HEY

Okay so I've talked about this a bit on my Librarians blog but to summarise: I am so, so sorry for the lateness of this chapter. A lot of things slowed down my progress in the last few weeks. It shouldn't happen again, but if it does I will be sure to post updates.

I'm also sorry about the slightly awkward pacing here - I'm trying to get through what equates to the events of the first couple episodes of the show, but there are lots of characters and settings to establish and it all takes time!

I'll see you again in a week or so, if all goes according to plan! The first draft of the next chapter is already half-done.

On Friday afternoon, Ezekiel was crossing the cafeteria with two fat, greasy slices of pizza in his hand when he noticed Cassandra sitting by herself at a table in the corner, next to the oft-ignored vending machine that dispensed only flavoured milk. He considered briefly, then changed his path, heading towards her and plunking himself casually into the seat next to her.

"This spot taken?" he asked when she looked up at him in surprise.

She raised an eyebrow. "Well… no," she said, her tone suggesting that it should have been obvious.

He only smiled. "Cool." He tore into his pizza, still talking with his mouth full. "I've seen you sitting here alone before, haven't I?" he asked.

Cassandra hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah. I used to go to the library sometimes, but…"

"Right. Well. No good to have you keep sitting here all by yourself," he said with a shrug. "Now that I know you, I'm happy to join you."

Clearly taken aback, Cassandra put down the pen in her hand and closed her notebook. "Um… I mean. Thank you, I suppose?"

"You're welcome." He flashed that irritatingly self-important grin that she already knew was a bit of an act, and she rolled her eyes, smiling despite herself.

"What do you usually… do at lunch?" she asked slowly, uncertain where to go from here.

"All kinds of things," Ezekiel said with a shrug. "Sometimes I go outside, sometimes I walk into town… I have a handful of people I might sit with every so often... Sometimes I go exploring around the school. There are lots of options. What about you?"

She fidgeted with her unpeeled clementine, rolling it around on the tabletop. "Usually I stay here. Like I said, no library to go to any more. I do homework sometimes, or read… or listen to podcasts once in a while."

"You really just sit here all period?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow. "We're gonna have to do something about that, Cassandra. That's a bit too boring, even for a nerd like you."

"Well, my apologies," she said, rolling her eyes. She wasn't sure whether she should be amused or defensive, so her tone was somewhere halfway in between. On the other side of the room, near the cafeteria doors, someone caught her eye – it was Jacob.

"Hey," she called out to him, waving. "Would you like to sit with us?"

He slowed for a second, glancing at her only briefly. Then he frowned and shrugged her off with a soft grunt, continuing on his way.

Cassandra exchanged a confused glance with Ezekiel. "What's his problem?"

"Not a clue," Ezekiel answered, shrugging. "Guy's not exactly a teddy bear, though."

"I don't know," Cassandra said. "He's gruff, but he seemed nice enough, yesterday. You know, once we got past the initial unfriendliness. He was helpful when I was hallucinating, and he laughed with us. He loosened up a bit after that, I thought."

x

The three of them met that afternoon by the door that led down into the basement, waiting for Baird to meet them with the key. She was running late, and they were still standing there even after all the students around them had closed their lockers and made their way outside.

"I'm telling you, I can have it open in five seconds flat," Ezekiel was saying, still pointing at the lock.

"D'you want to get all of us a longer detention sentence?" Jacob asked him grouchily.

"Just you two," Cassandra reminded him. "I'm volunteering."

"Come on. It takes no time at all. Look, all I need is one card and a good thump." Ezekiel pulled out his wallet and waved a card in the air, but as he moved towards the door jamb, he was interrupted by a voice down the hall.

"Really that eager to get into detention, Jones?" Baird asked drily as she approached.

"Well," Ezekiel answered easily, turning to face her, "I figured if you didn't show and we bailed out, we'd be on the hook for skipping, and I don't really feel up to detention squared."

"Luckily, I'm here now," she told him, raising an eyebrow. She held up the door key. "Sorry I was late. I was pulled into a last-minute meeting."

Ezekiel sighed and put his wallet away, and Jacob smirked. The three students followed Baird into the basement and down the hall to their new home base, hitting light switches as they walked.

