the rec. room my mom showed up again, she told me that she needed my help to cross her over, same with other spirits. But I really didn't sign up for that. She also told me that, I had seen ghosts before, I just didn't know what they were." I threw more laundry in the baskets then stood up and put a load in the washing machine then sat down and sorted more socks.
"Well, that is amazignly cool!" Avery shrieked shooting up faster then I thought even possible. I gawked at her and she waved it off. "You have to help them cross over! Especially your mom! I'll help! We nee-"
"I don't want to though! Ghosts aren't real! And I only got locked up in here because I might have seen one! I don't want to stay longer then I have to. I'm getting as soon as possible. Without any ghosts." I stood up and turned to get the basket I left on tp of the washing machine. I gasped and fell back into the pile.
"What is it?" Avery asked shooting to my side holding my arm.
"M-m-m-my mom."
"Honey," mom pleaded, she stood beside me and bent down and storked my cheek, "please don't be afraid. I need your help, your the only one who can help me."
"But, your dead!"
"Baaaaaaby! Please!"
"Prove that your my mother." I spit out at last. She nodded happily.
"When you were five, for Halloween Alyson, my best friend since I was 10 made you a Sailor Moon costume. Just as we were about to leave someone knocked on the door and you opened it and held the candy bowl out for them. It was a little boy wearing a Tuxedo Mask Costume. You absolutley FREAKED you were so happy."
"Bahaha! You were adorable!" Avery shrieked. "Hey, I'm Avery. Olive's cell mate."
Mom gasped. "Cell mate?!"
"I'm locked up in acrazy house mom."
"What? Why?"
"Because I saw you at school and flipped."
"Well get Veronica on the phone right now."
"She's the one that dropped me off."
"What?! We'll deal with that later. Avery? You can see me ?"
Avery inahled and nodded with a smile. "Sure can, well, sort of. I can hear you clearly I just can't see you very well. Your image is flickering."
"Oh, I see. That's because Live has inherated it from her father. She's able to see and hea them, while your father or mother could probably only hear the ghosts."
"Yeah, I think so. My mom was always freaked out of going to sleep by herself because she heard things." Mom nodded and returned to me.
"Baby, if you see me anymore don't scream ok? You'll be in here longer fi you do. And you have a meeting with a shrink today." HEr face wrinkled and she stuck her toungue out, then started laughing. "You do realize your laying on top of dirty underwear, right?"
"Oh! eeww! Gross! No! Uuuggghh! Eewww!" I shot of the ground and flew through the air. Through mom. Her image wavered and she flickered then became a normal image again. "A-a-a-are, you ok mom?" I crawled to her image and stuck my hand through her stomach, she giggled and rolled on the floor.
"Ahahahaha! Stooooopp! I'm gonna pee!" We giggled and finished the laundry, mom told us stories from when she was our age and passed the time with us. I didn't want her to leave. I'd feel the same. Alone.
"Girls? Are you almost done down there?" Ms. Rose asked coming down the satirs.
"Bye mom," I whispered as she disappeared, "yeah Ms. Rose, we were just coming up." We put the last of the clean laundry into the baskets and climbed the stairs. Ms. Rose was waiting at the top.
"You girls were down here so long you didn't have time to finish your other chores." Ms. Logan scolded coming up behind Ms. Rose, Ms. Rose spun around and shooed her off.
"You didn't have time to do them, but that's alright. Olive, it's only your first week here so we're giving you and Avery a break because she was helping you. Next time, be more cautious with your time." She smiled sweetly and scurried off to the kitchen. We burst out laughing, we only did laundry for the first half hour, the rest of the time we talked to mom, she actually had helped me. If Ms. Rose actually knew what we were doing we'd be comitted for sure. We brought the laundry to our room and started sorting people's piles. Something hit my head and I spun around to see a pair of boxers laying on the ground. I rooled my eyes and placed them in Zayne's pile. Avery giggled to herself and kept sorting.

"Hey," Zayne smiled as he bumped into me on the way down for breakfast. I quickly rubbed sleep from my eyes and smiled back, happy I had time to visit the bathroom and brush my teeth before breakfast.
"Hiya." His grin grew and he pushed back a strand of hair that fell from behind my ear.
"So how do you like the home?"
"Meh, it's no mansion, but I think it's pretty damn amazing."
