Amalthea Desolee Roerig's Story

Cor had managed to calm herself quite a bit during the last couple of hours, surprisingly. If she had to be honest, she had no clue how she had managed it, because she had been right there on the edge, about to blow. And then this entire place would most likely be rubbles with everyone buried underneath it right now. But nope, Cor had toned it down. Though… admittedly it had only gotten worse with Sky, because even though the guy used to turn her on so easily, it just hadn’t been working. Or, it had at first, her anger fueling it all, but then, her thoughts had started spinning, her silly mind flashing to Jay. Images of him smiling at her, memories of more loving banter they often shared, his captivating eyes drawing her in every time he looked at her in earnest and told her he loved her. And so, Cor had gotten distracted and upset. Resulting in her leaving a Sky she had gotten pretty riled up. Normally Cor wouldn’t give a shit about that, but it was Sky, and she did sorta feel guilty for leaving him in that situation. No one liked to be worked up and then be left alone. She sure as hell didn’t.

Fortunately she’d apologized to him before leaving, so she only hoped it wouldn’t be a further issue, because she sure as hell wasn’t explaining herself to him. She wasn’t telling anyone about the way Jay took up her heart, her mind and her entire world. Because though she and Sky had a pretty good thing going, Jay was a weakness and one wrong word in the wrong ear… well. Cor didn’t even want to think of what Amber would do with that information. Of course, Jay had obviously spilled the beans to Lulu, and someone else had probably heard the following, pretty loud exchanged. She’d be surprised if not, honestly. So the fact that they had had a thing was almost certainly out there for everyone to see. Nothing she could do about that. In fact, she could only snort at it, finding it a little entertaining. Back at Noctrem, when Jay had wanted to keep them a secret, Cor had not told a soul about them. Not one. Now, here at Arcana, when Cor wanted them kept a secret, he went and decided to tell the most annoying bitch in the freaking building. It’d at least be understandable if the two were actually friends or anything like that, but no. He had chosen Lulu purely piss her off. That much she knew.

So… she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. She’d told him the two of them were over; that she was done with him, and she’s meant it. Yep, no second thoughts. None at all. She was completely fine with never kissing him again… never touching him again… never hearing his deep, sexy voice telling her how much he loved her again. She sighed to herself, looking into the mirror. She had locked herself in the bathroom, warning Ashy not to even touch the damn door. That was the only upside to living with that little Arcana blonde; she was easy to control. Cor didn’t have to beat her into submission, or issue a warning every time she wanted the girl to do something. Nope. The girl was frightened enough to not question her even once. Cor’s slender fingers were gripping the sink as she pondered her situation. She was calm, or at least enough to not ruin the mood of the party. Besides, if she wanted to take advantage of Max, she couldn’t exactly go around being a total emotional wrecking ball. Being an empath, she was pretty sure the handsome teacher wouldn’t appreciate it much. Besides, Cor wasn’t usually one to ever show her emotions anyway. They were typically buried under anger or complete, cold indifference.

She had put on this, having decided that she wanted to keep things sexy. Mostly to show Jay exactly what he was missing out on, because it wasn’t like Max needed much encouragement from her. They’d fucked many times before, so he knew how good she was. That was usually enough to keep the guys hanging around. She smiled to herself, but it wasn’t complete; it was an empty, cold smile, void of any real feeling. She had chosen to numb herself, because it was the easiest way for her to deal with her breaking heart. To be perfectly honest she had moments when she had trouble breathing, and when all she could think of was how much she wanted to fix everything with her man. But no. She fought herself and her own weaker side. Because she was better than that. She didn’t go bowing down to anyone. Especially not Jaysin Dennis. So instead, makeup donned, hair curled up beautifully, outfit perfectly fitted, Cor went straight from the bathroom and to the party, not even sparing a maybe present Ashy a glance.

Once there, Cor didn’t spare the place a glance. Her eyes were fixed on the bar, feeling her need for alcohol skyrocketing. Now she understood why people drowned their sorrows, because that was exactly what she intended to do. And luck had it, Max was there. Promising party already. Cor’s heals clicked musically as she made her way over to the bar, sliding into the seat next to Max. She leaned in over the bar counter, giving the bartender a look. “Five shots of whatever you’ve got that going to knock me off my feet.” She said smoothly, before turning her eyes onto Max, flashing him a wry yet flirty smile. “You look like someone who could use my kind of company,” she teased, crossing her legs purposefully to bare more of her thighs as she turned her entire body towards him by spinning on the bar stool. Hearing her drinks be placed in front of her, Cor took one in each hand downing them straight after each other before placing the small glasses back onto the counter.

---

Amy hadn’t wanted to tell Chris about everything that was going on. She really didn’t want to start putting all her troubles on his shoulders already. She just needed to be around someone who didn’t look at her like she was made of porcelain , someone who didn’t know anything about her issues, and someone who, like Chris, was going to make her feel better with his presence alone. Ad it would’ve been great if she hadn’t noticed the bloody clothes by Chris’s bed, and the way he seemed uncomfortable in his own skin. Amy, being the woman she was, had taken charge, also giving herself a moment to breathe and figure out what she could and couldn’t tell Chris. In the end she’d healed him, but though it would’ve been easy as nothing before, it had left her completely tapped out, so before Chris had had the chance to question her further about her state of mind, she’d fallen asleep, curled up in the grand armchair resembling the one she had in her own room.

Healing Chris had demanded she be close to him, as physically close as they’d been when they had both been students. As his skin had been so damaged, Amy had had to ask him to take off his hoody and t-shirt, so that she could put her hands flat on his chest, feeling the beat of his heart. It was strange, especially since she had Leo now. More so because she knew the immortal male wouldn’t have been too happy about it. Never the less, Chris had needed healing and it was easier for her to do if she had a proper area of skin contact close to the heart. If she had tried to heal him from only his arms, for instance, she would have probably fainted right then and there. She knew it was the baby eating up her power supply. She only hoped nothing bad would happen to it now that she was all tapped out. In fact, her falling asleep had been so rapid, she hadn’t even had the time to ask him what… or who… had maimed him so badly. Part of her already knew the answer though, and it worried her. If Corentine was targeting teachers now, what was next?

Currently, Amy was still in the chair, breathing still slow and deep, eyes still closed. For all intents and purposes, Amy looked asleep. Because she was fairly certain she wouldn’t be able to answer Chris’ answers honestly and not break her promise to Leo, she was pretending her very best. Besides, just relaxing felt good. She could tell that she had started to charge back up during her nap, but she had no idea how long she’d been gone – probably a couple of hours. She still felt weak and tired, and sort of sick still, but this time she knew it wasn’t the baby. It was the thought of Leo with Katia. She just couldn’t get the pictures out of her head. It was completely messing with her, making her world spin. In one day, she felt like the bliss the two has shared for the past week was coming to an end. So many problems were crowding the two right now. First the Noctrem students moving in, then his treatment of Chris, followed by her finding out she was pregnant, and the big finale? Katia entering the picture.

Amy’s eyes fluttered open as she sighed to herself, still not sure what to tell Chris. But then, she had other things to talk to him about. That could always push off the more private things on her mind. Chris needed a whole bowl of information and she had just been sleeping the time away. Just as her eyes focused enough for her to look for Chris, she heard the unmistakable sound of her phone ringing. Sliding it out of her jeans pocket quietly, Amy cast a short look at the display, noticing both time of day and caller. Leo. She took a deep breath, already knowing why he was calling. But why had it taken him 3 hours? That was quite a while by her estimate. She pressed the receive button and brought the cell up to her ear. “Hey,” was all she said, but even that little word sounded sleepy and weak. Great, Amy. Really. She didn’t know what else to say to him. She was still pretty upset with their whole situation, but in Chris’ room, what she could say was pretty limited.

Leo's heart started to beat faster, and his palms started to get a little sweaty with every ring that went past, and Amy didn't pick up with. He wondered where she was, if she was okay, was.... everything else okay? Now that there was... a child, his child involved, everything started to seem to panic the male a little more. Was this the sort of person that he was going to be, now that there was a life inside his girlfriend's stomach? Worrying at her every movement, panicking when she didn't pick up the phone, thinking the worst to have happened. He was worried, scared, that this was the new Leo, the new person he was going to be. So much responsibility and pressure had fallen onto his shoulders within a few hours, and he was scared. Leonardo Marinos, the immortal Spartan Warrior, was scared.

The immortal male literally felt his heart leap with joy when he heard Amy's voice on the end of his phone, and verbally let out a sigh of relief, letting go of the breath that he hadn't realized that he was holding. Something about his beloved girlfriends voice was different however; she sounded, tired, or weak, or both. Again, the male felt his heart start to race, and he had to take in another deep breath before he spoke, giving him that few more seconds to put on a facade of voice that didn't show through his worry. "Hey." He repeated, wondering what else to say to the woman. Their last meeting had been a little short and brief, and in that time period, she had revealed to him that she was expecting, and Katia had arrived, seriously pissing her off before her leaving. He had made an error there too in not following her, but he hadn't been able to leave Katia alone. Leo wasn't sure what he was supposed to say to her, or how he could make any of this right again - because it wasn't right. There was an unspoken air of tension between the two of them, even down the phone he was able to detect it. He just didn't want it to last long.

"Amy..." Leo sighed, biting down on his bottom lip, a nervous habit of his that he rarely exhibited. "I'm sorry I didn't call earlier, and I'm sorry about Katia. I'm sorry about everything, but I'd really like to see you in person to talk to you about it - where are you, honey?"

---

Erin had failed. She hadn't been able to keep the handsome face of Drakethrean Quellen out of her mind for long, and soon, her drinks weren't lasting as long as her first one had. One. Two. Three. Four. The fifth was in her hand now, and it was too going down readily. The blonde girl knew that she was going to have to move onto something stronger soon, something that wasn't so feminine, and something that would get her very drunk, very quickly. She didn't like the feeling of being tipsy and woozy, which was how the Archers in her hand was making her feel. No, whiskey was in order. Or something along those lines. The girl readily finished her fifth mixer through the straw and put the glass down on the table, sighing. She went to move, to stand up and make her way to the bar, but her head instantly started to swim the second that she pushed herself to a standing position.

So, she flopped back down again, deciding to take a couple of minutes to let her head settle down, before moving to the bar again, to get her stronger drink. However, before Erin could make her move, someone came over to her; the first person to enter the vicinity of the gazebo since she had sat down there - most people didn't interact with her, unless they knew her well, and that was for three reasons - one, they knew she was a friend of Corentine Quellen, two, they knew about her power, or three, they had heard about her reputation as a whorish bitch. Either way, she didn't mind - the alone time was peaceful. But that peacefulness was soon trashed by the drunken movements of a male, tall, dark and handsome. She was surprised by his voice hitting her ears from afar. Her head snapped up as Jay crashed down onto the couch next to her, downing the rest of the expensive looking bottle that he was drinking all in what seemed to be one breath. Erin could see that he was obviously drunker than her and was lashing out at Cor.

Before the blonde could say anything to male however, he was soon gone. She hadn't had time to defend her friend, or even bitch about her friend, before Jay had left her alone, walking away and getting himself another bottle of whatever he had been drinking, or similar, at the bar. She frowned at the scene unfolding in front of her, and combined it with her confusion at the situation at what had happened. Apparently, Jay and Cor were no more. Why hadn't Cor told her? Why was her best friend sitting at the bar with Max, practically a stranger other than in bedroom, and wasn't sitting there with her, talking about it? She hadn't even replied to her previous text, anyway - about the bad day! Cor was growing higher and higher with every passing moment in Erin's bad books, and she huffed as she pushed herself up once more into a standing position. The girl moved, her heels clicking on the floor, making her way over to the table where the intoxicated male had seated himself.

She passed the bar where he friend was seated, without a word to the other blonde, and soon, she was standing to the side of Jay, her hand on her hip. She watched how Addison came over and touched the back of his neck, smirking at the girl's bravery. If Cor had seen that... well, the girl wouldn't have had those two slinky legs to stand on any more. She stopped for a brief outfit adjustment, pulling her dress down cover more of her modesty, as her dress barely reached the underneath of her bum. Then, she moved and sat down on the other side of Jay, completely ignoring Addison and her flirtatious movements towards the male. Without a word, she casually took the bottle of whiskey out of his hand and took a swig for herself, before replacing it. "She's pissed me off too, today. And seeing her sitting there, doing.... that... instead of talking to me," she paused for a moment, before looking over at the male, "so tonight, I am on your side. It'll get me killed, but why should I give a flying fuck." Erin's confidence could have been seen as stupidity by anyone that knew how Corentine Quellen would react to her best friend sitting with her ex-boyfriend and current enemy, but the blonde just didn't give a fuck. Besides, the copious amounts of alcohol coursing through her system would make her feel better about this betrayal.

---

Taking things slowly, Jackson was only on his second drink of the night, sipping away in his position, perusing everything around him. He was watching his party, which was now full in swing. The music was playing, loud enough to be heard by everyone, but not loud enough to deafen those standing closer to the speakers, people were picking at the buffet food and seemed to be enjoying it, and the bartender seemed to be incredibly busy, not being able to stop for a moment as the amount of orders were flooding in. He could see that people were getting drunk quite quickly, but that wasn't any of his concern. He knew that Mr. Marinos wouldn't be angry at him for hosting such a party, and would be angry, rather, at those who were stupid enough to drink away their troubles and not turn up for classes the next day.

He hadn't really seen anyone that he was close to yet as he looked around; no sign of Lu, Amber, or even Jess - someone he wasn't all that familiar with, but was quite excited to see tonight at his party. Why? He wasn't really sure? Maybe it was the way that she had acted earlier, and it had intruged him? That was his best guess, anyway - Jackson was rather attracted to people that he had to figure out, people who interested him. It was a rather similar situation with Amber. However, it was the complete opposite with Lulu. She was the one person in the entire world who knew him better than anyone, and who he knew better than she did herself; there was no way to describe his relationship with her, other than he was attracted to her because of her amazing personality, her stunning looks, and the way that he didn't have to explain anything to her - she just knew.

Speaking of the devil, Jack pulled his phone out of his pocket with his spare hand when he felt it vibrate, and his lips instantly changed into a smile when he saw who had text him. He made his way over to the bar once he had placed his phone back into his pocket, and grabbed a bottle of JD from the bartender, his pre-order, and left his other drink. He instantly spotted his gorgeous blonde friend by the bar with a cocktail stick with cheese on the end in her hand, and made his way over to her. The tall Irish man made his way around the back of her however, disappearing into the crowd before he could be spotted at the bar. When he was behind her, he gently placed a hand over her eyes, and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Guess who?" He spoke with his thick Irish drawl, the bottle of Jack Daniels pressed into his back, hiding it. "Drake has good taste, by the way. You look beautiful tonight."

---

Max hadn't interacted with any of the students who had come up the bar; none of them had sparked his interest, none of the women enough to rouse him from his position, crouched over his glass of vodka. He had felt that there were eyes on him somewhere, someone watching him, but he didn't pay too much attention to the notion - usually, there was someone watching him, especially at events like this. Leo was the sort of person who would send someone out to watch over him, to make sure that he was being sensible, and acting all "professional." Ha. No-one had ever stopped him from acting like this, and now that he was on a level closer to that stature of Mr. Leonardo, he still wasn't going to be controlled. Besides, the alcohol was calming him down anyway, dulling the horrible concoction of emotions that were building inside his mind.

The brunette male didn't have a preferred drink - anything strong and alcoholic was his main preference. Spirits, mainly, and tonight, he had decided on some vodka. This morning, it had been whiskey. Ah, the drink of men. Suddenly, the male was snapped out of his little reverie about alcohol, and into his personal space (which included the two seats either side of him), slid Corentine Quellen, one of the naughtiest little bitches Max had ever had the pleasure of being with. She ordered a hefty supply of shots, and expertly downed them in one go when they were finally placed in front of him. He didn't turn to look at her as she drunk, or return her flirtatious smile. When it came to Corentine, Max was careful. She was a devil in disguise, this one.

However, when she spoke about him being someone who could use her type of company, Max's expression changed from an emotionless blank slate, into a sultry crooked grin that had come to be his trademark. He couldn't stop his eyes from wandering her perfect body as she twisted in her seat, the dress which barely covered anything riding even further up her thigh, exposing her creamy, supple flesh. He slowly brought his gaze up to look into her eyes. He decided not to reply to her comment, his expression revealing his answer clearly. "Your emotions are tightly wrapped today, Corentine." He spoke, taking another large sip of his vodka. "Why so desperate for, as you say, "my company" tonight?" Before the male could inquire about the girls needs for his attention further, Max received a little present in front of him, something he hadn't expected to receive that night. "A condom? Either someone's flirting with me or this is the worst coaster ever. Besides, it's the wrong size - too small for me. What's that in front of you?" He asked the blonde next to him, tossing the condom into the bin behind the bar, getting it straight in his goal.

Cor couldn’t help a little satisfied smirk when Max’s eyes did exactly what she expected them to; ride up her body. The sexy smile on his face further informed her that they were definitely in business today. Good, she thought, her own gaze not shy about taking a tour of his body. Max was incredibly handsome, his hair dark and messy, eyes intense and already filled with naughty intentions. She knew what kind of body he was hiding underneath that clothing and it was enough to make a girl squeal at the prospect of his attentions. But still, despite how much she loved being with Max, she just couldn’t shake the feeling that she would rather have Jay next to her like this. She would rather figure things out with him. But she knew it wasn’t an option. They were poison to each other, caught in a game of who hurts who the most. But she was done. Cor was done playing. For a girl who loved a little game at all times, that was quite huge. The fact was, she didn’t enjoy hurting Jay, and she definitely did not like being hurt in return. So far none of her actions had been with the intention of hurting him, except for during their argument today.

But then, who didn’t say things they didn’t mean when they were angry? Cor instantly put a lid on those thoughts again, knowing they would lead her down a dark and twisted road, which she really didn’t want. In fact, she needed to keep a clear head if she was to talk to Erin tonight. Ah hell, Erin. She hadn’t replied to the text because she had been too out of it after her situation with Jay, and later she’d completely forgotten. Then, on top of it, it was really hard for Cor to focus on Erin’s problems when her own weighed so heavily on her. When she’d arrived at the party, all she had seen was the bar, and then Max. She still hadn’t looked around her, and she wasn’t going to right now. She wasn’t sure if she would like to see what was unfolding. She had a feeling Jay would want to hurt her more after her little show in the hall today. Truly, she did feel bad about her last comment. She felt bad about going to meet Sky. Which was entirely new for the blonde. Part of her wanted to find him and apologize; to tell him all she really wanted was him, if he would still have her. And if he could be with her alone. Would Jay be able to go through with being with someone else like she hadn’t been able to with Sky? Again, she shook off the thoughts just as Max’s eyes met hers and his voice met her ears.