Thursday's books had been cleared off the table and sorted into boxes with new labels. The four of them grabbed a few new boxes from the wall and hoisted them onto the table. "Here, Cassie," Jacob said, moving over next to her. "I'll empty this out for you in case of any funky smells, and then you can sort 'em."

Cassandra blinked, taken by surprise for several reasons. Trying to pick one thing to question, she stammered, "Did – did you just call me Cassie?"

He paused, looking over at her. "Yeah, guess so. That okay?"

Eyebrows furrowed, she stared at him for a second. "Yeah, I – I guess it is," she answered finally. Seeing the confusion on his face, she explained, "I'm just… not used to it. Not very many people have ever called me that."

He smiled a bit, his brows betraying a shade of something between puzzlement and concern. "Seems pretty obvious to me," he said, laughing slightly.

"Yeah, I know, I just…" She paused to think about it. "I don't know. I guess I haven't spent much time around people who were inclined to give me anything even resembling a nickname."

"Oh." He didn't seem to have a response for that, and after a moment he turned back to his task. Cassandra leaned to one side to shoot a confused look past him at Ezekiel, who only raised his eyebrows and shrugged. Lunchtime Jacob and after-school Jacob seemed like two entirely different people, but neither Cassandra nor Ezekiel had any explanation for that.

"Toss me the ones that need replacing," Ezekiel said as Cassandra started to organize the books that Jacob was placing on the table. "I'll work on the list."

"Can't help noticing you taking the lightest job available, Jones," Baird pointed out casually as she unpacked a box of her own.

"Yeah, well, the sorting doesn't suit me," he answered lightly.

"Come on, Ezekiel," Cassandra ribbed him, crossing the room to the vast wooden card catalogue that was pushed against the far wall. Climbing up on a stepstool, she opened the first drawer and swapped out the bundle of cards in her hand for the next set. "It's not hard. You just have to make sure the titles in the catalogue are all accounted for and the books are all catalogued."

Ezekiel eyed the card catalogue suspiciously. "Bloody waste of an entire forest, is what that thing is," he complained.

"Do you not know how to use a card catalogue?" Jacob asked him incredulously, almost offended at Ezekiel's ignorance.

Ezekiel frowned at him. "Who needs it when Google exists?" he demanded. "Besides, are you telling me you do know how to use it?"

Baird watched with interest as Jacob bristled at the accusation. "It's – it's not that hard," he excused himself, breaking eye contact. "Damn simple, actually."

"It's antique," Ezekiel persisted. "It's defunct. A basic database on a twenty-year-old computer would be better than this. Hell, I could write that program in half an hour."

Cassandra smiled down at the work in front of her, shaking her head at the argument. She liked the work: checking each book against the information on its corresponding card, stacking up the cards for missing books, writing down corrections or information for missing cards on a notepad. It was simple and focussed and let her go through so many interesting books. "It's unusual that we don't have any kind of computer database for all of this," she admitted. "But I don't mind the job, and it really isn't hard. You're just stubborn."

"That's true," Ezekiel admitted. "But it's gotten me this far."

"I actually asked why we don't have a database," Baird cut in. "I mean, these books have check-out cards in them and everything. The system is ancient. Charlene told me they had computers for a number of years, but they didn't have the budget to maintain them after something went wrong, and eventually it was easier just to go back to the old system than keep trying to get the computers to cooperate. On top of that, Mr. Carsen and Mr. Jenkins both dislike computers, so they were fine going back."

"What does Mr. Jenkins have to do with it?" Ezekiel asked.

Baird glanced up. "He was the librarian before he went into administration and Mr. Carsen took over," she explained. "I hear he still likes to get his fingers into it. We might see him around once in a while, while we're working on this."

The discussion was interrupted by the arrival of Mr. Carsen himself, a border collie on his heels. "Cal, sit," he ordered immediately, pointing into an out-of-the-way corner. "Lie down." The dog did as he was told, and Carsen nodded and looked up to greet the others. "Sorry I was late. I had to take Excalibur to a vet's appointment during last period; I just got back a few minutes ago. How are things going?"

"Fine," Baird answered, narrowing her eyes at him in confusion. "Why are you wearing a crown?"