Zayne gawked, "you lived in a mansion?"
I giggled. "Haha, no. But I am now." He blushed and I patted his hot cheek. We were stopped in front of the boy's washroom and he motioned towards it.
"See you at the table." He rolled his eyes and sauntered through the door. I smiled and skipped to the dining room thresh-hold.
"--to nice, and waaaaaaay to cheery. She can't leave Zayne alone either! it's sick! like a little lost puppy or something." Isabella was venting to Avery, about ME!
"Uhmm, you didn't have dibs on him. He's a boy, and he doesn't belong to you. He doesn't like you. And she's not overly cheery. Get over yourself Isabella." I smiled in satisfaction. Isabella looked shocked, the person she'd known for months had turned on her for the new girl she'd known for a week. I walked through the door and took my spot next to Avery. I heard Isabella mutter something like "prep" or "naive", I rolled my eyes and started talking with Avery. I felt something brush my back and looked behind me it was Zayne. He'd left a note on me. Avery took it off and handed it to me without even hesitating to read it. Keeley would have in a second. I smiled and slipped out of my chair and stood against the wall to read it.

Rec. room in five new girl. I smiled at his messy scrawl and dashed to my room to stuff the note under my matress so I'd have something to do to keep me distracted. I absent-mindedly rearanged things on my dresser then glanced at the clock. Finally! I dove down the stairs and into the rec. room.
"See? Lost puppy!" Isabella cried. I ignored her and settled down into the recliner. I smelled waffles, eggs and toast wafting into the room. I hoped Zayne would hurry up!
"Here you go." Zayne smiled handing me a plate. "Ms. Rose said you and I could eat in here today."
"Sweet." I munched on my toast and Zayne sipped on his OJ. The silence was getting annoying, all we did was listen to eachother's chewing. If Isabella saw she'd laugh and poke fun, but really, listening to eahcother chew was better then having someone hate you. Zayne finished off his juice and wiped his upper lip with the back of his hand. Zayne and I became great friends throughout the week and were laughing and talking and giggling, making jokes at eachother. But today, something was... wrong.
I scooched over to the couch and looked at Zayne, setting my plate onto the table. I took a swig of my juice and looked him straight in the eye. He set his plate on the table and scooched closer to me. I looked at the tiniest gap between our legs ever. I could feel heat radiating off of his leg.
"What's wrong Zayne?"
"My roomie, Austyn. You've met him right?" I realized he was waiting for a response so I nodded quickly. "Anyway, he's... he's planning an escape fo us."
"What? An escape?"
"Yeah, we're sick of it here. Tossing meds down our throats we don't actually need, chores that employees should be doing, bull shit shrinks-"
"Yeah, earlier I totally lied about this being better then a mansion. I hate it here." He smiled and closed the gap between our legs.
"We're leaving in two weeks, I don't think I can take it though. Waiting that long I mean. But Austyn has everything figured out, where we're going and how much money I'll need-"
"Wait, you'll need?"
"He's not coming with."
"Why not?"
"He likes it here, I think it's just cause Isabella though." He rolled his eyes and I pretended to gag. We laughed and he continued on, he was leaving in two weeks. By himself. He would find alley's and cheap motels to sleep in when things got really bad. But he needed out, he was getting worse by taking their meds. They weren't helping. Apperently, one kid named Sadie who was in here two months before I was here, took their meds without thinking, never asking questions, just going with the regular routine, she took her pills after dinner like they ordered, next morning, never woke up. I shivered involentarily. Zayne smiled and wrapped his arms around mem I rested my head on his shoulder and we talked on lighter subjects of music movies and books. One of the books he'd read was my favourite Identical and he said it was on his top 5 list. I snorted.
"You have a top five list?"
"Haha, I was hoping to avoid total geek-dome, but yes." I pulled my head from his shoulder and touched his cheek.
"Total geek-dome we passed a while back bud." He blushed and my head returned to his shoulder. It felt nice having a boy to chat with and flirt with. I hoped he liked it to. After at least a half hour cuddled on the couch just talking about our personal lives I worked up the nerves to ask him.
"I'm coming with you." It came out a statement. That's not at all what I wanted. "I mean, only if you want." I retorted pulling my head away to look at him.