Cor, getting her game-face back on, laughing slightly at his words, the sound easy and flirty in itself. “Max, you flatter yourself. I was desperate for alcohol.” She gave him a little once over, a teasing grin on her lips. “You just happen to be a… delicious bonus.” She didn’t further comment on the fact that her emotions were a mess. It was none of his fucking business, although she did realize he couldn’t exactly help his powers. While she spoke, Cor noted a square package being put in front of Max, and a napkin being placed in front of her. When he picked his up, she instantly knew what it was. And recognized it too. At the sight, Cor quickly downed the three remaining shots on the counter next to her. When Max spoke, inquiring about her “gift”, she sighed. Normally Max’s comments would’ve made her laugh or at least smile, but she already knew who it was from, and she didn’t like the message it was indirectly sending. In the end, Cor decided she wasn’t going to be a pussy about this and picked up the napkin.

Reading the note, Cor froze, sitting with the piece of paper in her hands. A slight frown soon took over her expression and she raised her gaze to finally look around, trying to locate the sender of the note. Jay. They were his words from earlier, and she wondered if he had even thought before sending it. He was completely counteracting his own words. He had told her they were done, and suddenly the games were back on? She was so sick of this bullshit. So tired of trying to explain herself, trying to defend her actions. Tired of him playing with her emotions so easily, whether it was intentional or not. She just didn’t like a guy being able to do this to her. Her eyes didn’t take all that long to find Jay, and she wasn’t surprised to find him with girls. What surprised her were the particular females he was with. Erin, her supposed best friend, and Addie, also a supposed friend. And Addie was obviously gunning for him, her fingers on his neck. Erin was in no way looking hostile. Just sort of tipsy, and the guy himself was wasted. She watched them quietly, trying to quench every bit of feeling it was inspiring in her. Especially because she knew Max would feel them.

Anger, hurt, betrayal… sadness. So much sadness. Her face was impassive as she watched them. She hadn’t even known Erin was at the party, too wrapped up in her need to somehow drown her emotions. Her best friend, the only girl who knew everything Cor was feeling about Jay, and Addie, who Cor had shadily informed that Jay was not to be touched. Both girls were her friends, and more than anything, Cor felt betrayed and hurt. So hurt. She took a deep breath, realizing she had stopped the process entirely when she’d seen the threesome. Cor, without looking at Max, tore the napkin into pieces and let it fall to the ground. “Jaysin’s idea of a good time,” she replied coldly before her gaze snapped back to him, no longer caring who knew shit about her and Jay. “You see, he wants to play a game. No, rather, he wants to restart one I finished just earlier today. Who can hurt the other the most.” Then she smirked ironically, shaking her head. “I haven’t been playing it very well so far.” She added the last bit almost thoughtfully before concluding, “well, that’s changing now.”

She raised an eyebrow, fire in her eyes. “Feel like helping me out for a spell, handsome?” Cor knew there was a merciless light in her eyes. She also knew it would pretty damn short-lived. Or, at least she had a feeling it would be. She suspected that once it got down to it, she wouldn’t be able to do it. She just couldn’t do that to Jay. No matter how much he hurt her, or how much he pissed her off, she couldn’t. But then, this time it was different, because Cor was also dealing with the betrayal of two friends, one of which was her best friend. What the hell was going on today? She had a suspicion that Max was going to feel her emotions too, and a tiny part of her felt bad for it. She knew he’d figure out how to tone it down though. Besides, when she rocked his world, he’d be good. If she rocked his world. It all kind of depended on whether the blonde could really do it. It bothered her, how Jay was toning down on her ability to be a huge bitch. If only they could work things out between them, it would all be worth it. As it was, none of her “friends” were getting away with their current activities. She would make sure of it. It just might not be tonight.

---

When she heard Leo’s voice, Amy took a deep breath, calming herself. Right now she was a little confused to be honest. She didn’t like being lied to, hated having things hidden from her, and downright abhorred that Leo was doing exactly that. Too bad his little show had been ruined by Katia’s need to stamp herself as a needy whore. A term Amy would never normally contemplate, but yeah, she supposed the pregnancy was making her a bit hormonal already. Did that mean she was overreacting here? Did she really have reason to be angry with Leo? She pondered this as silence stretched between them, tension building. She didn’t like this kind of issues between them, but she wasn’t going to bow down and let it happen, because then Leo wouldn’t know that it wasn’t okay with her next time. As he hadn’t been in a real relationship in millenniums, she knew he was going to have some initial struggles finding out what she expected of him and what was natural to do or not to do in a relationship. But what worried her was, as friends he hadn’t been hiding things from her. She didn’t want him to start just because they were in a relationship.

Especially not now that she was carrying his child. Amy curled up better in the chair, her eyes scanning the room. No Chris. She wondered where he could be. Bathroom? Out? She couldn’t blame him, considering she had slept for 3 long hours. Then Leo spoke again, her name containing so many emotions she almost doubled over from the effect, but she sat still, phone at her ear, listening to the following sigh, and then the rest of his words. She sighed when he finally asked her where she was. The question she had known was coming. Only, she had expected the call much sooner. Honestly she felt more than a little neglected. Sure, she had walked out on him, but in all fairness she had had plenty reason, and at least he had called. She knew Leo loved her, she really did, but he was such a difficult man. Some women thought they had issues getting a lone wolf used to a relationship, but the men they had problems with, had maybe been alone for 20 years. Try multiplying that with 100, she thought to herself. The young nurse was quiet for a long time, contemplating.

What should she tell him? The truth of course, that much was a no-brainer, but she couldn’t very well have him meet her here, could she? That might seem just a little weird to poor Chris. Chris who had had a plenty crappy first day at Arcana. She really hoped she could help him get settled in better as a teacher here, because she wanted him to stay. With all the new Noctrem teachers, they needed some more Arcana-minded people in the mix. She was still tired, and she knew it was taking some spunk out of her. Usually Amy would be at Leo’s throat already, but firstly she didn’t want Chris overhearing, and secondly she really didn’t want to argue with him anymore today. Two had to be enough, didn’t they? The two couldn’t just keep right on arguing all day… could they? Finally Amy took a deep breath. “At Chris’.” She finally said, then closed her eyes and murmured quietly, “I don’t want to fight anymore, Leo.” The brunette got slowly out of the chair she had been curled up in and pulled out a small piece of paper from her pocket, then began hunting for a pen. She was uneasy on her own feet, but she wasn’t about to tell Leo that. Obviously he would only start babying her.

When she found a pen, she began writing while talking to Leo again. “I’ll meet you at your place, okay?” Even now, having awoken properly, Amy didn’t sound any better than she had when she had picked up. Okay, maybe she did need a helping hand. Amy was turning out to be her own worst patient; one of those people who refused to relax and take care of themselves when they were ill, no matter the kind. Without waiting for an answer, Amy hung up on her boyfriend and finished up her note for Chris, putting it on the table in front of the chair.

Had to go, but we still need to talk. Sorry about falling asleep, I’m a little out of it today – hope you’re at least feeling better. I’ll come find you soon, honey.

Love, Amy.

With that, she steeled herself and by pure stubbornness, managed to get herself to Leo’s place, locking herself in with her extra key. But that was it. As she made it inside, closing the door behind her, her legs which had been shaking obsessively all the way, gave out, and she crumbled to the floor. Hitting the floor on her bottom, Amy could only draw in a deep breath. She knew she wasn’t getting anywhere by herself anytime soon. Which really did wonders for her dignity. The dignity her own illness earlier, along with Katia turning up, had already trampled well into the ground. “I hate this,” the teacher murmured to herself, hanging her head in defeat. She just wanted to go back to sleep. Or curl up in Leo’s arms. Preferably the latter, then the former.

Leo didn't like Amy's pause when he asked her where she was. It worried him in fact, that she wasn't answering him. What was she hiding from him? It was strange, that Amy wasn't replying. She never hid anything from him, especially now that they were in a relationship; when they had just been friends however, they had still had no qualms about telling each other anything. He didn't want that to change, not now that their relationship was a little more complicated and confusing. Whilst he waited for her reply, the male sat back in his chair, dropping his head back so that his neck was resting on the back of his chair.

However, soon, Amy's voice was hitting his ears and he almost felt his heart sink when Amy told him where she had been for the last three hours; At Chris'. He literally sat there with his mouth opening and closing, looking like a fish out of water. He heard her voice shake slightly as she told him that she didn't want to fight any more, and he just nodded, forgetting that she couldn't see him. The man couldn't believe that she had been with Chris all of this time. She could have stayed with him, and spoke to him about their issues, instead of going to tell Chris, a guy that she knew he wasn't all that fond about right now. He knew that she had to have felt awkward with Katia there, but he was only helping her, giving her a job when she needed one. She didn't understand their situation., and hadn't stayed to ask him about it.

Amy then told him to meet her in his apartment, and before he could reply - the phone went dead. The male pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at it, his expression stunned. He had never been hung up on before, especially by Amy. An exasperated sigh escaped Leo's lips as he placed his phone back into his pocket and stood up, leaving his office. He didn't lock the door behind him, there was no point - every student was out at the party, and no teacher would dare go into there without his permission. So, the male slowly made his way up to his apartment, taking small steps. He was slightly nervous to see his girlfriend; their last few conversations being extremely awkward, and the tension between them could almost be cut by a knife. However, he was soon outside his front door and took in another deep breath before opening it, revealing the scene in front of him.

"Amy!" Leo gasped, rushing into his apartment, the door closing slowly behind him. The picture in front of him scared him; his pregnant girlfriend whom he had recently argued with collapsed onto his hallway floor, her skin a horrible pale hue. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" His voice was filled with panic as he knelt down in front of her, taking her cheeks into his hands, cupping them delicately. Lifting up her head so that she could look into his chocolate browns, he let his eyes frantically look over her, checking for any sign of injury.

---

Erin was kind of put out. She had moved all the way from her comfortable position in the gazebo to talk to Jay, and maybe even Addison once she had seen the girl sitting down next to him, but practically just after she had sat down, the two of them had fucked off. She had been left with a consolation prize however; Jay's expensive looking bottle of whiskey that he had placed into her hand, asking her to look after it until he returned. Yeah, right. Like he was going to return in that state. Jay was already borderline paralytic, and he was probably going off to find someone to have a revenge fuck with; this bottle was now hers, the blonde had decided. So, she twisted off the lid and took another swig, letting the warm liquid trickle its way into her stomach, filling her with a strange sense of alcoholic warmth.

The girl was usually filled with confidence, and soon, the alcohol was only giving her extra. She literally felt like she was buzzing on alcohol, her eyes clouded over, yet everything still visible to her. She was a little unsteady on her feet when she stood up, but she blamed it on the high heels that she had stuck on her feet that night. Yeah, nothing to do with the copious amounts of alcohol coursing through her blood stream, was it. No... Slowly, the blonde started making her way through the now crowded party area, her eyes expertly searching the people for one face in particular; a face that she knew all too well. It surprised her when she saw who her target was standing with and talking to, and she decided to make her way over there, and maybe provide him with some sort of... interesting companionship.

It was a difficult feat, yes, but somehow, Erin made her way over to Drake without falling over, staying up the entire way. She was quite pleased with herself actually, and she took another victory swig of Jay's her whiskey, congratulating herself. She came up behind the male, and ignoring the fairy-like blonde that was standing in front of him, she wrapped her arm around his waist, going up on her tiptoes so she could whisper in his ear. "Hello, lover." Her lips brushed against his skin as she spoke, her voice a sultry tone that she reserved only for him. She kept her arm around him for some extra stability as she came down from her tip-toes, and turned to look at Ashy, who seemed too sober for the blonde's liking. She thrust out the bottle that she was holding in her hand towards Ashy, offering her the bottle. She knew that twinkle-toes here was quite wary of her, but she had no disliking towards her; in fact, Erin actually found her quite... cute, in a way. "You look like you need this more than I do, girl."

In a way, Erin thought that she was doing good, coming in between Drake and Ashy's conversation; why? Ashy was... too sweet and innocent and frankly, just too adorable for someone like Drake. He was cruel, vindictive, a vicious lover; someone like Ashy would only get her sweet little heart broken by this bastard of a man. She slowly made her way around to stand in front of Drake, however off to the side, so that she wasn't completely cutting Ashy out, more like... shielding her? Why was she feeling considerate all of a sudden?! Keeping her arm wrapped around Drake, Erin bit down on her bottom lip and looked up at him. "Drakeeeee," she mewed, pressing her body in closer to his, "are you trying to corrupt this poor girl?"

---

Jackson luckily hadn't seen the faltered smile on Lulu's face; if he had, it probably would have broken the Irish male's heart. He was totally infatuated with the girl that he counted as his best female friend, and he would just feel totally disheartened and destroyed if he had actually seen disappointment on her face when he hadn't turned out to be Drake. Jack knew that he wasn't the man in Lulu's heart; that he was just a friend to her, and he was fine with that - it was something that he had come to terms with recently. But, he just didn't want to actually hear it. If he didn't hear it, then he knew that he could live with it. But if he was actually told that he had no chance what so ever... he'd be crushed.

He felt himself smile as Lulu blushed at his compliment, but that soon changed as she mentioned that it was all Drake's work. He wasn't too fond of the idea of Drake going through all of Lulu's belongings and choosing her entire outfit; Drake was one of Jack's friends, however he didn't trust the man one little bit. He hid his frown quickly though before Lulu could see his expression change, replacing the smile that had just faded over the top of his concerned expression. She looked beautiful, that he had already stated and truly believed, however, she barely looked liked Lulu - the skirt was too short, her v-neck was too deep... it wasn't Lulu - it was how Drake wanted Lulu to be. And he wasn't so sure that he liked it.

Before Jackson could say anything else however, Drake made a cameo into their conversation, putting in his own five cents worth about Lulu's outfit. He stood there awkwardly for a moment as the taller, better looking male complimented his best friend on her outfit, and then placed a bottle of rum down next to her, her obvious drink of choice. He wondered for a moment if he should even bring out the drink that he had bought for them to share, knowing that she preferred the rum to his Jack Daniels, but decided against mentioning it at this moment. Then, soon, the male was gone, and it was just the two of them alone again - a situation Jack preferred.

"Oh, this - it's nothing." Jack smiled softly, brushing off her comment. He had literally had five minutes to get ready after everything had been set up, and so he hadn't put much thought into his attire at all - he had just picked the first shirt out of his wardrobe that he had found and threw it on, as well as the jeans that had been draped over his desk chair. When Lu came to stand next to him, he wrapped his arm around her waist, a usually friendly gesture of his when it came to her. "I know, I'm loved by the catering staff here." He smiled, making sure to look up and spot the lady who was the creator of this elaborate spread, and give her a curt nod. "Well, you've already found the main part of the buffet which I designed for you specially. But, if you crave something else, what about the Cajun chicken and pepper skewers?" Jack gently led her over to the meat section of the buffet and gestured to the kebab sticks filled with three pieces of spiced chicken, with slices of red, yellow and green pepper between. "They're to die for, honestly." He grinned, before picking one up by the end of the stick and offering it out for her.

"Oh," he remembered, bringing out the bottle of Jack from behind his back, "I brought this for you. It's not as good as the rum, I know. But still, I promised."

---

Max didn't say anything as he watched Corentine, her eyes looking around the crowded party room. Her mind was definitely somewhere else tonight, and she was highly distracted; whatever had been on that note in front of her had caused some sort of pain for the girl - that was something else that being an Empath had taught the brunette male to do. If someone was hiding their emotions from him, like the blonde in front of him so readily did, he had learnt to read specific body language and facial expressions, to gauge some sort of emotion from the person he was studying - and at the moment, Corentine Quellen was seriously upset and angry at the same time, a dangerous combination of emotions coming from a girl like her. Something of course, he would never tell her. Surprisingly, he cared about himself enough not to want to die a horrible death at her hands.

He took the last three gulps of his vodka as Corentine decided to tear up the piece of paper that had upset her so much. He nodded towards the bartender, getting his attention and ordered another drink, this time, a whiskey. Despite him not having a preferred drink, he sometimes fancied others more than the other - and instead of vodka, the male now wanted whiskey back. "Jaysin, eh?" He mumbled, downing half of his drink in only one gulp. He was curious as to what she was on about, but he was unable to get a grasp on her emotions that she was cloaking so well. Instead, Max had to get a grip on what she was on about by piecing together the little bits of information that he had received; apparently, Corentine and Jay had been "something", and she had upset him, so he had decided to hurt her back, sparking this little "game" that she was on about. Yeah, that sounded about right.

Then, the atmosphere around the two of them changed and Max decided to become more involved in their conversation. It was about to change? A slight break in Corentine's barriers allowed him to feel her emotions for a second, and he turned to face her. Something was different about her tonight; she wasn't her usual... full bitchy herself, she was more reserved and hurting at the moment, and that spark in her eyes, was false. However, he wasn't going to pass any sort of offer up that meant that he would be able to have a good time. If anyone, that wasn't Jaysin, was going to get Corentine to act normally again, the merciless bitch that she was, he was probably that person. "I'll help you out however you want, gorgeous." He smiled, downing the rest of his drink before ordering another. Then, he leaned forward, placing his hand on her thigh, moving it upwards slowly, his fingers just sliding under the hem of her short dress before stopping there. "How would you like me to help?"

The young teacher wasn’t feeling to well, and hell, that was probably quite the understatement. She didn’t have a lot to compare it to, but she was weak and nauseous, her limbs shaking slightly from fatigue, and thought her powers had begun recharging, they were in no way ready for anything. She felt like even healing a knife cut would send her into another slumber, and it scared her. She really needed to phone her mother. Soon. She was still on the floor, surprisingly enough, feeling completely hopeless about her situation, when she heard the door open behind her. She wanted to get up and turn to Leo easily, because she knew her current position and appearance would worry him. No, he would be downright panicked, as unsure of what to do as she herself was. It wasn’t like this was normal in any way. In fact Amy felt completely out of her league, unknowing of what to do or how to help herself get better.