"Hm?" Carsen reached up onto the top of his head, touching the dull metal crown that sat there, studded with bright blue plastic gems. "Oh. This. I got pulled over on the way down when I went past the drama rooms; they wanted to see if I had any more Shakespeare I could spare. This caught Cal's eye and I think I put it on after I took it away from him." He took it off and placed it on Cassandra as he walked past her. "Could one of you return it on the way back upstairs?"

"Sure," Cassandra answered, removing it and putting it on top of her notepad. Then she looked over at the obedient dog again, as Ezekiel and Jacob were both doing as well. Baird sighed and gave Carsen a meaningful look over the table. When he looked up and noticed he looked puzzled; she rolled her eyes, glanced at the students, then jerked her head towards the dog.

"Oh," Carsen said aloud. "Um… this is my dog, Cal."

"Are we allowed to say hi?" Ezekiel asked.

"I guess so," Carsen said slowly. The three of them grinned and jumped away from their work, hurrying over to the animal. He stayed dutifully on the floor, but his tail thumped against the ground as they crouched down to visit him.

"He's gorgeous," Jacob said, stroking one hand down the dog's back. He glanced over his shoulder at the librarian. "Purebred?"

"Mhm," Carsen responded with a nod. "Actually I got him from Mr. Judson. He owned Cal's sire, and bred him regularly. Cal was the leftover in his litter, no home found, and Mr. Judson knew I was living alone at the time… it's been almost ten years, actually. I brought Cal home not long after I started working here."

"Gettin' a little old, aren't ya?" Ezekiel asked the dog affectionately, ruffling his ears. "Well you don't show it one bit."

"No, he's in very good health," Carsen commented. "But we go to see the vet regularly to keep him that way."

"Do you bring him to school very often?" Cassandra asked. "I've never seen him."

Carsen shrugged. "Really only after school sometimes, when it won't cause a fuss. Mr. Judson used to bring Cal's father Clarent to school all the time, but almost no one knew because he just slept under the desk all day."

"Now that I know this is such an animal-friendly environment, I imagine things are really going to change," Ezekiel said with a grin.

Carsen shot him a deep frown. "Don't you dare," he said immediately. "Cal is extremely well-trained. I won't have you bringing just any random animal in here to make a mess of my books."

After a few more minutes Baird badgered the students into getting back to work, reminding Ezekiel and Jacob that they were still in detention. All three were reluctant to part with the cheerful dog, but they did as they were told. Before long Jacob and Ezekiel got back to bickering about card catalogs vs. computers, an argument in which Mr. Carsen very quickly took Jacob's side. After another three quarters of an hour, the students were dismissed. Cassandra grabbed the prop crown before leaving, figuring she'd drop it off in the drama room on her way to her locker.

Upstairs she and the boys parted ways in the foyer and she headed down the far hallway on her own. She was still puzzling as she walked over the difference between Jacob's behaviour during the day – cold and grouchy – and after school when he was suddenly friendly and likable, if a little grumpy still. She rolled the crown in her hands, lost in thought and not really paying attention to where she was going; as a result she nearly walked right into the girl in the hallway.

Coming up just short of a collision, Cassandra looked up at the unfamiliar girl. She was taller than Cassandra, dark-skinned and athletic looking, with brown hair brushing her shoulders and a smirk on her face. Cassandra froze in place, and the other girl's smirk only grew. She took the crown out of Cassandra's hands and placed it lazily on her own head. "Hi," she said.

"Um," Cassandra started, trying not to get tripped up by how pretty the girl was. "I – I don't think I know you?"

The girl shook her head. "I don't go here," she said, her tone a little superior. "I'm from Benwick."

"Ah," Cassandra answered. "And you're here because…?"

"Mr. Dulaque had to drop in to talk to Mr. Judson and brought me along. Hey, by the way, you're Cassandra Cillian, right?"

Cassandra stiffened, the back of her neck prickling. "Um, yeah, how did you-"

She was interrupted. "I'm Lamia," the girl said, not bothering to offer a hand. "Mr. Dulaque wanted me to speak to you, actually. He heard about your academic record and wanted to offer you a spot at Benwick."

x

Monday afternoon came after a quiet weekend, and the three of them found themselves in the basement with Colonel Baird and Mr. Carsen yet again. Cassandra bounced about on the balls of her feet, humming softly as she worked.