"Of course! I want you to come, I was going to ask you but I thought you wouldn't want to-"
"Of course I do, don't be silly. I'm not letting you go off on your own." His smiled was huuuge, and his brown eyes were glittery. He grabbed my hands and squeezed them. Our faces moved closer and closer, I could feel his hot breath on my face, a strand of hair fell down and he smoothed it back coming closer still. Finally, his lips touched mine and my hands knotted in his hair. We heard a gasp from the doorway and we both spun to see who it was. Isabella's eyes were turning red, tears were flowing down er cheeks, but the scariest thing was her eyes. Blood red, the tears were turning the same colour as well. She spun and stomped down the hall.
"Isabella!" I cried jumping up, Zayne grabbed my hand and I told him to wait. I raced down the hall and up the stairs, Isabella's door slammed shut. I knocked politley and entered.
"Isabella, are you alright?"
"I told you to stay away from him!" She spat, venom in her words so vicious and mean it made me want to run back to Zayne. But I couldn't do that just yet. I would make sure to see him later though.
"You don't own him Isabella, he didn't want oyu." I wasn't making the situation any better as more tears were streaming down her face. I stepped forward hand outstreched and sha slapped it away.
"I'm trying to make it better Isabella! You don't need to be a cow about it." I muttered more quietly under my breath. She spun around her eyes still red.
"What did you just say?"
"Your being an unnessacary jerk about this. I'm sorry I kissed him but-"
"But what?! Little Olive prannes in here and suddenly all of the guys want her instead of me . Do you know how that makes me feel?"
"Pretty shitty?" I guessed backing away as she came closer. I put my hands behind my back grasping the doorknob ready to run if anything else happened.
"Yes. Every guy here wanted me except for Zayne. That was the boy I wanted, had my eye on. Then you show up and everyone's focusing on you, including Zayne. It wouldn't be so bad if Zayne didn't have his eye on you, but no, he likes you." She gestured towards me. "Your nothing special." SHe spit the words out, and waled towards her bed.
"Look, I'm really sorry. But yeah-" I cut myself off and turned twisting the doorknob, I wanted to get back to where I was with Zayne. Hands grabbed my shoulders flinging me back against the wall. I cried out in pain. Why wasn't anyone coming?! Were these walls sound proof? I pated the wall climbing up. They were sound proof. Not mine and Avery's, but Isabella's. Maybe she was more violent. There was only one bed in this room. No one shared it with her. She had her own bathroom too. I shot up and raced for the door. She grabbed my stomach throwing me to the floor grasping a huge clump of my hair in her hands. I closed my eyes and wimpered as she pulled and tugged. Something strange touched my face. Mom! I opened my eyes and she was there.
"Honey, do as I say." I nodded and Isabella looked confused. "Bring your knee up so it hits her. Do it hard and fast. GO!" I rammed my knee into her backside and flipped up and off the ground.
"What the hell?" Isabella looked angrier, she didn't like to lose. She was on the opposite side of the room, coming at me. I gasped and reached for the door, I slipped out and closed it just as I heard a thump aganst it. I took a deep breath and mom apperead. She gave me hug and kissed my cheek. It didn't feel the same, it felt like an alien. It was foreign and I didn't like it. She smiled and I ran back down to the media room. Zayne's back was to the door. I jogged in and slid across the rug landing on my butt. He turned and gasped once he saw me.
"Are... are you ok?!"
"Uhmm, I don't no. Do I look ok?"
"Your bleeding."
"That bitch !" I gasped touching my face. He was kneeling beside me hands on my shoulders helping me up.
"Oh, you've done enough." I heard a female voice snap at the doorway. I spun to see Isabella standing there. Her eyes were back to her normal colour but the rage was still there. "You know how I felt about you! And you obviousley have some feelings for me."
Zayne snorted. "Your delusinal Isabella. I've never had feelings for you, your just-"
"Oh shut up!" She flew through the air aiming herslef at Zayne. He chuckled and layed down on top of me. I gasped as air flew out of my lungs. Isabella hit the floor and snarled. Zayne kept laughing. He pecked my cheek and stood up.
"Isabella, calm down. Not every boy needs to like you." He winked and escorted her out of the room. He sighed putting his head down, I stood and made way over to him. His eyes were closed and I placed my hands on his shoulders, he collapsed against the wall and his eyes opened slowly to look at me. I could see the look in his eyes. He regreted something, hopefully not kissing me. I bit my bottum lip an dhe turned his face to better look at me.