Because this wasn’t just a power hangover. It was different. A power hangover, she knew how to help and she had tried it before. In fact, she would often tire herself completely when she worked as a field nurse. Of course she had had to keep her healing secret, but it’d worked and she had saved lives like she had always wanted to, so though her entire world had changed with the experience, she didn’t regret it. In the long run it had only made her stronger. Well… mentally. Obviously she was physically weak as a new born kitten right now and it bothered her. She sighed when Leo spotted her, her name flying off his lips, but she didn’t move. What could she do, really? She merely waited for him to get to her, which she knew wouldn’t be long. Not long after, he did in fact reach her, panic ruling his voice when he spoke. Amy smiled weakly in response when his hands gently cupped her cheeks, guiding her eyes up to meet his, except his beautiful ones were busy looking her over, so it wasn’t much.

“Leo,” she said softly, her voice tired, “honey, please calm down. I’m fine.” She looked up at him, wanting to put her hands on his to assure him, but she just didn’t have the energy. Never had she felt this empty, this weak and helpless. So yes, of course she wasn’t entirely truthful when she told him she was fine, but she couldn’t have him panicking like this. He needed to steady himself or he’d be a complete mess to deal with and she really needed him to just… settle down a bit. “I’m just… a little tired,” she continued in a quiet tone, almost too calmly, her fatigue showing clearly in her voice. “I…” she paused then, sighing. She knew Leo would blame Chris when she told him the truth, but she wasn’t going to lie. She just wanted to make sure she phrased everything okay, so that he didn’t blame Chris too much. Because it wasn’t his fault. Chris hadn’t known of Amy’s condition, except for the fact that he could tell she was tired. Fact was that it didn’t usually affect her powers much, and she should’ve been able to heal him easily. Hell, she had been surprised herself.

Finally, the delicate nurse continued, “I think the baby is… feeding on my powers, which sounds really bad, I know.” She bit her lower lip, knowing that Leo was going to watch her like a hawk for the remainder of her pregnancy once she was done explaining herself. Sometimes a protective man was really hard to deal with, and it made her wonder if he was going to follow her around to all of her lessons, or if he would cancel them. She didn’t want to stop working. Besides, she was the school nurse. That wasn’t really something to be ignored. Another sigh. “I think Chris met Corentine earlier, and he… has a bit of attitude.” She let it be at that, knowing that Leo knew what that meant. She looked up at him, her eyes pleading with him to understand the actions she was now going to tell him about. “I couldn’t let him suffer like that when I have the ability to help him, Leo… so even though he didn’t want me to, I… I healed him. It just… took a lot out of me, and I fell asleep immediately after. Just woke up when you called.”

With that, Amy finally took a deep breath, waiting for Leo’s reaction and reply, her heart pounding loudly in her chest. She had meant what she’d told him; she really didn’t want to argue.

---

With Max’s temporary silence, Cor’s eyes did another sweep her surroundings, and she swiftly downed her remaining shots, the alcohol burning sweetly. Oh, it was strong. She felt like she was drinking absinthe, yet it tasted slightly different. Didn’t matter if it had the same fire power; it did what she wanted it to; got her drunk in a rush, but it wasn’t enough by far. She needed more as she spotted Jay leaving the gazebo and thereby Erin and Addie. Hm, that was surprising. She’d figured Addie would make more of an effort to make the guy stay, considering how much she was obviously preening for his cock. She would be punished the most. No one, especially not her friends, went against her. Cor considered it betrayal, pure and simple, and she wasn’t a forgiving kind of person. Yes, she made friend with bitches and assholes, because those were the people she liked hanging around, but she still valued loyalty quite a bit. Now, what to do to the girl…

Cor’s mind was still playing with thoughts of revenge when the sound of Max Henderson’s sexy voice brought her back into the world of the living, and she couldn’t stop her lips from curling into a flirty smirk. She would go talk to Elijah tomorrow, she decided, knowing he was the one person she could count on; the one person who could clear her mind enough to think up something proper to remind the girl who was, and always had been, the queen bitch, and not to mess with her… or her man for that matter. Besides, someone who hated Jay might be nice. Elijah was perfect. Of course she also just loved hanging out with the guy. Cor’s clear, dark blue eyes were slowly making their way down Max’s body, his words a promise in themselves. Obviously he had figured she was a little off tonight. Max wasn’t easy to hide things from, just like her brother, but Cor liked to at least try anyway. Either way, Esme was ignored by both of them when she pushed her way between them and ordered her drunk. Fortunately she was gone directly after.

“Aren’t you just a saint,” she teased Max then, her voice dripping sarcasm. She didn’t doubt that Max was only helping her in any way because he got something out of it himself, not that she minded or blamed him. Hell, she was the exact same way herself. She didn’t do anything for free unless it was for a friend, and even then there was always the fact that she got friendship and gratefulness in return. Max was getting an amazing fuck, and that wasn’t her being conceited. Corentine had been a gymnast for a lot of years, since she was sick and up until she had left for Noctrem, and she had a lot of practice on her back when it came to screwing around. Of course she might also just be a damn natural. Either way, she had had guys telling her she was the best fuck they’d ever had. She knew how to work anyone when it came to sex. Female or male. Didn’t matter. When Max ordered another drink, Cor ordered three more shots of the same stuff he had given her before, and downed all three while Max's hand wandered up her bared thigh, the heat of alcohol along with Max’s touch, flowing through her. She ignored the fact that she could hear her phone vibrating in her purse, because she couldn’t make herself give a shit.

When his fingers stopped, Cor smiled wryly, one eyebrow lifted as she looked from the hand her gaze had been following, to the eyes of the man leading it. She couldn’t deny that Max had a way with her. He just knew how to set her body on fire, even with the slightest of touches. Of course it might also just be his godlike good looks, and well, she was starting to get just a little drunk, so her body was primed for him already. Before answering Max’s question, Cor ordered two more shots, downing them straight after each other. Once that was done, she leaned forward, bringing her mouth close to Max’s ear, her one hand dancing over his hand on her leg, and up his arm, only to make its way down his chest once it reached his shoulder. Her lips curved into a calculating, flirtatious smile, she didn’t speak until her fingers were gripping the hem of his jeans. Then she let her teeth gently nibble on his ear and laughed softly, the sound rolling off her tongue in a seductive purr. “Why, Max, I would very much like you to fuck me.” She murmured sultrily, yet ever so bluntly. Something you’d find was very defining of the blonde.

When she leaned back, Cor spotted Jay leaving with Esme at the corner of her eye, but the alcohol was numbing her emotions just like she had wanted them to. Well, temporarily that was the effect, but Cor could also feel her emotions pushing at the barrier she had put up before even coming to the party. Once it went down, shit would happen. She knew that much. Her powers would run amok.

---

To Sky’s reply, Drake laughed, not bothering to say any more because he was busy watching Ashy and her reaction to his words. Inwardly the male was smiling in amusement, finding the blushing both entertaining and cute. The fact that a girl her age managed to be so damned… innocent, puzzled the dark male quite a bit. How did you accomplish that in this day and age? Maybe he was even a little impressed, but nah, actually he just loved messing with her, so he supposed that was it. It was no secret to Drake that the blonde was crushing on him, and he had this tendency to play with the girls who developed feeling for him, mostly because he honestly couldn’t care less about them and their damned emotions. Why should he? It wasn’t his fault they decided to set themselves up for heartbreak, now was it? Drake didn’t exactly hide the fact that he was a womanizing asshole. Sure, he didn’t show that side to everyone, but he wasn’t hiding it either. He just knew that different people had to be worked differently, that was all.

When Ember came by, Drake gave her a short look, gaze taking a tour of her choice of appearance for the evening. Hmm. His sister was going to throw a fit about her protégé looking like that, so he could only grin, knowing that Cor would be giving the girl a lesson in how to dress herself… very soon. Not that the outfit was ugly – it just didn’t fit her, and it happened to look a little… well, not sexy. Despite the dress being short, to Drake she looked like a 13 year old trying to look sexy and it wasn’t working for her. “Not too bad, darling,” he told her in response to her question before she was on to inviting Sky to shoot shots with her. On that note he decided to tune her out and refocus on Ashleigh, his current entertainment. Clown of the evening, folks. Once she made it over, she gave Sky a hug and Drake remained silent. He was soon laughed however, her comment seemingly very funny to the male. She was so ridiculously nervous around him that was part of the fun, honestly. “Baby, you need new habits,” he murmured huskily, knowing the effect he’d have on the blonde.

He merely smiled wryly when Sky shouted that he and Ashy should dance. Drake wasn’t a big dancer. Sure, he had been forced to take classes as a kid, and he was in fact quite rhythmical, but he didn’t like it, and it brought back memories of being controlled by his bitch of a mother. He’d rather get pissed and have fun. Much more his thing, honestly. Then Sky and Ember sort of disappeared from his immediate surroundings and he almost felt relieved when Ashy didn’t comment on the dancing. Meant he could ignore it. Instead she uttered the most ridiculously, nauseatingly cute and desperate comment he had ever heard. He chuckled, not able to stop himself. And he was actually going to reply when a hand began snaking its way around him from behind, causing him to pause. Instead, Drake raised an eyebrow, looking questioningly as Ashy, as though she was supposed to tell him who was feeling him up. However, he got his answer when Erin’s voice spoke into his ear. He smirked, turning his eyes towards the skies.

“Erin,” he said in calm greeting, not feeling up to her company currently. He wasn’t really in the mood, if he had to be honest. Maybe because of their previous heart to heart. There was a reason he’d sought out Ashy, and not Lulu or Erin. The two had taken up all of his day already. He watched when Erin handed Ashleigh her alcohol and chuckled slightly, “she does have a point, Ash. Better drink it before she does, and that might end badly. You don’t really want to be responsible for that now, do you?” He teased her, his eyes flashing with humour. Honestly he was ignoring Erin a little. Perhaps because she was being incredibly clingy currently. When Erin moved, all she earned from Drake, was a raised eyebrow. He’d done her twice today already. He wasn’t in the mood for a third one. To him, it seemed like Erin was clinging to him because she was having trouble with Keirol, and though Drake was good with a bit of… physical support, he wasn’t interested in being her emotional support. He had let her talk in the forest, and he’d offered a sliver of comfort. That didn’t mean he was a teddy bear all of a sudden.

When she pressed her body closer, more or less begging for his attention, despite the way her words were centered on Ashy, Drake cast her a wry smile, still just leaning casually against the bar. “Thought crossed my mind,” he said, voice smooth and playful, eyes moving to rest on the girl in question, a mischievous, Drake-like smirk on his lips. Then he looked down at Erin, moving a hand into her hair. He grabbed a nice handful and pulled her head back instantly, looking down at her with his completely eyes indifferent. He was done being nice Drake – he needed his more bastardly side and Erin had just made herself the victim because she had gotten in the way of his teasing Ashy to rid himself of it more innocently. “What is this, Erin? Hm?” He asked her, voice dark and husky, yet cold in itself, “an attempt at getting a last night on earth fuck? Because you’re probably going to need it after sidling up to Jay like that.” Then he smirked, letting go of her hair only to order a whiskey, taking it in his hand. As he took a sip, he watched Erin with a slightly raised eyebrow, as if waiting for something.

Drake was more than aware of the fact that he was being a right asshole, but then, she wasn’t little miss innocent, and she could handle it. Or maybe she couldn’t. Hell if he cared. Ashleigh had slipped his mind momentarily, but he soon looked over at her, shrugging, eyes flashing with that same glint of playfulness when he looked at her. “Sorry about that, love. Seems we’ll have to get you drunk a bit later.”

---

Chase Westley got out of his black chevy after parking it in front of the Arcana Academy, a place he had never been before in his life. Pushing the door shut, his gaze looked it over from the outside. He had to say he was impressed. If it was as good on the inside as it was on the inside, going to school might actually not suck entirely. Not that he didn’t like learning – he had just graduated what qualified as high school already, so he was pretty certain he had been taught what he had to be taught. He was there purely because of the social aspect, and he knew it was more or less the same for his twin. Of course power control class, along with battle strategy, might be interesting. In fact, the young male was sort of looking forward to those classes. Of course he didn’t have problems with controlling his powers, but maybe this teacher here had other or better methods than his grandfather. Who knew?

The twins had been on the road for 5 days, stopping only to sleep and eat, driving around 10-12 hours every day. Now, Chase liked to drive, so it didn’t bother him at all, but he could tell Kayla was getting a bit restless just sitting there in the passenger seat, and he couldn’t blame her. If it’d been him, he would’ve jumping out of his own skin. And he would’ve let her drive… but no. No matter who it was, no one but him drove his car. Not even his twin sister. Chase patted the roof of the car, smiling to himself. “Don’t think it’ll be too bad, sis,” he commented to his sister, slightly absent. Then the male walked to the back of the car, getting their bags and suitcases out of the trunk. He put them easily down to on the ground and smiled at Kay before taking his own suitcase and extra duffel bag. Taking his own welcome note out of his pocket, he looked it over. Room 13, and he remembered Kayla being in room 8. Well, at least they weren’t that far from each other. Small favors.

Once Kayla had her things gathered, Chase shut the trunk and locked the car, before the two of them made it inside. “Rooms on 2nd floor” he murmured to himself as they walked to the elevator situated in the fancy reception. He let Kayla get in before him, a force of habit, and then entered himself. As the death trap moved them up, Chase remained quiet, thinking. He thought he could hear music and that made him wonder. Of course he didn’t really even ponder the possibility of a party, because they had school tomorrow. He knew that from his note; they were starting classes tomorrow morning. Which was why he and his sister had arrived just in time to get settled in and all before school started. Once on the wanted floor, the two got out, again with Chase letting Kayla out first and he subsequently walked with her to room 8, where he stopped, smiling halfheartedly. “Looks like this is your stop, Kay,” he noted, one hand moving to mess up her hair. On that note, his half smile turned into a grin. “Hey, I heard music, so I’m thinking we put our bags in our allotted rooms and then go explore. Generally we should definitely take a look around.” Then he looked down the hall briefly, “I’ll be back in a sec.”

On that note, Chase made his way further down the hall, finding room 13 easily, on the other side from Kayla, but a bit too far down if you asked him. He didn’t much like being this far from her in a new place like this. You never knew what might happen. Hell, her roommate might be a psychopath and he’d be too far away to hear any commotion. She can handle herself you know, a more rational part of his brain interrupted, and he sighed, knowing that part was right. Still, he had trouble letting go of the anxiety he felt. He had always taken care of Kayla, not only because he felt protective, but because whenever they’d go out, his grandfather would gruffly tell him, “you take care of her, Chase.” And he always would. Hell, he’d gotten in fights with bastards who stepped out of bounds. Guys who started feeling her up, and seeing as Chase could so easily tell when she was uncomfortable, he’d always been there to shove the guy off. Thing was that they couldn’t usually use their powers in public, and physically his sister wasn’t that scary, honestly. So she’d needed him to be there. It might not be the same way here. Not that that would stop him.

He put his bags down in the room, looking around. It was pretty neat, he had to admit. But he’d have to look at things there later, so after a quick look at the bathroom, Chase moved out into the hallway once more and made his way towards room 8, home of Kayla Westley and her roommate, whose name Chase honestly couldn’t recall. He only hoped she wasn’t a psycho like part of him feared. Stopping by the room, he called out in a playful tone, “I’m back; you can stop missing me now.”

Leo couldn't calm down, no matter what Amy was trying to say to him. How could he clam down, walking in on his girlfriend collapsed on the floor like that? His pregnant girlfriend! She wasn't fine - that was evident. There was no way that she was going to be able to convince him that she was okay, unless she got up and started doing the cha-cha slide, or some other crazy dance. He didn't want to calm down; he didn't really think that he could, anyway. She couldn't ask that of him. He wasn't as calm and collected as she was, especially when it came to something, or someone, that he cared about dearly. He was completely the opposite, in fact. Panicked, definitely. He tried to suppress it as much as he could, looking her straight in the eyes instead of letting them frantically search her body, and lowering the pitch of his voice when he spoke from a squeaky mouse, to his normal tone.

However, his eyes widened again when Amy told him that he believed the baby was feeding off of her powers. What? It was... the baby, his child, that was doing this to his beloved girlfriend? She was right; it did sound bad. He didn't like the sound of that at all, and he would definitely make sure that she didn't have to use her powers again, unless it was a dire emergency, until... the baby was born. He didn't want her doing anything at the moment, anything that would cause her to end up like this again. Would she be able to carry on with her teaching? Her nursing duties? He wasn't sure - the immortal teacher knew that his stubborn girlfriend would want to carry on as normal, and wouldn't listen to his protesting against it, but he believed it would be best for her, and their... child, a word he still had trouble thinking about, if she stayed as relaxed as possible.

Then, another thought came into his mind; how in the hell had she come to be like this? Had there been an injured student? Someone who had been seriously hurt, so badly that it had caused Amy to end up like this? Just as he was about to ask her about it, however, Amy started explaining the situation to him. Chris? She had put herself in this situation, because of Chris? What the hell were your thinking, Amy? How could you let yourself end up like this? You shouldn't have pushed yourself so far... All of these things bounced around Leo's mind, words he wanted to say out loud to her, but words that he suppressed. He wasn't going to upset her in this state - there was no way that he was going to add any more stress and worry to the woman that he loved. So, he just shook his head, and slowly moved so that he could pick his girlfriend up bridal style.

"Amy..." He sighed, wrapping his arms around her tight enough so that she wouldn't fall, "I understand." He told her, pressing his lips softly to her forehead, before making his way towards the bedroom in his apartment. "It's your nature to help people; just please, promise me something? Please, don't push yourself this far again. For me? And... for... the baby." He stammered out, laying her down gently on his bed, a comfortable place for her to rest; it had to be more comfortable than the floor, anyway. He then sat down next to her, on the edge of the bed, taking her hand into his. He linked their fingers together, hating the fact that she barely had the energy to even talk to him at the moment. "Promise?"

---

As he held out the kebab stick for Lulu, Jackson watched her, smiling as she took a bite. She did it... quite erotically, surprisingly. It confused him to begin with; why was she doing that? There was no-one around, in particular Drake, that she would be doing that for- only him. However, it soon dawned on him that her eyes kept darting over towards the male, hoping he was watching, hoping that he was getting jealous of the two of them being together. The male held back a sigh, and forced that smile to stay on his face as she complimented the food, savouring the delicious tastes of the spices of the chicken.