"What's got you in such a chipper mood?" Jacob asked after a few minutes watching her out of the corner of his eye.

"She's been like this since lunch," Ezekiel told him. "You'd think someone kissed her."

Cassandra rolled her eyes. "No, I just really like picture day," she said, fiddling with the collar of her blouse as if she was about to be on camera again. "It always puts me in a good mood."

"No one likes picture day," Ezekiel challenged. "At best it's some class you get to miss but boring as all hell, and more often than that it's a pain in the ass."

"Language," Baird reminded him absently, not looking up from her work.

"It's the only time my picture ever gets taken," Cassandra explained, flipping the page on her notepad over to jot something down. "It's fun because it's different."

Jacob frowned, and Ezekiel put down the book he was looking at to lean over the table. "That's… an exaggeration, right?" he asked, concerned.

She glanced up and shook her head. "I've had my picture taken… twelve times for school, now, and once for a newspaper article about that STEM fair in grade nine." Her fingers flexed as she did the mental count.

"And that's… that's all?" Ezekiel asked in disbelief. Cassandra nodded.

Ezekiel looked at Jacob for reassurance that that sounded crazy; Jacob could only raise his eyebrows and shrug. Frown deepening, Ezekiel stared down at the table for a second, then dug his phone out of his pocket and came around the table to where Cassandra stood.

"Oh," she said in surprise as he tucked himself behind her shoulder and held his phone up in front of them. "What are you doing?"

"Selfie!" he announced, slapping on a smile. She just barely had time to do the same before he hit the shutter. "Not bad," he said, showing her the photo. The two of them looked fine; in the corner, on Cassandra's right, Jacob was scowling in Ezekiel's direction. Cassandra giggled.

"There. Now you've got more than just school photos and the newspaper," Ezekiel told her, still looking at his phone as he returned to his own spot. "Hashtag detention hashtag got caught hashtag I've had worse company."

Baird, still doing her best to ignore him, rolled her eyes; Cassandra laughed again. Mr. Carsen, who had been reorganizing boxes against one wall to make later sorting just a little easier, glanced over for the first time in a while. "I don't know much about detention, Mr. Jones, but I don't think you're supposed to be taking selfies here," he pointed out. "Get back to work."

"Yeah, yeah," Ezekiel muttered. "Please, man, I'm begging you, let me digitize all this."

"Worry about the job you have," Mr. Carsen responded, grunting as he shifted another heavy box.

Thirty minutes later, the three students emerged from the basement and looked out the nearby window to see that what had been a drizzle earlier in the day had turned into a lashing downpour. "Damn," Ezekiel commented, eyebrows raised. "Good thing I already have a ride." He glanced at his phone and added, "And they're here. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Shrugging his jacket on, he headed out, he turning a corner into the foyer and pushing his way through the front doors.

Cassandra bit her lip as she looked outside. "I hope it lightens up soon," she said, as much to herself as to Jacob.

"D'you have a way home?" he asked, looking at her sideways.

"Kind of," she answered, glancing back at him. "I can take the bus back to my neighbourhood, but not from the stop across the road. I need to hike a few blocks to catch the right route."

Jacob regarded her for a moment, then sighed, shoulders dropping a little. "You want a lift? I've got my truck."

She looked at him in surprise. "Oh, no, I don't want to inconvenience you," she said.

"It's not a big deal. 'M in no rush to get home," he told her.

Cassandra looked into Jacob's eyes for a second, wondering if there was something there she recognized. Then, self-consciously, she answered, "Maybe you could just take me to the bus stop? That way I'm not putting you out too much."

"Deal," he said with a nod.

"Okay. I just have to go back to my locker first."

"Me too. I'll meet you at the doors."

Shortly the two of them darted out into the parking lot, coats shrugged up over their heads. In spite of the rain, Jacob went to open the passenger-side door of the old pickup for her before climbing in himself. He was quick to start the engine and flick on the windshield wipers, letting them do their work for a moment while Cassandra wiped the water off her knees.

"Where to?" he asked.

"Oak and Sterling, please," she replied.