"Don't you dare think I regret doing that." I shrugged and repositioned my gaze to the floor. He scooped my chin up and looked into my eyes. "I don't. I promise. I-I'm sorry, I didn't think she'd see, and if she did I didn't think she'd react that way-"
I cut him off. "Hey," I wrapped my arms around him, "it's ok. I'm a big girl." He smiled and kissed my cheek then his room-mate Austin entered the room. We seperated and I flew onto the couch and sipped my juice. Zayne occupied himself with a book and Austin positioned himself at the comptuter. I glanced his way.
"Mind not creeping my facebook?" He snapped. I hadn't realized he'd seen me. Zayne blushed as I rolled my eyes and slipped past him up to my room.


A folded piece of paper slipped under the door at, what seemed like fiur in the morning. Someone knocked and I waited for the shuffling of footsteps leading down the hallway.
"Is that a no?" I sighed and dovefor the door ignoring the note completly. I opened the door and stepped out into the hall. Zayne was smiling widley.
"How are you?" He asked pinning me against the door. I gasped and my heart started pounding so loud I was sure he could hear it. He leaned in closer and my cheeks went hot, Zayne chuckled but kept moving closer. His lips finally made contact. I gasped as they moved faster and faster, it was a needy kiss. Like we'd both been waiting for eachother for a long time. My hands were wrapped around his neck and his hands were knotting thmselves into my hair. I hopped up and wrapped my legs around his waist. We stopped suddenly. THere were footsteps coming down the hallway.
"See you in the morning." Zayne winked and dashed down the hallway into his room. I sighed and quickly went to my bed. Avery rolled over onto her side facing me.
"Wow."
"Huh?" I asked pretending to wipe sleep from my eyes.
"I knew you were kissing. I'm not retarded." She winked, then the door creeked open and we layed falt on our backs. Ms. Logan slipped through the door. She had a flashlight in hand and went straight to my dresser. Both me and Avery were watching this, she couldn't tell though. Avery smiled then shut her eyes tight, wimpered then rolled over again. She was facing Ms. Logan who was now frozen at my open dresser.
"Avery?" I asked quietly, again pretending to rub sleep from my eyes.
"Yeah Live?"
"Did you hear something?" I was propped up on one elbow looking at Avery but carefull glancing at Ms. Logan every couple seconds.
"Yeah, I did hear something actually."
"Hmm, let's go take a look." She nodded and we slipped out of bed. I put my slippers on and saw Ms. Logan slip down beside the dresser hiding. We walked out of the room and dashed down to Zayne's room. I knocked quickly then heard footsteps. I didn't wait. I slipped through the door to see Zayne coming to the door wearing plaid boxers. No shirt. He was muscley, and had a very nice chest. His brown hair was disheveled and his smile was amazingly breath-taking.
"Hey," he said smiling bigger. Avery coughed once. "What's up?"
"Ms. Logan is in our room looking through my dresser." His eyes grew bigger and his smile faded.
"Austin!" Zayne groaned then flew onto Austin's bed.
"What the hell do you want man?!" Austin shrieked as he fel onto the floor.
"Ms. Logan is breaking into the girls room!"
"She did that to us too. Come on." We smiled as we made our way to our room.
"I didn't find anything Avery."
"Huh, neither did I."
"Wierd." Zayne coughed. We entered the room and Ms. Logan gasped.
"Ms. Logan?!" I shrieked. "What are you doing in here?"
"N-nothing. I thought I dropped something when I was in here earlier cleaning." Avery laughed, she looked like she was about to pee her pants.
"You've never cleaned this room!" She sneezed and shuved something into her pocket.
"Give it back." Zayne and Austyn said stepping in front of me and Avery. Ms. Logan rolled her eyes and slipped out fo the room, something clattered to the floor as she made her way to her own room. I dashed out and saw something sparkly on the floor. My mothers dimond braclett. I gasped and clutched tightly.
"That bitch!" I breathed angrily. I put the braclett on then waited for Avery and Austin to leave and go to bed. "Thanks for helping." I smiled at Zayne then kissed his cheek lighlty and went back to bed.