Jack laughed softly when Lu said that there was nothing better than Jack Daniels; the comment seemed false when she was holding that bottle of rum so close to her heart. He knew that her favourite drink was rum, and she didn't have to make him feel any better about the situation that they were in, the situation that she didn't know about, by lying to him about the joys of Jack, the drink that his father had named him after. Stupid Irish man. Maybe that was why it was his drink of choice. As Lulu walked away, saying something about him being good to her, the male had to admit in his mind, that he really was. The reason behind that of course was his unrequited affection towards her, but she didn't know that. To her, he was probably just that friend who she could trust. The friend who would always be just that; her friend.

It took him a moment to register that she had returned, and was holding out a plastic cup filled with a shot of whiskey for him. He clinked the cup next to hers with a smile, "Who's better." He repeated, before downing the drink. He was usually one for savouring his drink, especially Jack Daniels, taking his time with the alcohol and letting it warm his stomach progressively. However, this was not going to be one of those time, was it? He was standing with the girl that his heart was devoted to, and every other second, her eyes were darting over towards a man who was playing around with her heart. Someone who wouldn't treat her right, someone who would end up hurting her, even if he didn't mean to.

He hated people who got intentionally drunk. There was no point in it, getting so paralytic that you forget how good the night was before, was there? Jackson only usually had enough alcohol to get him to his "merry Irish" point, where his Irish drawl became thicker, his smile became wider, and he just felt happy. And with the amount of alcohol that he had already drunk tonight, he was at that point. However, the happiness was being overshadowed by another feeling of just that; being overshadowed. "No-one's going to hate your guts, Lu." He sighed, putting down the cup, feeling as if this was going to be defining moment. He couldn't stand here any more with her, knowing that she was only half in the conversation, her eyes definitely searching elsewhere.

"Lu, I can't. I.... can't do... this, any more. I can't." Jackson began, running a hand through his messy hair. "I can't stand here pretending it's okay, that I like talking to you when I know all you want to be doing is talking to him. Your comment earlier, about me being better to you than anyone else - you know that's true. You know that he's just going to end up hurting you, and you still want him. That kills me, Lulu." Jackson paused for a moment in his admittance, and pressed his lips to her forehead, before letting his arm around her go loose and stepping away. "I care about you more than you'll ever know or appreciate, Lulu. I always have, and always will. You're beautiful, kind hearted, and the most amazing person that I have ever met; and you deserve so much better than... him." The male sighed again and took the moment to look into her eyes, his voice sincere and quiet. "I'm in love with you, Lulu."

However, before anything more could be said, McKenna arrived, interrupting the mood that he had set between himself and Lulu. He turned to look away from the woman whom he had just declared his love for and smiled softly towards McKenna. She was a good friend of his, someone who he liked to talk to occasionally, but he was not in the mood to talk to her after the conversation that he had just had. "Thank you, McKenna. You look very nice, and I hope you enjoy your night. I must excuse myself now, I apologize. Lulu, I hope you find someone to fix your door." The Irish man nodded at both of the women and then turned on his heel and and left, not want to wait around to see how his words had affected her. Instead, he was already regretting his decision, and wanted to take everything he had just said back, go back in time and stop himself from saying it. But, it was over now. It was finished. His friendship with Lulu would never be the same again, and he had just admitted his biggest secret to her - something he hadn't wanted to tell her, but it had finally just blurted out.

Well done, Jack. You've just ruined the best thing you ever had.

---

Max Henderson was definitely not the easiest person to hide things from, that was for sure. And it wasn't just the fact that he could feel your emotions, either. The way that he could read body language and facial expression also helped him learn how people were feeling, helping him get through in this pain filled world. It was obvious to anyone with a brain that Corentine was upset, or at least angry, by the way that she was sitting, and the glares that were exhibited on her face, direction towards one male in the room in particular. He watched as she copied the moves that he had perfected over the years, downing shot after shot to try and null the emotions that were trying to take her over. That, he had picked up, just because it was his trademark move. His line of view was blocked momentarily by the stunning body of Esme pushing it's way between the two of them, but he decided to ignore her, just as she was going to do to him.

He took a second to watch her ass as she walked away, appreciating the body that he had run his hands over many a time, the ass that he had cupped as she bounced ... yeah, you get the picture. A smirk appeared on the male's lips as he downed the rest of his drink and waved his hand in a short movement, summoning over the bartender. "I'll have whatever she's having." He commented, gesturing over to Corentine - whatever she was drinking seemed to be working on her emotions, dulling them down to the point where she was beginning to loosen up slightly, a feeling that he wanted to know as well. He finished the whiskey quickly before the new drinks were soon placed in front of him and he copied her movements, downing two of them straight away, one after the other. The alcohol was a lot stronger than the vodka and whiskey that he had been drinking, and it hit him with a powerful punch.

Then, Max's hand was wandering up Corentine's bare thigh, his own excitement at where this was going to lead growing. The alcohol was quickly removing any other emotions that had been growing in his mind, dulling them down to a soft droning that he was slowly learning to ignore. A wave of sadness suddenly hit him and he downed another one of the shots, which quickly dulled the emotion down to a small whine. This stuff was good, he had to admit that. Nice work, Miss Quellen. Somehow, their bar-stools had been moved closer together, and it was now easy for Corentine to lean forward. The combined feeling of her lips nipping at his ear seductively, and her hand trailing it's way down his body caused a shiver to make it's way down the male's spine, his body responding to hers almost instantly.

The blunt answer that came out of her mouth almost made the male chuckle, and he down the last couple of his shots after she had leaned back. He followed her line of gaze as she turned, watching the male that she was so upset about walking out with one of his own usual fucks, and he could almost feel that wall of emotions that she was holding up so well, collapse to the ground. So, instead of letting that happen, the male got down from his seat and walked around behind her, holding out his hand for her to take. His lips came to rest against her ear as his deep, sultry voice whispered, "now that, I can help you with," before he softly nipped at the skin below her ear. "Care to follow me up to my room?"

Amy could practically see the wheels turning in Leo’s head as she explained how she’d ended up in the condition he’d found her in, weak and tired, curled up on the floor. By the look on his face, Amy almost expected him to tell her off for being stupid, and more than that, she worried he’d blow up and take it out on Chris. Fortunately, however, Leo was better than that and instead just moved to pick her up. Once in his arms, Amy closed her eyes, sighing softly. Her head came to rest upon his shoulder as she finally relaxed, breathing in his scent and revelling in his heat. It felt good to be back in his arms like this considering the day she’d had. Things had been intense, and her head felt like it was about to blow. The day she’d had, well, she couldn’t think of days worse than this. She hated arguing with Leo as it was, so adding everything else to the list, the only positive thing to tell of, was meeting Chris again. Which had also resulted in her tapping herself out. She also knew that the blame for most of it, was on her shoulders, so she didn’t want a pity party. She just wanted to fall asleep in Leo’s arms and wake up a new day.

When Leo began talking finally, his arms tightening around her, Amy smiled weakly, loving him so much for not freaking out at her, loving him for knowing exactly what she needed; him, with her. She could feel when he began walking and figured he was either taking her to his couch, or to the bedroom. Most likely the bedroom since he probably knew she wouldn’t be awake for much longer, and the bed was by far more comfortable. She’d just slept three hours in a chair; a bed sounded like heaven to the young nurse. When he mentioned their baby, Amy’s violet eyes fluttered open. Was he on board? He wanted it too? Her eyes slowly looked over his face, attempting to read him. She thought maybe part of him did want to become a father, but she could also tell he was terrified of the idea. She thought maybe both the responsibility, but also the fact of the baby growing up and dying before him, was what pushed down on his shoulders presently. It worried her if she had to be honest, because she knew Leo would make an amazing, albeit slightly over protective father.

Soon, the brunette was placed on the bed, Leo sitting down on the edge next to her. A slight sigh of comfort escaped her as softness enveloped her, encasing her delicate body. The pillow below her head was heaven on earth. Her gaze sought out the man she loved, not able to stop looking at him now that she had started. She wanted to reply to him, but she had a feeling he wasn’t quite done talking, and she didn’t exactly have energy to waste as it was, so instead she watched him, waiting for him to finish saying what he needed to say. Another weak smile came onto her lips when he linked their fingers, that slight tingle of electricity still there despite her own fatigue. That amazed her, honestly. Then Leo asked her again, ”promise?”, and she nodded slowly, not quite sure what to say. He had surprised her a little by remaining calm. And she didn’t want to lose the baby either. Plus, Leo had asked her to take better care of herself, so though she had no clue where her limits here currently, she still couldn’t say no.

“I’ll try,” she said softly, looking up at him, breathing pattern heavy and a little laboured. “Just need to get used to my powers not being quite as… resourceful as usual.” With that, she offered another half smile, squeezing his hand weakly. “Baby, you need to go get some food. You haven’t eaten all day.” She said it mostly to get focus off of her, and also because he did indeed need to eat. There was no way she was going to be able to keep anything down currently herself, but that didn’t mean he shouldn’t eat. Almost on second thought, Amy added, “then afterwards, could you maybe join me down here? Cuddling sounds amazing right now.” Admittedly, Amy’s voice was still weak and she knew she sounded completely off, but at least she was talking. That was better than nothing, right? All she knew was that she definitely needed to go to sleep early, and she didn’t want to sleep alone. Or… at least she didn’t want to lie in bed alone. Besides, she felt like after all the two had been through, they needed to mend things somehow. On top of that, the young teacher just felt like curling up in Leo’s arms.

---

Cor didn’t miss the fact that Max’s gaze was directed at the same pair hers were. She knew he’d probably figured almost everything out now, aside from the details. He probably had the series of events lined out in his head right now, and he was probably right about all of his calculations. Somehow it only bothered Cor more that it had been Esme of all people Jay had chosen to head off with. She had never been more grateful for alcohol, because this thing with Jay… was breaking her. Not just her heart, but her as a whole. It felt like he was hammering at her, trying to break her into little pieces, and he was so damned close. The blonde had a feeling this was it between them. They had both gone so far; hurt each other so much, that they couldn’t go back. They just couldn’t, no matter how much she loved him. The thing was she only just realized that fact this exact moment. Watching Jay leave with Esme made Corentine realize exactly how messed up and lost things were, so she might as well stop fighting.

On that exact note, Cor’s purpose in being with Max, changed. She didn’t want to hurt Jay, she didn’t want revenge… she just wanted to feel better. She just wanted to pull herself back from breaking point and last time she had done that in two ways; screwing around like a whore, and spending a whole lot of time with Elijah. Of course that had only worked after her big breakdown, one she was desperate to avoid this time. Getting over Jay was a hell she didn’t want to go through, but even the stubborn bitch that she was, could recognize that it was time to throw in the towel. Jay didn’t want her and her alone. He wanted her… and a lot of others, and Cor just couldn’t live with that. She’d never be able to accept him looking at others like that, knowing that he’d love to be with them. One thing was for your boyfriend to look at others with appreciation, that made sense – she wasn’t going to stop looking at others either, but Cor knew how to read Jay, and the way he looked at Esme for instance, or Lulu, or Addie… she could tell it was more. That was what scared her shitless.

She took a deep breath after a little while, once the two had turned a corner and were out of sight. Her heart was pounding out of control and her breathing pattern was slightly uneven, so she was rather frazzled when Max’s heady, seductive voice sounded right by her ear, accompanied by the feeling of lips she had kissed many times. She hadn’t even noticed him moving from his barstool at her side, so her head moved swiftly to look at him, her eyes looking into his, light blue against dark blue. Her lips were slightly parted until her brain registered who was in front of her, at which point his lips were nipping on the skin bellow her ear, a very sensitive area to the blonde. She took a deep breath, biting down on her lower lip. Max was definitely the right person for her to go to, she decided as she looked up at him, her hand moving into his almost by itself. In the same movement, Cor slip down from her stool, her body almost gliding against Max’s due to the proximity.

Then the blonde placed her free hand on Max’s chest, slowly beginning to walk and push him at the same time, in the direction of the stairs that’d take them upstairs to the living quarters… more specifically the teachers’ quarters. She wasn’t actually allowed to be in there, but who cared? It wasn’t like Leo was going to do jack about it. Cor hadn’t spoken a word, mostly because she didn’t trust her own voice not to break if she did. She was worried speaking even a little would set about the second break down of her life. And in front of Max? Hell no. This vulnerability he’d seen tonight so far was plenty in her books. Rather Max than some others, sure, but if she was going to cry, she was definitely going to make sure she was alone. As she moved, she noticed Erin storming off, away from Drake, out of the corner of her eye, but for once Cor wasn’t mentally capable of containing more. Besides, Erin had rid herself of Cor’s friendship just earlier that night.

Leo wasn't sure what his girlfriend was thinking at the moment, but the immortal teacher definitely wasn't the better man that she thought him to be. At this precise moment in time, he wanted to go and kill Chris, put all of his Spartan training into action and take it out on the one man who had made him feel jealousy for the first time in his life, and the man who had put his beloved Amy in such a state. However, he knew he couldn't tell her that right now. He obviously wasn't going to do it; he would never hurt someone again after how many people he had killed in the past, but he just didn't want to tell her how he was feeling - it would upset her, definitely, and she would get stressed out about him instead of the person she had to worry about, which was herself. So, the male stayed quiet, keeping his feelings wrapped up inside, carrying her quietly into the bedroom.

The immortal male felt a small smile twitch at the corner of his lips when Amy nodded, telling him that she wouldn't push herself this far, promising him. "Thank you." He whispered to her softly, bringing her soft, porcelain knuckles up to his lips and kissing them gently. He felt like he had to be so careful with her, barely touching her - she looked as if she was about to break at any minutes, and she was just so pale; she looked like a ghostly version of her usual self, and Leo just didn't like it. It terrified him, and even though he was doing his best to hide from her how scared he was about her condition, he was sure that she had picked up on how he was feeling. Amy had always been good at that; reading him. She had always been the one person he didn't mind reading him.

He didn't speak when Amy spoke to him, explaining that it would take time for her to get used to her powers being weaker, at least for a while. But, then, she turned the conversation onto him, worrying about him. "Oh no, you don't." He smiled, squeezing her hand lightly, playfully. "I'm not going to leave your side, at least for a little while, Amy. Once your asleep, I'll make myself a quick sandwich or something. Please, don't worry about me. If you had seen how long I've had to go without food in the past, you'd realize that a few hours is fine for me." Leo let go of her hand then, and slowly made his way around the other side of the bed, his side. He laid down on the bed as gently and slowly as possible, as not to jolt his girlfriend around. He then opened up his arms, letting Amy get herself comfortable. "You were right; cuddling is amazing." He sighed, a smile on his lips once more - genuine, this time. He pressed his lips softly to her forehead, and slowly, very slowly, his hand moved. Hesitantly, the immortal Leo moved his hand from his side and laid it gently on his girlfriend's stomach.

---

Erin sighed.

Her bottle was nearly empty - just like everything else around her. Her heart, her mind, the entire gazebo that she was sitting in tonight. There was literally no-one around that she could talk to now. She had briefly thought about going to find Jade, her second best friend, but she hadn't seen any sign of the girl that night, and if she was here, Addison would be with her - one person she really didn't want to talk to any more. The girl was uncomfortable, cold, and just feeling rather down, at the moment. She pulled her leather jacket closer around her shoulders, and pulled up her legs underneath her, keeping them warm with her own body heat.

Then, there was movement near her, and for a brief moment, the girl thought that maybe, just maybe, someone had actually come to apologize to her. But, then, a cute, soft, shaky little voice hit her ears and she turned her head to look across at Ashy. Ashleigh Fox wanted to come and sit with her? The girl who had just seen her be utterly humiliated in front of everyone? However, the girl wasn't one for pushing away any company right now, and she just nodded once, gesturing to the seats all around her. "There's no-one else here." She sighed, letting her eyes gaze across the large gazebo. "As soon as I came in, everyone left. They're all petrified of me, you know. But, I'm not the crazy Hulk girl that everyone thinks I am. I have control. Well, at least some. And it only happens when I'm really angry anyway." A problem with Erin drinking was that she did ramble, but right now, she didn't care. Anyone being there to talk to was better than her drinking and pining the night away alone, at least in her eyes.

"So," the blonde sighed, shifting properly in her seat so that she was looking at the girl that she had never really spoken to before, a girl that she had once laughed at because of her aversion to alcohol and sexual activities, but someone who at the moment, she was really beginning to envy. She wanted Ashy's life; one that wasn't so complicated and dark, a life that wasn't filled with heartbreak, and trysts in the woods with handsome men who had control over shadows, and one that wasn't so alone, and filled with people that hated her. The girl twisted the lid off of her drink once more and placed it on the table in front of her; she wasn't going to be replacing it any time soon. She wanted the rest of this expensive drink in her system, and she wasn't really going to stop until it was empty. After another long sip of the drink, which was now almost empty, she carried on with the sentence that she had started minutes ago.

"What happened to Mister Happy, eh? Couldn't take five minutes out of his busy schedule to come and apologize for his fucking actions? Wasn't like I expected him to anyway; I'm much lower down on his list of "things that he cares about" than most people think. I'm nothing to him other than a worthless girl who he can get a fuck out of, am I?"

---

Yeah, Max wasn't stupid. He was a terrible drunkard, and an emotionless bastard, but he wasn't stupid. Whatever was going on between Corentine and Jaysin was clearly affecting the girl in front of him more than she was truly letting on; not that he expected her to be all open and chatty with him about her personal problems, but she had to know that it was futile hiding things like this from him. So, what the male had had in his head for the night's plan was quickly changing, to something he would rather not be doing. He wasn't too impressed with the situation - he didn't like being the one to sort things out that weren't his problem to begin with, but he wasn't that much of a dick to leave her in a state like this.

Standing behind her, Max finished creating his new plan, his lips against her ear, inticing her towards him. He knew that Corentine needed some sort of release right now, and she wanted to use him sexually for that. Usually, the guy wouldn't care about how she was feeling inside and would take her body the same way that she was taking his, but tonight he just felt different. He knew that if something happened between the two of them that night, he would regret it as it would probably destroy her emotionally. He couldn't have that on his shoulders; no fucking way. So, he was going to have to get emotionally invested in this situation. Brilliant.

Soon, the gorgeous blonde was pushing him towards the stairs which would take them both to his bedroom, her hand on his chest, directing him. The male kept up his pretense, a flirtatious smirk situation on his lips, and he made his way to her side, wrapping his arm around, his fingers dancing on the base of her spine, just above her ass, touching the bare skin showing through her form-fitting dress. No words were spoken between the two of them as he led her, this time, towards the teachers quarters, the sound of their breathing and their shoes on the linoleum floor the only noise breaking the silence. It didn't take long for the two of them to reach the door which adjoined the two sections of quarters together, teacher and student, and he took a brief look around to check for other teachers before pulling out his key and opening the door.