He nodded and set off. For a few minutes they drove in silence, the engine rumbling loudly to fill the space. She thought about asking him why he was so much friendlier after school than during the day, but she had a feeling that it was too early yet to get an answer to that. Before long they reached her stop, and he pulled over to let her out.

"Thanks," she said earnestly. "I really appreciate it."

"No problem," he told her. "You won't be waitin' too long, I hope?"

She glanced at the clock on his dashboard and shook her head. "Five minutes, tops. And there's a shelter."

"Okay." He watched her reach for the door, and as she opened it, he said, "Cassie." She looked up again, and he smiled, a little self-consciously. "I'm glad you like picture day so much. It's nice for you, that something most of us think of as a chore can be fun." There it was again, something in his eyes that she almost knew, something he wasn't quite saying. She smiled brightly.

"Thanks, Jacob." She paused, then added, "I like working with you. I wasn't sure at first, but you're a really nice guy." Pulling her jacket over her head again, she hopped out.

Jacob watched her for a moment, expression thoughtful, a hint of a smile pulling on one corner of his mouth.

x

On Wednesday afternoon, Cassandra stood by the school's front doors, swaying slightly. Her hands were clasped nervously. She had eaten fast, told Ezekiel she had an appointment, and slipped out of the cafeteria.

Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long. Lamia strode up to the doors and let herself in. "How are you, Cassandra?" she asked smoothly, and Cassandra was struck again by how intimidatingly attractive the older girl was.

"I-I'm fine," Cassandra said quickly. "And you?"

"I'm doing well," Lamia answered, her mischievous smile growing. It wasn't like Ezekiel's mischievous smile, Cassandra thought – there was something to Lamia's that was a little less playful, a little more dangerous. "Shall we, then?" She turned and pushed back through the glass doors, Cassandra following close behind.

They were crossing the brick-paved entry to the school towards the parking lot when Jacob appeared, probably coming from his truck, Cassandra assumed. She went to wave, then paused, remembering that he still didn't really talk to her during the day. This time, however, when he noticed her, he also noticed Lamia and did a double-take, stopping in his tracks.

"Oh!" Lamia said, sounding delighted to see him, albeit not a good kind of delighted. "Jacob Stone! Fancy meeting you here!"

He frowned deeply. Not responding to Lamia, he turned to look at Cassandra. "What're you doin' with her?"

"Oh, um," Cassandra started quickly, but Lamia interrupted, taking another step towards Jacob.

"Well, I haven't seen you in a while," she said, her voice teasing. "God, look at you. You've let yourself go, haven't you?"

Cassandra furrowed her brow, puzzled. Not that she had known him before a few weeks ago, but Jacob certainly wasn't sloppy-looking, nor, as far as she could tell, any worse for wear than he'd been in past years. Jacob still didn't respond to Lamia, his expression only darkening further.

"I can't believe you quit football," Lamia continued. "You had such promise. And now look at you. What a slob! It's a crime to waste talent like that, really." She sighed dramatically. "I guess you just didn't have what it takes to follow through on all that, hm? What a shame."

Jacob's gaze flicked to Cassandra again, who was very confused by the exchange. Noticing his glance, she floundered. She wasn't used to confrontation like this. Her silence drew out a moment too long, and Jacob grunted in frustration and turned back towards the school, stalking off with his hands shoved into the pockets of his grubby leather jacket.

"Um-!" Cassandra made to turn after him, worried, but Lamia put a hand on her arm.

"Come on, we should get moving. They're expecting you," she said, smiling just a little too smugly. Then she pulled a worried Cassandra over towards an SUV that was idling over in the bus pickup area.

x

Cassandra had heard stories about the facilities at Benwick, but they almost didn't do the place justice. A huge institution just beyond what qualified as 'uptown,' it had an enormous property of well-kept fields and tracks. The building was a big, modern-looking thing, somehow resembling – to Cassandra – a medieval castle if it had been designed by spotless Scandinavian minimalists. Everything seemed to be smooth and white, or else made entirely of glass to let the sunlight pour in. Their science labs were top-of-the-line, their computers were state-of-the-art, the swimming pool – swimming pool! – was Olympic-sized. Every department in the school had a bigger budget of its own than Fisher High must have for their entire year, Cassandra thought, running a few quick calculations in her head. She cut herself off, not wanting to grow too distracted while she had things to pay attention to.