Within a minute, Max was opening the door to his own room, closing it behind the blonde when he was sure that she was inside comfortably. Then, he dropped his arm from around her waist, and stood by his door, looking at her. How was this going to go down, he wondered? Probably not well, that was for sure. She was going to hate him for prying into her life, but the man felt oddly worried about her right now. She definitely wasn't herself. "Corentine," he breathed, his voice quiet and gentle, a tone of voice that he usually used when he was speaking to someone in his office, "what's wrong?"

As Cor and Max made their way towards the teachers’ quarters, the blonde knew something odd was up with him. Sure, his smile was the same, and his hand on the small of her back was a teasing touch much like those he would often deliver in public, but still… something was just not quite right about the way he moved. He didn’t move like someone who was about to have a great fuck. She couldn’t quite figure out what was on his mind, and that was just typical Max. Her alcohol affected brain, however, soon discarded the observations. She was drunk, hurting and paranoid. It was Max. Of course he wanted sex. He always wanted sex. It’d be downright creepy if he didn’t. So she kept right on letting the handsome teacher lead the way, her body his to move. She stayed quiet, and fortunately so did he. It wasn’t like this was anything new for the two, and Cor really wasn’t in the mood for further conversation. She’d had enough of that. She was sick of talking. Talking was what had landed her here in the first place. If she had just stuck to her original plan and fucked Jay without it getting emotional, none of this would have happened.

She was sick of acting too, so her smile had disappeared, leaving her eyes cold and empty, yet with that broken hint of sadness that was threatening to swallow her up if she didn’t force it off of her very soon. Hence her current activities. When Max locked both of them into first the teachers’ quarters, then what she assumed was his room, she just followed like a good little puppy, which in itself was so unlike her. She felt like a zombie, just following Max. She hoped with all of her heart that something physical would bring her back. However, as she looked around the room, noting how nice the place actually was, Max spoke. First, her name, and she turned as if on cue, about to walk towards him too when he asked her ”what’s wrong?” The young blonde almost stopped breathing in shock for a moment there, but soon collected herself, her eyes suddenly glaring at Max. Her hair began swaying softly as her powers picked up of their own accord. This was not supposed to happen. Max wasn’t supposed to give a shit about her feelings or anything really besides her body. She was a bitch for a god damn reason! She had the friends she needed for talking.

What she needed right now was not talking, it was recovering, and knew one sure way of doing it. Talking wasn’t one of them, and it pissed her off that he was just messing up everything. What? He thought he could get her up here and then have a little heart to heart because he just cared about her so much and wanted to help her feel better? What mostly pissed her off was the way it made her feel; sad and on the god damn edge. If Corentine had been swaying before, she was falling now and she could feel tears pressing on, the unnatural indoors wind picking up even more, whipping around the room, knocking things off of shelves. There was no stopping it now. “You know what, Max? If I’d wanted the god damn counselor, I would have come during fucking office hours!” She sneered, the first tear falling. She took one step forward before simply stopping, the wind disappearing as her eyes ran over with tears, her heart aching unbearably. The wall she thought she had built so securely was crumbling at her feet, and the blonde couldn’t breathe through the lump in her throat threatening to suffocate her. She heaved as tears fell uncontrollably, trailing down her cheeks like they hadn’t in so long.

He entire body was trembling and she felt weak in the knees, so weak she almost fell onto the floor, her hands hammering onto the wood as she cried, her body trembling, and she couldn’t stop. So instead, Cor let it all out, her head falling forward, shoulders hunched as her arms supported her upper body, nails digging into the floor. “Fucking… asshole” she managed to choke out, her heart hurting like never before. Her words were intended both for Jay and Max. This hurt so much more than last time, and she couldn’t make it stop. She needed… she just needed to stop. She needed Jay. She needed him more than anything, and he was somewhere, probably busy with Esme. As the thought hit, another round of crying did too, and it all started over, her throat sore and thick with sorrow already. How could she still keep going? If she was lucky, she’d faint from her inability to breathe through the hurt. At least that would make it stop for a while. All she could feel was loss, and she was miserable; all she could think of was Jay and how impossible it all was. How much he didn’t want to be with just her. Yet her heart was screaming for him to fill out the big, black hole he had left in it.

“He’s breaking me,” she said through the tears, the lump in her throat and the utter miserable situation she found herself in. Hell, she didn’t even know why she was saying anything to Max. He was one of the worst functioning people she knew, yet he was to handle her problems? It would have made her laugh if she wasn’t so busy crying her eyes out, tears dripping from her cheeks onto the floor.

---

Drake watched Lulu attentively, looking into her eyes, secretly making sure they weren’t completely glazed over, but she was still lucid. Fortunately. Since when did Lulu even drink like this? Apparently she did when she was upset, and she began answering his brain instinctively started to puzzle the pieces together, figuring out head from tail in her explanation as to what was going on. He had more or less ignored her previous words, mostly because he didn’t have anything to say in this moment. Hell, he had enough troubles figuring out what to do without her little comments. Usually he loved them, but right now she was frustrating him. On top of that, he was now learning that Lulu had once been in love with Jack. Well, that added entirely new depth to their friendship, didn’t it? Because Drake could tell Jack had a thing for Lulu now. Had he always had one? No, Lulu soon answered without knowing it, when she told him about a Beth and a move.

So Lulu had been in love with an unknowing Jack, who had found someone else and moved away. As a result, Lulu had gotten over him, and what then? How was that upsetting? Unless… no… it couldn’t be. Jack wouldn’t just come out and tell her, would he? He frowned slightly as he watched the blonde wiggling her way into his heart. She had trailed off, as if knowing she wasn’t actually explaining what was wrong to him, but Drake had a pretty good idea as it was. Still, when she came out and said it, his eyebrows shot up in surprise. Then she added ”all I can think about is you.” A sentence that made Drake look at her more closely, his dark eyes gazing into hers for what felt like forever. How did anyone respond to that? Sure, he knew Lulu had feeling for him – that wasn’t what surprised him. Was startled the dark male was the fact that she had come right out and said it for once. This changed the game. His issue right now was the fact that she appeared to be upset about it.

To Drake it seemed that Lulu was eating herself up with guilt about not reciprocating Jack’s feelings, which was just stupid. It wasn’t like she could help who she fell for. If he’d gotten to choose, he wouldn’t have fallen for anyone, but he was completely helpless, and so was Lulu. Your heart never really listened to reason. Hell, if it did, he was sure Lulu wouldn’t be in love with him. She was bright enough to know that he was bad news, yet she remained interested. Drake sighed, but that was all he got to say before her hands were clenching his shirt and he raised an eyebrow, one hand brushing gently through her hair, his eyes slightly mystified, but also still a little worried. Most of all though, they were showing something so unusual to the male; care. Part of him wanted to laugh at Lulu, despite how cruel it was, but that was that little part of him still not recognizing the fact that he didn’t want to play with her feelings. Not really.

Instead, Drake wanted to show her that he cared. He couldn’t say it yet, he knew that much, but he knew how to show it. So Drake moved his hands to Lulu’s hips, gently pulling her up with him, before he smoothly moved them around her, his arms wrapping effectively around her, both to keep her up, but also just to hold her close. Then, his dark eyes fixed on her bright ones, Drake pressed Lulu softly up against the wall. Only then did he move his head, lips grazing her ear, hot breath dancing over her sensitive skin as he whispered, “you need to stop torturing yourself over things you can’t help anyway.”It wasn’t much comfort, but he personally thought it was a pretty good advice. With that, he finally brought his lips down to meet Lulu’s, his arms tightening around her. It was a soft kiss, much unlike those he had previously given. Not that Drake kissed a lot. For instance, he had never kissed Erin. Yet Drake knew in his gut that this was better. The tingle the simple contact sent through him told him as much. It was like their bodies themselves had been waiting for precisely this.

---

Amy knew instantly that it wasn’t going to work. He wasn’t going to let her turn the subject onto him. More so, she wasn’t going to get him to take care of himself rather than watch her as if she was about to fall over and die. So, she was a little tired, and a tad too weak, but she wasn’t dying… probably. No. She wasn’t. She was just pregnant with the child of two individuals who both had powers and it just happened to live off of her powers too. To be honest, after saying it out loud to Leo, she had felt a pang of fear herself. What exactly was she carrying? She had no idea, except it was of course a baby. All she knew was that, and the fact that this wasn’t natural. So many maybes and insecurities. Questions she needed answered, and she could only hope that her mum was able to help, because honestly her grams would have been the ultimate help here. Instead the one woman she knew had the same powers as her, was dead and forever out of reach. Suddenly she missed the woman all over again.

When he squeezed her hand and spoke, she sighed anyway though, just to let him know she wasn’t too happy with him just brushing it off like that. She let him talk then, listening, but not really paying much attention. Her ability to concentrate was waning ever so slowly, slipping out of her grasp just like her remaining energy. “You’re being silly, Leo. I’m not dying here… I’m just a little worn down… and pregnant.” She cast him a little, weak smile as his hand left hers, knowing he wasn’t about to go into the kitchen no matter what she said right now. Silly, protective, worrying man. She could tell he wasn’t nearly as calm and collected as he let on and she wasn’t all that surprised; Leo tended to panic when it came to her. Even when they’d just been friends, he’d be overly worrying whenever she wasn’t feeling too happy a day. He’d be the first person to ask her if everything was okay. She loved him for it, but right now it really wasn’t all that healthy. She was only relieved he hadn’t freaked out completely yet, but she knew he was only holding it together for her benefit. She forced herself to turn in the bed when she felt him moving into it, and laughed softly at the utterly slow and careful pace.

“You’re acting like I’m made of fragile glass.” She commented, somehow mustering up the energy to add a playful touch to her voice as she smiled, her lips bending just enough to give off the shadow of one anyway. She paused for a minute as Leo positioned his arms for her to cuddle into. Part of her didn’t want to, because he hadn’t eaten anything all day, and he needed to, but she couldn’t quite resist temptation and stubbornly spent the majority of her energy moving into a comfortable position, cuddling close, her lips falling into a relaxed smile effortlessly, her body able to relax completely once more. The smile grew slightly when Leo commented on the cuddling. “Of course I’m right,” she murmured quietly, closing her eyes, remembering the sight of Leo’s genuine smile. It was one of the best sights she knew, and it was great falling asleep to. Her head rested on his arm, her body curled into his. Then his lips were on her forehead, and the female was almost asleep when Leo’s hand finally reached its destination, coming to rest on her stomach. Her eyes fluttered open then and she looked up at him hazily, that soft, weak smile back on her face almost by itself.

Her stomach already had a small bump; she’d noticed it earlier when she had been sitting on the floor, but hadn’t paid it much mind. Now, however, Leo was turning her attention towards. The hand resting on the bed just beside her stomach made its way up to rest on Leo’s as she looked up at him. “I know it’s fast,” she said quietly then, her voice not much more than a whisper.

Despite how awkward he was feeling about his entire situation with Amy, Leonardo was actually feeling quite relaxed, laying here on the bed with her, his hand resting delicately on her stomach which was already beginning to support a small bump. She was right; this was going to go extremely fast. Her... situation wasn't going to be hideable for long, and they really needed to have a serious conversation about what they were going to do about it. He looked into her eyes as she turned to gaze at him, smiling down softly at her. "It is." He sighed softly, feeling Amy's hand move to rest gently on top of his. He was so confused about the situation that the two of them had been thrust into. He didn't understand what he was supposed to do, or feel right now, and he was completely out of his comfort zone.

It had been little over a week since that night in his office where their feelings for each other had come out onto the surface, and now, there was a pregnancy, and jealousy, and Leo was completely at a loss. Everything was different now, that there was a child involved, that the two of them had created a life together. Leo hadn't even been sure that he was able to father a child, due to his entire body having stopped changing or aging. But, now, his theories that he couldn't have a child had been disproved, hadn't they? His hand stayed on her stomach as he silently laid there, drifting off into his own little world of thoughts and day dreams. What was he going to be like as a father anyway? The immortal headmaster had never imagined himself as a father, throwing up a little baby into the air, smiling as he played with it, rocking it to sleep in his arms. His entire life had consisted of war, death, and doing whatever the hell he wanted to whenever he wanted to - and now everything was going to change.

"Amy..." Leo sighed, coming out of his little reverie to return her gaze, his voice little more than a whisper as he spoke, "What are we going to do? This is... so confusing, so different... I have no freaking idea what's going on, and it's terrifying me." The Spartan had always been a proud man; that was the way that he had been raised, never to admit defeat, worry or weakness. But he felt differently around Amy, and telling her everything that he was feeling was slowly becoming normality to him. She would listen to him and not judge him. Ever. That was just one of the many things that he loved about his beautiful Amy Roerig.

---

It would have been obvious to the drunkest person in the room that poor little Ashy was uncomfortable sitting around her, but Erin really wasn't in the mood to comment on that at the moment. Instead, she was rather happy with the woman's company, and almost found it cute that she was sweet enough to care about her own stupid well-being. Ashy seemed to be an extremely caring person with a maternal instinct that rivaled the lioness, and the blonde was slightly curious as to why she was wasting her time and talents on a girl like her; someone who had bullied her along side Cor for the past month and a bit. She wasn't as bad as her bitch of a best friend when it came to bullying, but she had always stuck by her side and laughed along with her jibes and jokes; it almost made her feel bad that she had been mean to someone as cute as Ashy here.

Erin snorted softly when Ashy said that Drake didn't seem like the sort of person who liked apologizing. Of course he wasn't, any idiot could see that. He was a dickhead, the biggest prick in the entire universe, but yet, he still had a pull over her heart strings. She hated it, the way that his smile made her knees melt ever so slightly, the way that his hands on her body made her never want to be with another man again. She looked up from the bottle she was gazing into when Ashy spoke again, this time about how Drake made her melt, how he made her feel like she wasn't in control over her own body, that he was her puppet master. "That's because he has a gift, Ash." She sighed, looking down at the drink that the cute little blonde had placed by her feet. Awh, cute. "He has a way to make every girl that looks into his eyes melt into his arms, fall into his trap where he keeps them. I've been there for years, so you can believe me."

The blonde moved to take the drink, putting her bottle down in the place that the orange juice had been sitting. She then took a sip of the refreshing juice, the sweet taste replacing that of the stale whiskey in her mouth. "Drake takes pride in the way that he can control women, and the way that none of them can get back into his mind in return." She sighed, putting the juice back down on to the floor. "I care about him more than I fucking should, and it makes me feel weak, and pathetic. I know he's never even going to see me as a friend, let alone someone he can actually trust, and all he sees is my body and my sex drive."

"I hate it too."

---

To: McKenna

Don't worry about it, McKenna. I needed to excuse myself from the conversation anyway. Don't worry your pretty little head about anything. x

From: Jack (:

Of course, McKenna had interrupted the conversation between himself and Lulu, but Jackson was almost glad that she had done it. He had wanted to get out of the conversation, and excusing himself in that way had seemed like the best way to do so without seeming rude or insensitive. Well, he had already been insensitive, in the way that he had told Lulu his feelings for her, but with alcohol coursing through his system, Jackson Murphy just became more and more brutally honest. It hadn't seemed like the best moment for him to tell her that, or in the best way, but he couldn't deal with her eyes gazing at Drake any more in the middle of their conversations; how she would always talk to him about how Drake made her feel, and then cuddle him and tell him that he was a great friend...

His mind went back to a time in the past, where he was walking through the woods with Lulu, back in the small town where they both had lived at one point, about a year after they had met and become friends. Everything was perfect that day, it was the middle of summer, they had both gone out into the woods and sat in a glade that they had discovered, and had shared a picnic. It really had been one of the best times that Jackson had ever had in his life, they were smiling, and joking, and holding each other as friends did. But whilst they were sitting there in the woods, Jackson felt the way he felt about Lulu change right there and then; the way that he saw her changed that day when a stream of sunlight came through the trees, illuminating her beautiful face as if she was some sort of angel, fallen from the sky, being bathed in light. He had brushed away a strand of her hair then, moving it out of her eyes and tucking it behind her ear, letting the light move onto her cheek. She looked absolutely beautiful; the most beautiful girl that he had ever seen.

But that was how far their relationship was going to go. After tucking her hair behind her ear, Jackson thought about leaning in to kiss her, to tell her how beautiful she looked, and then pressing his lips against hers, sealing his words with his actions. But he didn't. He couldn't do that to her. Jackson had never stayed in one place more than three years, which meant that he only had about one and a half left before his family would move on to another town, another army base, and another life. He cared too much about Lulu to do that to her, to show her how much he cared about her, and then to only have a limited time with her before it was all taken away. He had done that before, in a previous town, and it had broken the girl that he had left. He didn't want to see Lulu upset; that would break him. So instead, he created a plan. A plan to keep their relationship the way it was, to get rid of the small look of affection in Lulu's eyes that he had reflected in his own, to keep their feelings for each other at bay. He started dating another girl that they were friends with; Beth. Hopefully, seeing him with another girl would stop Lulu from ever developing anything more than a small crush for him. It was harsh on both of them, but he just didn't want to ever see her upset.

Jackson snapped his head up as he heard a pair of heels making their way over to him, and a soft voice hit his ears. He just looked up at her as she spoke, a sarcastic comment about making a girl walk in heels too big for her hitting his ears. Really, Jackson wasn't in the mood for sarcastic comments or complaining women, and he was again going to make his excuse and leave, heading for his bedroom. However, Jessica saved the conversation by asking him if McKenna had caused his upset. "Oh no, she's lovely. She didn't do anything. I've already text her." The usually suave and collected male tipsily held up his hand and showed her his phone, which was still open at the text he had sent McKenna. "See? All sorted. I actually ruined that conversation myself, you see. I told Lulu something I shouldn't have, and then she ran away."

Slowly, the Irish male downed the rest of his drink, and then stood up, a little wobbly on his legs. Usually, he never drank so much, but tonight... well, the alcohol had just kept on coming. He had drunk at least three more glasses of whiskey since his conversation with Lulu, and he was now beginning to feel as if he had hit his limit. Well, he had already gone past his limit, but he was determined to stop now. "I'm going to head back to my room, I think. Please, enjoy the rest of this... shindig, or... hootenanny..."

---

Bad move! Bad move! Abort mission!

Max almost shit himself when the air in his room grew colder and started to whirl around. He was definitely never going to ask Corentine Quellen about her feelings again, that was for sure. He was regretting it already; things were flying off of his shelves, a china ornament shattering into pieces on his floor, the books on his reading shelf falling off one by one. That was almost enough to get him angry - some of those were fucking first editions, hundreds of years old. He could feel the wall in Corentine's mind begin to shatter, brick by brick, and his own mind became overwhelmed with a crazy sense of anger, before that was instantly replaced with a crushing sense of hurt, pain and sadness. He had never felt emotions so strong before, especially from such a reserved person as Miss Quellen. He couldn't believe this was how she was f
eeling inside, how upset she was with whatever had happened between her and Jay. It almost made him want to care.

The first step towards him that she took made the English teacher take a step backwards, his back now pressed against the door that he had only just closed, his hand on the door knob. He was ready to run; he had been at the hands of Corentine's fury before, and he would be bat shit crazy to stand there and take it again. Corentine Quellen now had tears freely running down her cheeks, a sight that Max had never thought that he would see; he hadn't even been sure that she had human feelings at one point, but the scene in front of him was almost surreal. Within seconds, she was on her knees, collapsed into a sea of sadness, crying her eyes out. Max felt extremely uncomfortable now, but if there was something that he could do, he felt as if he had to do it. He had been the one to push that final button to make her crumble like this, and he felt as if he had to be the one to calm her down, if only a little.

The teacher was thinking the same thing as she was at this point, that he was probably the worst person in the world to even be thinking of helping her in this situation; he couldn't even help himself. But, slowly, he took a couple of steps towards the crying female, being cautious. He knew that Corentine was a volatile young woman, and he made his footsteps a little heavier, so that she would know he was coming towards her. Again, with a slow pace, he came down to her level, resting on the balls of his feet in front of her. "Erm..." was the first word out of his mouth, wondering what the hell he was supposed to say to her. He noticed on the floor that a box of tissues had been blown off of his shelf, and he reached over to take them, before placing them in front of her. "Corentine.... if he's really causing you this much pain, fuck him. I'm definitely not the best person to be giving you advice here, and I'm not even sure what went down between the two of you, but if a guy lets someone that he cares about get into this sort of state, he doesn't deserve to keep his bollocks. You care about him, I can see that, but... he doesn't deserve you."

Corentine Quellen had been broken. Pure and simple. The blonde was on her knees, crying in front of one of the most fucked up men she had ever known. Indeed, Max was most likely the last person she should be breaking down in front of, but he had wrought this. She had had a grip on herself. Sure, it was unstable and weak, but it had been there. Then he’d rendered her inner brick wall to dust and now she had no idea how to crawl out of the abyss she was in. Hell, she couldn’t even stop the crying, which only made her feel more pathetic. It was horrible, only made more so by the fact that Max was with her. In fact, she would hate it no matter who was with her right now. Cor hated showing weakness, and crying was the ultimate show of it in her book, so having company in this situation only served to further her feeling of despondence and resentment.

When Max moved towards her, Cor’s head shot up, her eyes locating him immediately, wary of his movements. If he touched her now she was going to do one of two things; one was to make him regret this whole thing deeply, the other was to fuck the shit out of him. She just didn’t know which, so she glared at him, silently warning him to keep a certain distance. She didn’t particularly want to hurt Max; she happened to like his dick. So if she could help it, she’d try to keep her temper somewhat non-violent, in spite of the fact that the guy was the reason she was like this in the first place. Tears kept rolling down her cheeks, her body continued to tremble softly, and truly the anger in her eyes were almost entirely drowned out my emptiness and complete sorrow. Not a look very becoming of the blonde. Corentine could tell, even through her haze, that he was approaching her as though she was a wounded lioness he was afraid of upsetting to the point of attack. That was probably a clever move.

Cor felt herself tense when Max crouched down in front of her, awaiting his next move. He was close enough to touch her and right now she didn’t even know herself. However, he only spoke, clearly hesitant and unknowing of how to handle the snivelling wreck she had turned into. Obviously he had had no clue what he was unleashing, which was only a small comfort. Then he moved and her gaze followed the exact path of his hand carefully, frowning when he took a box of tissues. She snorted quietly, sitting down on her bottom fully, using her hands to remove the wetness from her cheeks, smearing her mascara. Then she took a deep, shaking breath, for some reason able to stop more tears from welling. Not that she was feeling any better. In fact, she felt precisely as shitty as she had a couple of seconds before. Max’s words, however, made a short, bitter laugh emit from her throat.

“You’re so full of shit,” she remarked, sighing. She felt like every ounce of energy had suddenly left her body, like it had exited with all of her tears, and she couldn’t even muster up the anger anymore. All she felt was this hollow sense of emptiness in her heart, pain and sadness walking hand in hand. “You do realize most people would think I deserve every ounce of what he’s handing me here, right?” She smiled wryly, but it was completely empty and more sarcastic than anything. “Why are you even doing this, huh? You don’t really give a shit, so what’s your end? You cannot possibly prefer this to getting laid.” Cor didn’t really want to talk about her and Jay. She had embarrassed herself plenty already and she knew if she started talking about their situation – really talking – she would start crying again. Focusing on Max right now was easier.




Amy watched Leo’s eyes grow distant, his mind going into its own personal place; somewhere she didn’t wish to follow, mostly because when he did that, it was his way of preserving some personal space in spite of her presence. And she didn’t mind it. In fact, she understood it. Leo had been alone for so long, being around someone else constantly had to be a bit much for him at times, and if he needed to just space out and take the time to think by himself, she was going to let him. Besides, Leo wasn’t nearly as reserved with her as he was with others. As a matter of fact, he told her his thoughts more times than not, usually not hiding things from her. Except for the arrival of an ex, apparently. Oh no, Amy, don’t go there. It won’t take you nice places. She reminded herself, a soft sigh escaping her lips, her eyes closing simultaneously. She moved slowly to cuddle a bit closer, her hand still placed on Leo’s, which was lying ever gently on the swelling of her stomach, the tiny bump telling them both that they were to become parents way too soon.

Eyes closed, feeling warm and loved in Leo’s arms, Amy found her own mind drifting sleepily. The young nurse finally had time to wonder how all of this would affect both of them professionally, especially with the Noctrem students here. It was going to be a true nightmare. Leo couldn’t possibly keep them a secret for much longer with the rate of her pregnancy, and though that would fulfil one of her own wishes, she really didn’t think Leo should have to handle that pressure on top of everything else. Certain people would have a field trip with Leo breaking his own rules, and his pride was going to have to take a lot of hits at first. She didn’t doubt that. Personally she was sure some students were going to call her things as well, but she didn’t care nearly as much as Leo did about that. Mostly because most of those students would be gone in a matter of a few years anyway.

Then Leo spoke, breaking her line of thought, and she forced her eyes to open once more, eyelashes fluttering apart, revealing sleepy, violet eyes. Something was wrong. She could tell she second he spoke her name, and though Amy had a theory it was mostly Leo finally telling her how he was feeling, she feared this would need to be a longer conversation because she honestly worried she would fall asleep in the middle of it, which… probably wouldn’t be neither polite nor what Leo needed from her right now. She leaned in carefully and kissed his jaw gently once he had voiced his concerns. “We’re going to get through this,” she said quietly, voice so weak it was barely audible, “that’s what we’ll do.” Then she smiled vaguely, her lips bending only just enough to let it show. “I’ll call my mother tomorrow – I think my grams had a similar pregnancy.” With that, Amy leaned in, her head coming to rest on Leo’s shoulder, a slight sigh sounding.

“As for us,” she then said, “we’re going to take things one step at a time and try not to panic, okay?” Was that her sounding so confident? Amy had no idea how she’d pulled that out but it seemed like the way to go, and though she was completely as freaked and scared as Leo was, she couldn’t let it rule her. If she did, they’d both be out of sorts right now and that wouldn’t do. “Everything’s going to be fine. We’ll figure it out,” she finished then, reassuring her worried boyfriend.

Jackson almost laughed when Jess said that she could take him on any day, but instead, he held it back, and just sent her a quirky smile. "Darlin', you couldn't take me. You're the size of a leprechaun, and they're not the best fighters." He smiled, squeezing her hand lightly, a playful tone in his voice when he spoke. She was cute, that was for sure. Jack had never really noticed Jessica before; she was completely different from the blonde that he had such deep feelings for - for one, she was brunette. But, she was actually talking to him, and not letting herself drift away to think about another man. Jess seemed to enjoy just being around him, and that was nice. A nice change, definitely.

Her laugh was stunning as well, resounding throughout the empty hallway as they walked back to his room. It sounded like fairies laughing. He frowned for a moment when this thought flittered through his mind, but he let it pass - the strange things that he was thinking were a result of the whiskey running through his veins, nothing more. He was usually extremely level headed, but that was gone now. "Hey, you take that comment back, missy. I'm rather sensitive to people being racist about my Irishness." Jack's smile was once again mischievous as he joked around with the petite blonde, something he wasn't really used to doing, especially with people he didn't really know. But, Jess just seemed different. She was sweet, and nice. And liked him.

Jack just nodded as she spoke about wanting to leave anyway. He agreed with her statement, that most of the Noctrem students seemed like sluts and man whores; obviously, she was different, and so was Lulu, but most of them, he agreed with that. He slowed down for a moment, barely walking at a snail's pace when he saw Jess' eyes fade, loosing their colour, but only briefly. She was back to her normal self within a minute, and before he could ask her what was wrong, she was speaking again. Broken? He was confused. He definitely wasn't broken. Lulu didn't have that much of a hold on him; she couldn't turn him into a sniveling mess.... could she? Jackson stopped dead in his tracks and pulled his arm back into his side, bringing Jess with it. Soon, her body was pressed up against his, his face barely inches away from hers. His arm wrapped itself around her waist, bringing her even closer, close enough so that their chests brushed together with every breath. "I told the truth. That's what happened. I said something, and it backfired, and I'm over it."

And then, he lowered his head and brought his lips against hers, into a soft, yet passionate kiss.

---

Max snorted when Corentine said that she would have killed him if he had done the wrong thing, and he just shook his head. He knew that she wouldn't have killed him. She could have hurt him, or tortured him, thrown him into the wall, shouted at him, or anything like that, but she wouldn't have actually killed him. He didn't think she was capable of that, no matter how many times she threatened or ranted about wanting to kill someone, he was sure that she could never actually bring herself to do it. He had known that it was a risk, to walk up to her in such a weak state, knowing how much that she hated it, but he knew that the worst he would come out would be with a few broken bones. It would only mean a trip to Amy, anyway. Max could deal with the pain of being with Corentine; she had hurt him before, and would no doubt harm him again. But that was what you got when you got mixed up with the crazy that was Corentine Quellen.

Soon, the girl was collecting herself, and standing up, mumbling something to him about making him scream if any of this got out to the public. He followed suit, bringing himself up off of the floor and turned around, watching where she was off to. "Oh baby, please. You can make me scream in so many better ways." He smirked before the bathroom door was shut on him, and he moved to pick up some of the items that he flung off of his shelves, the ones that were still together. After putting some back in their original places, and then the others just wherever he fancied, he started picking up the broken pieces of china and glass, putting them all in a tissue that he grabbed out of the box. Nothing of much value was broken, nothing important to him either, thank goodness.

Within a couple of minutes, the bathroom door reopened and a cleaner, more composed looking Corentine emerged, a smirk on her face, which was instantly reflected on the male's face. Her emotions were once again being hidden behind a wall that seemed to be rebuilding itself slowly, her emotions under control once again after that little breakdown. That was one of the reasons that he chose to be with Corentine, rather than some of the other, more fragile girls around school, when he just wanted to quick fuck. She had no emotions, no attachments to him, nothing to distract him from his main goal of himself. It was definitely a good choice for someone like him.

Max slowly walked towards the girl, and wrapped a hand around her hair, gently pulling her face towards his when he was close enough. "Well, that's up to you. Do you feel like you need to talk shit some more?" He smirked, before then crashing his lips against hers, his hand staying knotted within her blonde curls. He wasn't sure if Corentien would be ready for intimacy, not after such a breakdown about a guy like the one she had just had, but he definitely wasn't going to refuse her if she was ready. He wanted her. He wanted to see her naked on top of him, moaning, and then he wanted to see her writhing underneath him in pleasure as he brought her to her peak. Oh yes, that was exactly what Max wanted.

The alarm clock next to his bed, beeping in his ear, awoke the male who had been fast asleep. Both him and Amy had fallen asleep on top of the covers after their conversation the previous night, and they hadn't woken up until now. Yesterday had been an extremely trying day for the two of them; Amy had announced that she was pregnant, she was already getting a bump, they were arguing more and more, and everything was collapsing slowly when it came to his school. Students were leaving every where, and more and more seemed to be joining from nowhere. It was confusing, to say the least, having extra students and loosing some, and Leo was loosing track of who was a member of his school, and who no longer was no. He pressed the button on top of the clock to stop the insistent beeping, and he gently shifted in the bed, turning to look at his beautiful girlfriend.

Amy's bump seemed to have grown again over night; the life in there seemed to be growing at an alarming rate, and the immortal Spartan was still quietly panicking about what they were going to do about it. How long was it actually going to be before they had a child? How long before he had to admit to the Headmaster of Noctrem that he had gone against his rules? How long did they have to get everything sorted before they could even think about raising a child in this environment. Amy couldn't even go to see a normal doctor with her pregnancy, as it obviously was a supernatural one; he was terrified about her health. Surely this wasn't going to be good for her. Everything seemed to be going too fast for the male, and he just didn't like it.

"Amy?" Leo sighed softly, the hand attached to the arm that she had fallen asleep on gently stroking her shoulder. His body was aching, that was for sure, since he had slept in such an awkward position, but he wasn't going to complain. Waking up to Amy was one of his favourite things that he had ever experienced, and a little bit of aches and pains wasn't going to destroy that happy feeling of his. "Babe, we have to get up." He pressed his lips softly against her cheek, before nuzzling her gently. "We actually have to teach children today."

---

Blonde hair stuck up from all ends underneath the duvet, and a groan emitted from the body that was curled up underneath. Erin wasn't sure if her roommate Loralei was in the room or not, but she sure as hell didn't want to deal with her general perkiness right now. She was extremely hung over, felt very sick, and she just didn't want to move. Her head was pounding as she dared to poke her head out from underneath the covers, but it went straight back under again. The brightness of the room had literally destroyed her eyes, and she instantly decided then and there that she wasn't going to be getting out of bed at any time soon. Who really cared about classes today? There was probably nothing good that was going to be taught on the first day - why should she even bother?

As she lay there, Erin was alerted to the soft vibrations that buzzed on her bedside cabinet, and she reached out a shaky hand from the covers to pull her phone underneath her safe haven. The brightness of the screen caused her to squint in pain, and she quickly turned the brightness of the screen down, until it was at it's lowest. Yes, that was definitely more comfortable to look at; it wasn't as if she was looking directly into the sun any more. A message from Cor was on her screen, along with a couple of missed calls last night from her friends, probably drunken calls asking where she was, or just them calling to tell her that they loved her. She opened the message from her best friend, her eyes skimming over the blunt words that stared her in the face. Blunt words from Corentine Quellen were never good, and she groaned as she realized it had to have something to do with Jay.

To: Cor<3

Okay. You may have to give me a few days to recover from last night. Seriously, I would rather be in hell than feel like this.

From: Erin xo

Erin tapped a response back on her touch screen, before dropping the phone next to her. She was probably in hell with her best friend, if Cor had seen her sitting next to her boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend, or whatever he was right now, but she just didn't want to deal with it. All she wanted to do was stay curled up in bed and sleep, for about a month. Yes, that sounded good. A month of sleep. Maybe by then, she may have withered away to nothing, forgotten about whatever stupid feelings she had for a certain brother of her best friend, and this hang-over may have vanished.

But that was a long shot.

---

The previous nights events were playing through Jackson's head in a dream; the frank admittance of his feelings towards Lulu, her running off to be with Drake, and him taking solace in a beautiful brunette that seemed to smile whenever she was around him. Jackson definitely wasn't the sort of person to have a one-night hook up, and he wasn't the sort of person to drink excessively either, but that night... he felt as if he had needed it. The want to be drink his sorrows away, and then be close with someone had just been overwhelming, to the point where he had actually acted upon those wants; a rare feat when it came to the usually gentlemanly Irish man.

Slowly, the male turned over in his bed, a bare leg brushing against his as he moved. His eyes slowly opened, taking his time with them as the sunlight streaming through the slightly open curtains was almost blinding. His head wasn't as bad as he had expected it to be that morning, but it was still aching if he moved it. Something else was aching too actually, although he couldn't put his finger on it. Jack decided that he was going to have to wake up Jess, to gently shake her awake, or something. He didn't know how to wake up a naked, sleeping girl that you practically just met and slept with, so he was probably going to go about it the easiest way, with just a hand on the shoulder, and a shake.

As he went to move however, Jackson felt himself stuck. He couldn't move. He soon pinpointed where that ache had been coming from, and he dropped his head back onto the pillow as he heard the gentle rattle of a chain. A chain? He exhaled a loud sigh when he looked up towards the ceiling, between his raised arms. Somehow, last night, Jess had handcuffed him to his headboard. He pulled gently on the restraints, feeling the metal of the hand-cuffs press into his skin, causing a discomfort in his wrist. Okay, this definitely wasn't good. Jack looked to the left, noticing a shape in the other bed, and the hair of Drake poking out of the duvet. He wasn't sure what had happened between his friend and Lulu last night, but he wasn't going to ask, because he didn't want to know. Besides, he was going to have enough to talk about if Drake woke up before Jess did, and found him in this.... predicament.

"Jess." Jackson breathed, his lips practically brushing against her ear, as he shifted as close as he could towards her, without rattling the chain that kept him restrained to the bed. "Please wake up." His voice was a hushed whisper, trying to be as quiet as possible, keeping Drake asleep. "I seem to be handcuffed to the bed, Jessica." The last he had remembered, Jessica had been messing around in one of the drawers of his bedside cabinet, and he was sure that was where the handcuffs had to have come from - even though they weren't his. So, she had to have been the one that had the key.

Right?