"This is my favourite gym," Lamia was telling her, the last stop on their twenty-minute tour. "They put it in last year. It is so much better to play in than those other two." Cassandra – who had gathered by now that Lamia was an accomplished athlete – could tell no difference between this gym and the others, except that it was somehow even bigger.

Lamia glanced at a clock on the wall as she led Cassandra back into the wide hallway. "Mr. Dulaque should be out of his meeting by now. Let's go down to his office and check, shall we?" Cassandra blinked, glancing back at the clock herself. According to her phone, it was right. That was new. No single clock at Fisher High could be depended upon for total accuracy – it was usually best to check at least three of them and average them out.

Mr. Dulaque's office was very ornately and luxuriously furnished, especially in comparison to the rest of the school. Dark woods, rich fabrics, and vintage hardcovers filled the room. The principal was standing over a large decorative globe, spinning it thoughtfully, when the secretary let the two girls in.

"Ah," he said, glancing over his shoulder. He was an older gentleman, tall and dignified and even more intimidating than Lamia was, though in a different way. "You must be Cassandra Cillian. Take a seat," he offered.

She glanced at the chairs, all heavy wood and plush cushions, and perched gingerly on the edge of one of them. Lamia dropped into the one next to her, lounging comfortably. Dulaque crossed the carpet and took a seat at his elaborately-carved mahogany desk, folding his hands and facing the girls with a mild smile on his face.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," he told Cassandra. "I've heard a great deal about your academic achievements."

Cassandra licked her lips, uncertain. "I'm sorry, sir, I'm just curious – who from?"

"Oh, a variety of folks," he assured her. "I happen to be acquaintances with a few people from the Northwest Science Expo, among others."

A vague answer. Cassandra shifted in her seat, trying not to think about how unhappy she'd been during her last science fair circuit. "I see."

Mr. Dulaque smiled a little more, apparently detecting her discomfort. "Miss Cillian, we would love to have a student of your talents at Benwick. And we're prepared to offer you a scholarship to attend. You could only be a boon to this institution."

"I'm…" Cassandra paused, trying to figure out how to respond to that. "I mean, I'm perfectly happy at Fisher. I don't know that a transfer is the right thing for me right now."

"I feel strongly that it would be to your benefit," Mr. Dulaque countered. "And I can offer you incentive. As I'm sure you've begun to see from your tour with Lamia, we have far better programs here at Benwick than you can get anywhere else in Oregon, or in fact most of the Pacific Northwest, whether you want to pursue science or something else. And we have a top-notch accommodations team that can work with you to find the absolute best ways to balance your academics with your health situation."

Cassandra bristled slightly, always unnerved to discover that someone else knew about her tumour without her having told them, but this time she decided to skip asking how he knew. "I've had no particular trouble with that at Fisher. And there's an annual tumour research fundraiser at our school that I really care about, too."

"We'll hold a bigger one," Mr. Dulaque said immediately. "And the school will match all donations. I assure you, Miss Cillian, we can offer you more than Fisher High can in any way. I think Benwick would be a great fit for you."

That offer was, at least, enough to give her pause. More funding meant more and better research and that wasn't something that only benefitted her – that could do a lot of people a lot of good. She'd faced more than just her own illness since she was diagnosed. She'd been to the support groups, knew other kids who were terminal. She wouldn't wish this on her worst enemy. Any kind of progress could change lives – save lives.

"I… I don't know," she answered, slowly this time. Feeling like she had to excuse her indecision, she added, "It's just a very big change."

"Of course," Mr. Dulaque said. Turning to Lamia, he suggested, "Maybe we could give her a more extensive tour sometime soon? I know she has to get back to Fisher High, but I'm certain that an afternoon spent with us would be eye-opening." He glanced at Cassandra again. "What do you think?"

"Um, I guess I could do that," Cassandra answered. "What did you have in mind?"

"Why don't I call your principal this afternoon and set something up for next week?" Mr. Dulaque offered. "Lamia can come pick you up at lunch hour again, and we'll have you excused from your afternoon classes so that you can spend a little more time with us."