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beeep… the sound went on and on… and on. The blonde groaned quietly, wishing the damned alarm clock to everlasting hell… where it might burn for eternity. Yeah, she wasn’t in the best of moods, as one might guess. Her head was aching and so was her entire body, although to be perfectly honest, her body was aching quite nicely. She’d lost track of time and the amount of times she and Max had fucked by the time they were both spent and exhausted. At that point, Cor had crawled out of Max’s bed, tired enough to go to sleep on the damned floor, but she’d only just begun to gather her clothes – thong under the bed, dress by the door, and her shoes… well, she thought they were in the bathroom – when Max spoke to her, asking her to spend the night instead of leaving. Usually Cor always did the fuck-em-and-leave-em routine, and she knew Max was the same, so she had wondered why he suddenly wanted her to sleep over.

Not for long though, because her hazy, tired brain, didn’t really want to go back to her room with sickly sweet Ashy, and maybe part of her wanted what Max offered more than she wanted to admit to herself. In any case, Cor had been too exhausted to ponder things further and she’d gotten back into bed. Funny thing was, the two of them had been rigid as hell laying there for the first while, Max’s arm hesitant around the blonde, until they’d sort of simultaneously relaxed and then it had felt sort of nice. She was surprised to find that she had actually liked just sleeping with Max, and she couldn’t quite figure out what that meant. In any case, the damned alarm clock was killing her. She opened one eye slowly, searching lazily for the bloody thing. Locating it, she then moved her naked self, hoisting her middle above Max to reach the alarm on the nightstand on his side of the bed, her hands supporting her on the opposite side of him. His arms had still been around her when she awakened, and she hadn’t eve flinched. Weird, this knew relaxed calm around Max.

Corentine moved her hand then to push the off button, glaring at the thing when she found she couldn’t reach. That was just amazing; she had moved for absolutely nothing. Quite bothered with the thing, and in not the best of moods already, she then cast the machine a vengeful smile before wind picked up, smashing it against the wall, effectively cutting off the beeping. Noting that Max was stirring too – probably only due to her – she smiled wryly down at him. “I officially hate your alarm clock, so I’ll buy you a new one.” She told him, voice surprisingly playful as she moved back down to lie on the bed. Jay had yet to spring to mind, but then again, the blonde had only just awoken. However, her first class of the day sprung up immediately. Great, biology. Like shit wasn’t fucking awful enough, she had to start off her Tuesdays from now on, with biology class. That was simply fucking magnificent. She rolled her eyes at the thought, very seriously considering cutting, but if Max had classes during first period too, it’d feel weird staying in his bed anyway, so she merely looked over at him, a slight grin taking over her face.

“Good morning,” she finally said, noting his ruffled manliness only even more sexy in the morning, his body gorgeous as ever. Good morning, indeed, she thought to herself, her grin widening slightly before she added, “is it weird that I could really fuck you again right now?” They probably didn’t have time though, with it being 7 am, but damn, he was downright edible and Jay was starting to force his stubborn way into his head, only pushing the girl even more. Her own curls were surprisingly tame if you thought about it, lying almost perfectly atop her head. She had always been lucky like that. All that really had her looks ruffled were the activities of the previous night.

---

The young nurse was fast asleep, surprisingly comfortable, when the beeping of Leo’s alarm clock caused the male at her side to stir, and her as well. She didn’t move though, or even open her eyes. Instead, feeling blissfully at peace, the brunette remained where she was in that same position. Besides, it was Tuesday – both she and Leo had late classes. Well, she had her first one at 12:15, but there were still many hours to go there. So when Leo gently contacted her, his fingers brushing gingerly against the skin of her shoulder, his lips pressing down on her cheek, she merely smiled to herself before turning to him, a lot of her energy restored. It was amazing really, how much a good night’s sleep could do, although she was far from sporting her usual amount of power, she knew that much. The baby was still tapping her, but for the weakness last night, she had only her own idiocy to blame. She should’ve taken better care of herself, she knew that, but she couldn’t just let Chris be in pain either.

Violet eyes appeared as Amy’s eyelids fluttered open, and they settled on the handsome man now in front of her, a more vibrant smile adorning her features, the colour back in her cheeks. “I love you, Leo, but if you pull me out of bed at 7 am, in spite of the fact that I don’t have classes until 12:15, I will shave your head and glue feathers onto the skin while you sleep tonight.” She told him, her eyes glinting with humour. Of course she was kidding – she would never actually do that – but it should give him a pretty good idea of how much she did not want to leave the bed at present. In fact she had no idea why he wanted to, except to work – headmaster duties and all. Hah. Headmaster duties. Did those usually involve hiring very flirtatious, obviously still interested, ex girlfriends? And why the hell had Amy never even heard of the woman as it was? Why was she even there?

And while she was at it, what did they really need more PE teachers for? She just… didn’t get it. Was Leo still interested in her? Was Amy just being paranoid? No. No she wasn’t. She was being perfectly logical. What woman would just quietly accept this? Not her, that was for sure, and Leo was going to learn that soon enough. Gods, they were having a child together and all of this was just tearing at the seams of their already way too new and fragile relationship. Amy didn’t feel the least bit established, especially since their relationship was not public. This Katia person had no idea Leo was in a relationship, which to her would make him open game. And he wasn’t – not by a long shot. Amy would fight with teeth and claws when it came to keeping Leo. Usually she was rather mellow, but this jealousy was new to her. She felt sick even to think of the way Katia had been looking at her man, and to think of watching her flirt with him… it was almost enough to make her hurl again.

Her smile had slowly disappeared as the brunette’s thought took her down a darker trail. Some might call it pregnancy hormones and all, but though Amy was much longer ahead than she should be, it didn’t cross her mind. This whole Katia-deal bothered her more than anything, so, her mood seemingly changing in a matter of seconds, she added a biting comment; “but you’re welcome to leave, in case you have more exes to hire.” Normally this would have been so unlike Amy; she would have waited, taken her time, and spent some time chewing on how to handle it, but pregnant Amy was slightly angered, she wanted answers, and more than anything, she wanted an outlet for her irritation, preferably at the man causing it. So she didn’t care.

---

Not a big sleeper, Drake had already been awake for a while when he heard Jackson rustling with the cuffs little Miss Coleman had obviously chained him with. He grinned quietly, his back turned. Oh, this was priceless. He had put a pair of hand cuffs in Jackson’s drawer a while back – a drunken joke – and had actually forgotten all about it until now that he was actually using them, not something Drake had ever imagined would really happen. He had come in the night before, a half sleeping, drunken Lulu in his arms, immediately noticing the naked, sleeping couple in the other bed. Accustomed to much worse at Noctrem, Drake hadn’t even frowned, but had actually had to fight not to laugh out loud, waking the two, and maybe even calling Lulu back to earth. Instead, he had taken the keys from the night desk after putting Lulu in his bed and hidden them. Being drunk himself, that had seemed like the perfect idea. He was a freaking genius when he was drunk, he soon decided.

This was going to be the best morning in the history of mornings. A sleeping Lulu was currently in his arms, hidden from Jackson and Jessica with the help of a duvet and Drake’s own size. He was only wearing boxers himself, and Lulu… well… she was wearing everything but her underwear… which he had gotten rid of during a very heated make out session the night before. He had actually managed to keep himself from taking the last step; actually fucking her, because… well, he had lots of reasons. One among many, she had been drunk, and though she had been very eager, Drake had stopped. He had no clue how, thinking back on it. He had wanted her, and he had been very fucking turned on by her too, but no, the manwhore of all manwhores had actually stopped. Now, he wasn’t too sure what he thought of it, but he had to admit, just lying there with the blonde in his arms, was rather nice.

The only downside? He knew his involvement with Lulu was a thorn in Jackson’s eye, something he only considered an issue because Jackson was among the few people Drake dared calling friends. Not people he usually did things to bother – in fact, Drake tried to preserve those few friendships, but if it came to choosing between Lulu and Jackson… Lulu came first, which was why he had chosen to bring her to their room regardless of the complications. Lulu had been drunk out of her mind by the end of their stay in that common room… where he was pretty sure her underwear still was… and he hadn’t wanted to leave her, nor take her to her own room full of splinters and such nuisances. Primarily, though, he hadn’t thought much about it in his drunken state, only wanted to make sure Lulu was okay. Contrary to popular belief, Drake had real feelings for the blonde. The problem was that he couldn’t figure that out himself, because emotions were not something he was very used to.

He didn’t want to hurt her, and he had warned her, but he also wanted her, and she had chosen to disregard his warnings. Well, his and probably those of countless others. Lulu had been into him for a while; that much would have been obvious to anyone with eyes and ears – she did a piss poor job of hiding it – and he was sure her friends had talked against him, not to mention his own sister. Cor knew better herself though – Drake knew her words whispered in Lulu’s ears had been filled with anger, hurt and a wish to hurt Lulu, not the truth. On that note, he really needed to talk to his sister. Right now, though, he was enjoying this moment too much, so grinning quietly, the male waited to see what would happen.

Her ears were ringing. The sound was violent and jarring, causing Katia to blink and slowly come to. The cool tile of the bathroom floor stuck to her cheek as she lifted herself, her back tossing itself into a spasm. She grunted and felt the after affects of the methadone hit her hard. Katia slammed her hand out to grip the sink to keep herself from swaying. Using her free hand she rubbed her eyes.

“Are you okay?”

Katia turned rapidly to look behind her. A voice felt like it was coming from the bathtub. She crawled over to it, tearing open the shower curtain and seeing nothing.

“Katarina. Prendi dal pavimento. Cosa sei un cane?” (Get off the floor. What are you, a dog?)

It sounded like her mother. “Smettila per favore,” she groaned, slapping her cheeks with her free hand. It was the drugs without question. (Stop it please.) The doctors had warned her that withdrawal would have her hooked. Every time she went without it for more than a day it was nearly unbearable. And with the wine and alcohol last night…she had done herself in. Shakily she moved to stand, feeling her stomach churn as soon as she was on her feet. Fortunately the toilet was at hand when he knees buckled and she needed to hurl up. For the most part it was dry heaving, more painful than the result of a hangover. She needed something. A sedative or an analgesic. That’s what they had tried to put her on before she ran into Leo and it had been too hard. The back pain was too much. The withdrawal was worse. Every time she got closer to being off it, her family was in her head. The hallucinations, the nausea, the fatigue and chills, paranoia, mood swings, all of it was hard. And she couldn’t go through it alone. But now she had a class to teach – didn’t she? And if she showed up like this she wouldn’t be able to get through ten minutes without her mother appearing to her. Or worse, her father.

Quite the first impression.

She knew they had an infirmary, after all Leo had introduced the other woman in his office yesterday as the school nurse. That meant they had drugs, or something to help her take the edge off, even if it was another pain killer. She needed something less…severe in side effects.

Katia flushed the toilet and stood, turning on the cold water in the sink. Pooling water in her hands, Katia splashed her face. Awareness jolted through her, and she panted, pushing her hand through her hair and noticing the dark circles under her eyes and the contraction within her pupils. Turning to her suitcase, she tore it open and pulled out an outfit and her cosmetic kit, including eyedrops.

“Questo non è abbastanza,” she could hear her mother saying. (That’s not pretty.) “Pensi senape è bello,” Katia snapped back. (You think mustard is beautiful.) shaking her head and trying to push herself into reality. Her mother was a world away, likely dead or dying as she waited on her husband’s hand and foot. Katia dressed herself, opting to take her purse with her in case…something stupid happened. And she selected a pair of black flats instead of her usual heels. Her legs still felt weak and she knew she needed to eat but likely couldn’t hold anything down. Not until the Methadone was dealt with.

“Dov'è tuo marito?” her mother asked her. (Where is your husband?) Katia scoffed and shook her head, moving out of her suite. The halls were quiet and she could just hear the moans and groans of hungover students coming to and preparing themselves for class. If she ran across anyone, she didn’t care. Surprisingly it didn’t take her long to find the infirmary, however the door was locked.

Katia pursed her lips, looking over her shoulder to see if anyone was coming by before she dove a hand into her purse, retrieving a credit card she hadn’t put back into her wallet the day before. She slid it between the door and frame, jimmying the lock however much it would give and pressing the card down and finding that it didn’t budge. Katia grunted in dissatisfaction before she moved to kneel in front of the door, putting her purse on the floor and digging through it. Pulling a bobby pin from her purse and a nail file, she proceeded to picking the lock manually and within two minutes she had it click loudly, the door swinging open. Katia dropped the tools, reclaimed her bag and quickly moved inside, not even caring to close the door.

“Che cosa stai facendo?” (What are you doing?)

Katia tossed her bag onto a counter, not caring if it took out a few boxes of bandaids and tongue compressors. She began to tug on cupboard doors only to find most of them locked. Anything that opened had unimportant things in it – Kleenex, paper towel, office supplies. She could feel herself growing desperate, the pain radiating from her lower back but the voice grew louder in her head, telling her off for what she was doing, mocking her outfit for being lewd and inappropriate, mocking her for being so helpless. She felt her grip on reality slipping when finally she turned to the source of the sound and nearly fell over. Her mother appeared to her, short and stout with her long jet black curls, dressed in her long kaftan, an apron on and a wooden spoon in hand. She crossed her arms at her and Katia shuffled backwards, sending several glass jars of apparel off the counter and onto the floor. The noise startled her and she turned to look at the mess before looking back at where the hallucination of her mother had been only to find it gone.

Well, the first things out of Amy's mouth hadn't been what the man was expecting. A small smile cracked onto his face as she spoke, and he gently leaned down to press his lips to her forehead. "I love you too Amy, but I don't think I could pull of a feather-head, babe." He grinned, before then he thought about the rest of her words. No classes until 12:15? Then, he remembered that the schedules had recently been changed to accompany the rise in students, and he hadn't remembered that both Amy and himself that day had late classes. His only class that day was last lesson, anyway. "I'm sorry." He spoke, linking his fingers with hers apologetically, "I forgot, and my alarm was still set for yesterday's arrival. Forgive me?"

Leo felt a little bad about waking up his pregnant girlfriend so early, but he was sure that it would be forgotten soon. It wasn't that big of a deal, anyway, not at least to him, and it would soon pass. He usually woke up early anyway, Spartan training still embedded in his modern day routine, and he had a lot of things to do, things only a headmaster could do, and with the added students in his school, the pile of work on his desk was growing. The room grew quiet as neither of them spoke, and Leonardo looked down at the beautiful woman on his bed. She really was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life, and he was so lucky to have her to call his own. And now that she was pregnant too.... the fact had really sunk in to the male this morning, seeing the bump on her stomach, realizing that this was really happening; Leo was actually starting to look forward to the coming couple of months or however long her pregnancy was going to be. He had reacted badly at the beginning, when he had found out that she was carrying a child, but now... he wanted this to happen. He was excited to become a father.

Amy's expression had changed from an adorable morning smile to a face of pure anger and irritation, a looked that made Leo moved back slightly, pulling away from her. He was worried when she looked like that; it meant that she was angry. Which was never good. He sighed when she spoke, flopping back down onto his pillow, covering his face with his hands. Really? She was going to do this now? Just after he was going to tell her that he wanted to be a father, and that he was happy with everything? "Amy...." He groaned, dragging his hand down his face. This wasn't how she usually acted, and Leo was sure that it had something to do with her pregnancy. Maybe he wasn't going to enjoy these months as much as he had previously expected. "Please, you have nothing to worry about. Katia is just a friend who needed a place to stay whilst she recovers from her injury. There's nothing else to it."

---

This was getting rather awkward now. Jackson was strung up on his own bed, with a girl that he barely knew naked beside him, and the guy that had stolen the heart of his best friend and the girl that he loved asleep on the other side of the room. The male dropped his head back, as best as he could in his current position, and closed his eyes, and exasperated sigh escaping his lips. He ignored her comment about being sexually dominant, and just lay there. He just wanted to get out of this now, to forget the past evening, and go back to the way that everything was. But of course, that wasn't going to happen, was it? Jessica's words alerted Jack to the situation presenting itself, and he snapped his head back up, his eyes wide. "What? They're not here? Where else could the be, Jess?" He asked her, his eyes frantically following her around the room. He couldn't well stay here for the rest of the day, could he?

But the morning just continued to get worse. A soft, female voice that didn't belong to Jessica alarmed the Irish man, and his head snapped towards the Drake-shaped mound in his bed, the area where the sound had come from. Had he really brought Lulu back here? After everything that happened last night, everything that Drake probably knew, and he had still brought her back here? Jackson took in a deep breath and prayed, hoping that it had just been a mistake, a horrible, horrible trick of the ears. But when a blonde head popped up from behind Drake's shape, and Lulu's face registered in his mind, Jackson knew this wasn't a trick of the mind. This was real. The girl he loved was sleeping next to the man he was thinking of calling his best male friend, looking at him, who was handcuffed to the bedstead, with a girl they barely knew. This was a nightmare.

Jack moved to kick the sheet upwards, using his feet to cover more of his body than was already sheltered, bringing the cover up to the middle of his torso. It was better than nothing, he had to admit. He looked over at Jessica again who was searching for the keys to his release still, and he glanced around the room himself, hoping to see something shiny and silver. Nope. Nothing. A bang caused his head to turn to the left again, the sound coming from Lulu hitting her head. Usually, he would have rushed over and asked if she was okay, but after the previous night, he was sure he didn't have the right to ask her if she was all right any more, and he couldn't really move. Now he really wanted to just leave.

"Jessica, please. Find those god-damned keys."

---

The awkwardness between himself and Corentine seemed to disappear quickly, thank god, and Max stood there in all of his naked glory, holding out his hand for her to take. He wasn't sure what was happening to him, as he definitely wasn't the sort of person to care about what someone thought, especially a girl that he usually just used for his own pleasure, and he wasn't the sort of person to show cute gestures such as kisses on the cheek. A small shudder ran through his body when he thought about being more than just a player, more than the bastard that he had been for most of his life, and he didn't like it. It felt strange, and alien, and wrong to him. Although, it still felt, right? It wasn't as if he had a crush on her or something, or was feeling something real for her, but there was something new. Something that made him just want to care for her, every now and again, and to make sure that she was okay.

"I'm turning into a pussy, it seems." Max mumbled under his breath in answer to her comment, but he quickly pushed it aside, plastering his trade-mark smirk back onto his face, watching her stretch right there in front of him. He bit down on his bottom lip softly, appreciating the sight; she really was a Goddess of a woman, stunning even. He stayed in his position as Corentine moved to go into the bathroom and collect her phone, his eyes following her ass as she went, again, appreciating the beautiful thing in front of him. He didn't care that she was ignoring him, walking away from him; he got to see exactly what he wanted. His head titled to the side ever so slightly as he watched her pick up the phone and sigh, before walking towards her. The English teacher wasn't going to ask her what was wrong, but he was going to take her into that shower, and wash away all of the troubles that had seemed to come over her.