"Well… okay," Cassandra said with a nod. "Yeah, I wouldn't mind that."

"Sounds great," Lamia said, hopping readily out of her chair. She looked at Cassandra and nodded towards the door, and Cassandra almost wondered if the older girl even winked at her. Flustered, she got to her feet.

"Lovely to chat, Miss Cillian," Mr. Dulaque said, reaching across the desk to shake her hand. "I'm so glad you're considering our offer. I'll try to make arrangements with Mr. Jenkins for Monday, how does that sound?"

"Sure, I think that's fine. It's all, um, very generous of you," Cassandra responded. "It was nice to meet you." Then, still nervous, she followed Lamia out the door and back upstairs.

Lamia and Cassandra were taken back to Fisher High by the driver in the SUV, who Cassandra had to assume worked for the school, even though that seemed outrageous. Most of the drive she was distracted chatting with Lamia, who at this point she could swear was outright flirting with her. This was completely baffling, frankly, but she didn't entirely mind.

"You would do so well at Benwick, Cassandra," Lamia was saying, touching Cassandra's wrist lightly. "I can tell Fisher High is only holding you back. With all of the opportunities at Benwick, you could do so much."

"Well, I don't know about that," Cassandra answered, clearing her throat and glancing down at her lap. "I've slowed down on a lot of things for… well, for a lot of reasons."

The SUV dropped her off out front and Cassandra returned just in time to slip into her next class before the bell. That lunch had seemed ridiculously long, and there was a lot running through her head now. She spent much of the afternoon mulling over what she had seen and what Lamia and Mr. Dulaque had offered her.

In the basement after school, Jacob didn't seem to talk to her much, and she wondered if the relationship between him and Lamia was really that bad. Clearly there was history there she wasn't privy to. Despite his silence, though, he still readily unpacked boxes for her, putting aside anything he deemed even remotely smelly.

x

"Last day of detention?" Cassandra asked Ezekiel as they met outside the basement door on Thursday afternoon. To her surprise, he merely grimaced.

"Well, it should have been," he answered.

She crossed her arms. "What did you do?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Really, Ezekiel, it's only been a week."

"Got caught snagging some test answers," he admitted. "In my defense, it was a very unfair test."

"Weren't you just bragging to me two days ago about how you never get caught?" she hassled him. "What's all this about?"

"Streak of bad luck?" he suggested with a shrug.

"You can't depend entirely on luck in life, Ezekiel," she admonished him, laughing a little.

"I don't know. I kind of like it," he told her. "Anyway, I got two more weeks of detention for that, so you'll be seeing more of me. I guess there's worse company though."

Jacob, coming down the hall toward them, cursed as he overheard that. "Goddamnit, do I have to keep puttin' up with you?"

"What? Shouldn't you be out of here after today?" Ezekiel asked.

Jacob pursed his lips in irritation, then shook his head. "Another week. Baird caught wind that I was going to fight Tim Dawkins."

"Were you?" Cassandra asked, startled. Jacob was tough, but Tim Dawkins was a giant.

Jacob glanced at her, frowning slightly, then seemed to decide it was okay to talk to her today. "I dunno. I was definitely thinkin' about it," he confessed with a shrug. "Anyway, Baird figured she'd nip that in the bud, whether I'd made a decision or not. 'Preventative measures,' she called it. Think she's tryin' the hardass approach."

"Is it working?" Colonel Baird asked, emerging from a nearby door. Jacob jumped slightly, and Ezekiel and Cassandra turned away to hide their amusement.

Cassandra planted herself between Jacob and Ezekiel at their table today, citing efficiency given the roles they had started to settle into – Jacob unpacking boxes, Cassandra checking books against index cards, Ezekiel repacking sorted material. In actuality, she was a little anxious after Jacob had been silent yesterday and thought she'd feel more comfortable next to Ezekiel if he kept it up again. To her pleasant surprise, though, Jacob seemed to have cooled off at least somewhat. He was still keeping a little distance, but at least he was talking to her.

Halfway through their hour, he nudged her shoulder and held out a folded piece of paper, grinning.

"What is this?" she asked, taking it from him.

"Have a look," he told her with a nod.

She unfolded the page, skimmed a few lines of messily handwritten text, and then looked up at him in confusion. "It was in one o' the books," he said, tapping a hardcover in front of him.