Max let himself be pushed into the shower, and he turned on the water with the hand that he didn't have placed on Corentine's hip. It came out cold at first, and he turned the shower-head to the side so that it wouldn't freeze either of them, before turning it back around onto them when the water warmed up. "You want to talk? But that's just not as fun." Max playfully pouted, moving around slightly so that the main stream of water was flowing onto her body. "Rebecca? Eh.... we dated for a little bit when we were kids, but it just didn't work out, I guess. Stop asking questions, and turn around." He smiled at her, picking up one of the bottles of shampoo off of the shower floor.

When Leo groaned her name as if he was the victim in their situation, Amy narrowed her eyes, glaring at him in irritation. She moved in the bed so that she could better look at him, but she remained horizontal, head on the pillow which she had come to think of as hers, one arm below it to raise it just enough to offer proper support as she was lying on her side. Her usually straight hair was unruly and messy, and strands were falling onto her face, but she didn’t seem to care, because except for blowing absently at them once in a while, she made no moves to remove them from her once more healthy looking skin. Her lips had moved into a non-expressive mien, but her eyebrows were pushed slightly together in her frown, which, along with the narrowed-eyed glare she was serving Leo, gave her an air of pure irritation. Not exactly anger yet, but she was definitely getting there, her moods seemingly taking some crazy rollercoaster ride, not that Amy was yet reasonably enough to see that herself, something that was in itself very unlike her.

With his next words, however, Amy took a deep breath, trying to keep her emotions somewhat in check. A friend, was she? Last time Amy checked, ex girlfriends tended to be a touch more than a ‘friend’, especially in Leo’s case, since he so rarely actually dated, and if Amy had to be perfectly honest, maybe what bothered her the most was that she had an inkling as to when this had gone down; she remembered Leo having been away from the Academy a year or two ago, and Amy gathered that was when things had happened, mostly because Katia didn’t look old enough for it to be much longer ago, and Amy would have registered something if she’d been around Leo on a daily basis during a time in which he was dating a woman, and the time frame meant that while she had been missing him, lost for him at home at Arcana, Leo had been not just sleeping with, but dating someone else, and that knowledge hurt. A lot.

And now she was here, and Leo was actually hiring her. Really, how did he expect her to react? Just smile and wave like the good little secret girlfriend he apparently wanted her to be? She sat up, having worked her own mood into a much darker place. And he was upset about Chris?! “I have plenty to worry about, obviously!” Amy told her boss, boyfriend and best friend, her voice frustrated, wanting him to understand her, “Leo, you just hired a girl who you have not only slept with, but dated! Am I right? Dating involves some amount of feelings, and that is what I have trouble accepting. No, wait, actually I really don’t like the fact that you happen to have hired an ex bedpartner either.” She took a deep breath, shaking her head at him. “You were upset about my hugging a friend, someone who has never been anything but a friend to me; never more. How would you feel if Chris happened to be an ex boyfriend of mine, who I had myself asked you to employ?”

Bringing up to fingers, Amy pinched the brink of her nose, trying not to start screaming at Leo before removing them again, looking at the door leading to the livingroom before looking back at him, sighing. “Because I’m sure you would be freaking out a whole lot more than I am. Don’t tell me she has no other friends, or whatever she really considers you, she can go to, because if not, then I’m sure there’s a reason, and she’s probably not someone we should have around the kids either way. The noctrem influences are bad enough as it is. Don’t make it worse just because you happen to have humped some piece of trash a year ago!” With that, her eyes widened in shock, and she brought up both hands to cover her mouth, astonished by her own words. Had she actually just said that? She muttered a weak “I’m sorry” behind her hands, the words themselves seemingly making her forget her anger. Who was she even anymore? She closed her eyes, embarrassed by herself. Her rant had gone completely off-track somewhere. And, oh gods, had she said that with her baby maybe being able to hear at this point? With that thought, one hand slowly moved from her mouth to her bulging tummy.

This really wasn’t going the way she wanted it to.

---

"Hey Chase. It's nice to meet you." Sky said, bringing Chase’s eyes from the clothes on his bed, onto the darker male student, who just so also happened to more or less homosexual. Which… was also made very clear in the next second, when the guy starting checking him out. Oh, come on! This couldn’t be real. Chase felt the sudden urge to hug his upper body to preserve some level of dignity. He was definitely bringing his clothes with him next time he went to take a shower. It wasn’t that Chase was a prude, neither was he in any way a virgin, but he really wasn’t accustomed to situations like this, and he had no idea how to deal with it politely. “Well, Sky, it’s nice to meet you too,” he managed to say, though, his voice actually sounding completely normal, and he inwardly breathed a sigh of relieve; the last thing he wanted to do was come off as a homophobe, or what was worse, an impolite homophobe. He had been raised better, surely.

He smiled casually, and how he pulled it off, he didn’t know. His nervousness at the situation certainly showed itself in his flaky gaze, however; the way his eyes kept flickering from one thing to another. He did, however, notice the way his roommate was biting his lower lip while gazing at Chase’s body, and he suddenly thought of how his grandparents had always been very strict with him, always telling him never to objectify women; now he could certainly understand why. It did not feel good, or maybe that was because the attraction was in no way mutual. Whatever reason it had, he didn’t like it, and he really, really wanted to just… put on his clothes. He was about to excuse himself to the bathroom when Sky spoke again, and he smiled slightly, shrugging in response as he spoke; “To be perfectly honest, I haven’t seen much of the school yet, nor have I really experienced a lot of people in it. I only just arrived last night, and my sister and I spent the time unpacking, as you can see,” he made a gesture towards his part of the room, smiling, a little more at ease now that Sky wasn’t drooling over him anymore.

Then he looked back at his new roommate. “I’m definitely not complaining, though; it seems like no expenses are spared when it comes to interior.” With that, Chase slid his t-shirt over his bare upper body, instantly feeling entirely like himself again, and he managed to put on his boxers under the towel without looking like a complete idiot before putting the now useless towel on the bed. Huh, not so bad. Right, he could live with that. Maybe he just needed to loosen up and get used to having a roommate who happened to be into guys. That was it. Right, he just had to… settle in properly. With that thought, feeling much more optimistic, he added his jeans, looking over at Sky. “So, are you originally from this school, or from the one which burned down?” He asked, all of a sudden feeling curious about his roommate, wanting to get to know the person he was going to be living with. Sky seemed like an okay guy, though, albeit a little too sexually free-spirited, and his grandparents had not seemed too fond of Noctrem, so it had him wondering.

He was feeling rather hungry right now too, though, so he’d probably have to leave in search of breakfast soon. Maybe he could ask Sky where the cafeteria was. Nah, he’d manage on his own, he soon decided. He had a map, and what was the worst that could happen? He’d get some more exercise, see more of the school and maybe meet some people. Yep, that was the plan.

The sound of Rebecca’s black, loud, and very irritating alarm clock woke her up, and as she forced one eyelid open, she sighed, immediately closing it again. 7:30 am. Hell, she had the first period off on Tuesdays, but honestly she liked having time in the morning, even in this place. And honestly Rebecca could presently think of many places she would rather be, mostly because she obviously didn’t like the changes – she despised anything unfamiliar, because it meant another thing she had to adapt to, and adapting, to someone like Rebecca, tended to be a little bit of a challenge. On top of finally moving out of the dump of a motel and into Arcana, a lot of new students were enrolling currently, and she’d been told two new teachers would be joining the faculty. What was up with that? She slapped her hands over her face, completely covering it as she groaned in irritation before finally reaching out to turn off her alarm. “Rise and shine, Rebecca, it’s a beautiful new day,” she muttered sarcastically to herself before slowly moving out of the warm comfort of her new bed.

“More work,” she continued as she padded across the room to reach her closet, adding “more students flirting,” as she took out a set of underwear, “and a lot of hung-over laziness from every single one of them.” She sighed, shaking her head as she picked out the rest of her outfit for the day. “Well, almost,” she added on a second thought, remembering she had Arcana students in the mix too – they had a tendency to be more reasonable. She cracked a wry smile at that, wondering what the stereotyping would have to say about her. Moving from Arcana to Noctrem, like some confused teenager. Of course she had been, that was no secret, but still – most just figured it was regular teenage confusion. Rebecca’s had been a little worse, not that she ever told anyone, even though all of her many shrinks had told her talking about her past experiences would be “healthy” for her.

What did they know? It just so happened that every time she tried to talk about it, she ended up wallowing in self pity for days, and in worst cases, she would cut herself. She wasn’t sure why. Maybe the pain provided relief, or maybe it was simply to make herself most unattractive. Something she figured she should have done as a kid. Broken her nose, shaved off her hair, cut up her skin, preferably leaving ugly scars… things like that. But she hadn’t thought of it back then; she’d been only a kid with a messed up freak of a father… which in turn had messed her up. Rebecca admitted to being a screw-up, she knew she was less than normal and more than a little mentally unstable. Her breakdowns were horrible, and she wouldn’t wish them even on her worst enemy. Well, no, that was a lie; she often wished for her father to feel the pain he had forever marked her with. More than once, she had actually wished for him to be alive again, solely so that she could make him feel it, but that was a nasty part of her, and she didn’t really like it when it emerged.

The blonde teacher rolled her shoulders, taking a deep breath. Right, getting out of that line of thought might be preferable today. On any day, really. Grabbing the clothes, she tossed it on her bed and shuffled into the bathroom where she turned on the water, and while waiting for it to heat up, Rebecca glanced at herself in the mirror, wincing. “I look like crap,” she murmured, slightly irritated with that fact. She really didn’t need any of this right now. So, so many changes. How could anyone be expected to cope with that easily? How did others do it? Right, by not being raped by their fathers for a decade. Another wry smile came onto her face at that. Truth be told, usually Rebecca was a bit more optimistic. In fact, she usually did anything in her power not to think of her father, not to think of her childhood, but when everything around her seemed to be falling apart, somehow those thoughts never failed to press on from the back of her mind. The young teacher ran a hand through her hair, feeling suddenly really sad. “I am so fucked up,” she noted, snorting at the obvious statement.

After a long, warm and soothing shower, Rebecca dressed herself and grabbed a small cup of yoghurt from her mini fridge – one she had brought herself, refusing to join the throng of students and teachers in the cafeteria all the time. One or two meals a day in public would have to do. Breakfast was a big, fat no. Mostly because she was certain her morning would be a bust if she did socialize this early. Safe for Friday evenings, the blonde preferred her own company. Mostly because no one around her really stirred her interest on a more personal level, and she didn’t spend time with people, just to spend time with people. She’d never understood how people could do that constantly. She remembered enjoying times with Max back at Arcana, though; how it seemed he just got her, how she hadn’t preferred solitude to his company. It had been nice. And then… well, then he’d dumped her because she refused to fuck him. Because she was still healing quite a bit from Donny’s abuse.

Sometimes she wondered if she should have told him her story, and she had actually begun considering it before he dumped her, but then… well, then he’d shown her what really mattered to him, and she’d changed her mind, deciding then and there that he wasn’t the kind of person she could let herself be vulnerable with like that. She ate her yoghurt in silence before tidying up her place, grabbing her bag and heading down to the history room, not bothering to put on her coat since she wasn’t going outside. Half there, however, she groaned, remembering she’d forgotten to get the new history books she’d decided to hand out to her class, and turned around, heading for the elevator, which she promptly rode to the first floor. As she headed there, however, noises caught her attention. She frowned, cocking her head in wonderment. Curious, Rebecca took a detour and moved towards the cause of the sound.

It didn’t take her long to discover that the noise came from the medical room, and that the door to the inside was indeed very open. That was rather weird; Amy usually wasn’t there yet, unless it was an emergency. Thinking that was the cause, she carefully popped her head inside to check the gravity of the situation. She was surprised to see a stranger in the room, though, and knowing Amy always locked the medical room, Rebecca stepped inside and cleared her throat, raising an eyebrow at the stranger. “I’m sorry, but exactly do you think you’re doing here?” She asked, her voice hard as steel, no-nonsense as usual as her eyes scanned her room. “Besides knocking over everything in the school stash, I mean.” She added then, eyes now slightly narrowed. No one but Amy and Leo had unrestricted access to this particular room, and Amy wouldn’t let anyone be alone there. Rather, if someone needed something, the nurse would be the first out of bed, ready to help in a heartbeat, so all in all this was very shady, and Rebecca didn’t like shady, no matter how sick the woman looked. And she did look sick; very much so. Rebecca decided instantly that she was getting Amy for this stranger. Well, if she wasn’t some random thieve of some sort, which… didn’t really make sense either.

Rebecca watched the woman carefully as she clearly struggled with speech and pain. As someone who knew how painful back injuries could be, the blonde had patience to boot, so she didn’t rush the brunette in front of her. For some reason, although she didn’t know this woman, nor liked this little B&E she had arranged, she cared. Maybe it was purely pity, but Rebecca very, very rarely pitied anyone, so she figured she was feeling a wee bit compassionate, which in itself was a little irritating. Then, as she stood there, the stranger began talking, but the second “methadone” was mentioned, Rebecca stiffened, and she had to take a deep breath not to be overtaken with childhood memories again. Those were nasty things, they really were. Getting herself sorted quickly enough, she once more attached her attention to the new teacher apparently, Katia Hunt. Must be the dance teacher she had heard was being hired. For what, she didn’t know; the kids already had four phys-ed. classes a week. She supposed it didn’t much matter though, because here she was, breaking into the medical room like some lowly thieve.

She gave a slight nod when Katia snapped her explanation at her, not really bothering with being affected by her tone; pain wasn’t really the best motivator of manners, Rebecca knew that well enough. She had been there as a kid plenty of times. Plus, she sort of liked the honesty. She didn’t sense anything particular being hidden from her in Katia’s words, and she was rather straightforward, which Rebecca always appreciated as a trait in people. The two of them had gotten off to an awry start though. Then, however, before Rebecca could say anything in reply, Katia continued, remarking on Amy in particular. Rebecca raised an eyebrow at that, shaking her head. “You obviously do not know Amy half as well as you think you do,” she told the brunette, then sighed. “And how do you suppose you’ll deal with it without the particular meds you need? I’m guessing they’re in the top cabinets, which are also always locked, and you can’t stretch your back enough to jimmy them open like you did the door, am I right? So you need help. Especially since you’re not exactly allowed to be in here.”

With that conclusion, Rebecca walked properly into the room, eyes scanning the shelves of the top cabinets. Hmm. Well, she wasn’t breaking the rules just so Katia wouldn’t have to deal with Amy or Leo, so instead she turned to her, shrugging. “Amy’s not just a nurse, you know; she’s a healer. That’s her power. Maybe it’d be useful in your case?” The blonde looked over the other woman; she really did seem to be in a shitload of pain, and for some reason, she hadn’t gotten off to a very good start with Amy, which was weird. Amy got off to good starts with everyone, safe for the people who thought her too nice, but this woman seemed to think of her not as too nice, but as someone who’d be smug at seeing her in pain, a thought completely strange to Rebecca. The nurse had always helped her when she’d needed it, and she hadn’t asked that many questions when Rebecca had first arrived at the Academy, still damaged physically as well as mentally from her dad’s abuse. Instead, she’d healed her up, even though she'd been a student herself. Granted, it had taken some times, and Rebecca hadn’t been too fond of it, but in the end it had removed all physical evidence of her past experiences. Something she couldn’t really bring herself to complain about.

“You obviously do not know Amy half as well as you think you do,” The blond replied, seemingly amused with Katia’s comment on the nurse. The brunette leaned onto the counter, shifting her weight to take the pressure off. “I know what she thought of me the moment she realized who and what I was,” Katia shot back, knowing she was cryptic but curious as to whether or not this blond stranger knew anything about her.

“And how do you suppose you’ll deal with it without the particular meds you need? I’m guessing they’re in the top cabinets, which are also always locked, and you can’t stretch your back enough to jimmy them open like you did the door, am I right? So you need help. Especially since you’re not exactly allowed to be in here,” she added smugly. Katia rolled her eyes and turned her head away, fighting the brutal urge to just roll it out on this woman, what she was facing and how…humiliating it was to be caught in this position. She had always taken care of herself and now to be in this place, dependent on an ex-boyfriend for income and benefits, unable most mornings to walk straight and get dressed without being in excruciating pain. She had no one to help her and she never wanted help. And the blonde’s comment’s stung deeply because they were true and she could do nothing about it. Part of her wanted Leo there, just so that the reality of her injury and what she was facing was confined to one person. Now she could do nothing but explain herself and that in and of itself was hard to explain.

Katia remained where she was as the blond walked beyond the entryway, taking in the room before looking back at her. Katia stared at her in the face, knowing that her pain was at a level that she couldn’t hide, how her eyes were likely bloodshot and watering, her lips pursed while she clenched her teeth or bit on her lower lip to distract herself.

“Amy’s not just a nurse, you know; she’s a healer. That’s her power. Maybe it’d be useful in your case?” the blond prodded. “Of course,” Katia sighed, shaking her head. “No, I believe she’d never want to lay a hand on me.” Her own thoughts made her chuckle and she tossed her hair back as she sighed. “I was with Leo once, we were close. I told her as much last morning when we met and she seemed…surprised? And tense all at once. I know disdain when I see it. Leo hired me as a favor. A dancer can’t well make money if they can’t dance. Noctrem wasn't thrilled with the idea but when I applied there Leo got word. He doesn't know that it's this bad but he knows it's enough to make me be here.”

Katia paused, wondering where in the building he was, wondering what this woman intended to do. She had entered the room, still without introducing herself, and hadn't made any movement to find what she needed. Did Arcana even have what she needed? If Amy was a healer, the stock of drugs was likely very limited, a thought that made her increasingly uncomfortable. To be frank, Katia knew that she could have easily taken control of Rebecca's body in that moment and used it to get what she needed, but she doubted she had the energy and for some reason she didn't want to take such advantage of the woman. Yet. She was pissed at being found in this situation, but at least it was an adult and not a student, and she didn't seem like the type to blackmail or tattle.

"I won't ask for your help," Katia remarked, wondering if the woman was waiting for her to beg and say please with batted lashes to get what she wanted. "But I can't guarantee that the methadone won't have you morph into my mother, and that is not a hallucination you want to be."