Understanding dawning on her face, she looked back at the page, her expression shifting as she tried to settle amongst a variety of conflicting emotions. "We really shouldn't be looking at this," she said, not quite convincingly.

"What is it?" Ezekiel asked, his curiosity piqued.

"I don't know," Cassandra said, more to Jacob than Ezekiel. "I feel like we should get rid of this. You know, out of respect. It's, um… clearly very personal."

Impatient, Ezekiel snatched it out of her hand and danced a few steps back as she protested. "A love note!" he observed delightedly. His grin only grew as he scanned the page. "Oh, boy, and he's really going for it, damn." Glancing at the names at the top and bottom, he said, "I know Rachel, but I don't think I've met Calum."

"He's not especially worth meetin'," Jacob said, still entertained. "Kind of boring. Kind of obnoxious. Clearly fond of the purple prose."

"Oh, don't be mean!" Cassandra admonished, although clearly she was a bit amused as well. "Putting yourself out there like that is really hard! And obviously she rejected him, so!"

"All right, that's enough of that," Colonel Baird said, rounding the table and taking the paper from Ezekiel's hands. "Cassandra's right, this is very personal. It's not for us to see." On her way across the room towards the recycling bin, she happened to glance down at the page, and the three students watched as she worked hard to swallow her simultaneous amusement and concern. Jacob exchanged another grin with Cassandra before turning back to his work.

x

By Monday afternoon Cassandra had worked herself into a considerable bout of anxiety over her next trip to Benwick. Thursday and Friday had been good days, where she'd found herself getting along really well with Ezekiel and Jacob after school. She really liked the feeling of having friends again and spending time with people she actively liked. Ezekiel had continued to spend his lunches with her – once again, she had just told him in vague terms that she had an appointment – and she felt like she was really getting to know him. It was lovely, she couldn't deny.

Lamia came to pick her up again and, for the second time in less than a week, Cassandra was flustered to realize she was being flirted with again. Even with the vague feeling that Lamia's motives might not be entirely genuine, it was hard not to be flattered. After all, the girl was stunning. And, Cassandra soon realized, she was funny too – the redhead found herself giggling away at Lamia's jokes as they drove uptown towards Benwick.

Mr. Dulaque had arranged for various classrooms to be kept empty and teachers to be made available so that Cassandra could learn more about the programs available at Benwick. She spent time – Lamia alongside her the whole afternoon – with a math teacher, an English teacher, one of the foreign languages teachers, a history teacher. The most time was left at the end of the day for her to visit with Benwick's best science teacher in the best science lab, generally used as a biology classroom.

Mr. Bors was old and a little crusty and clearly very smart, but as he showed Cassandra around the high-tech biology lab and talked about their programs, she began to feel like he had a distinctly superior air about him. He knew he was a genius, and running the best program in their corner of the nation, and shaping the minds of some of Oregon's brightest – and richest, Cassandra felt it was worth noting – students, and he had no trouble letting it all go to his head. She found it a little distasteful.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, as she was toured around and shown the equipment and talked to about The Future, a second train of thought was running. It kept comparing the circumstances at Benwick with those at Fisher. She'd be lying if she said some of the tools and opportunities this presented didn't raise her pulse (up to about 92 beats per minute) but the excitement was tempered by the wounds still sore from her last science fair season. Her parents had pushed so hard that part of her never wanted to go near another experiment. And while it was true that Fisher's science department didn't have a third of the resources Benwick's did, she loved her teachers. Sure, none of them held the three PhDs that Bors did, but they were down-to-earth and personable and more excited to learn than to show off.

That subterranean train of thought (a subway of thought! How cute!) began to drift back to Mr. Dulaque's offers. That big fundraiser was still weighing on her. But, then… if he was offering to start it, that meant there wasn't anything like that at Benwick yet. Did she really want a fundraiser started in her honour? Surely her privacy could be protected if that was her preference, but she'd still know she was the reason. And did she like the idea that the school ran the fundraiser just in order to recruit her, rather than any genuine desire to affect change? Did it matter, in the end, the intent behind the money, if it all went to the same cause?

She glanced at a clock and noticed that it was past the end of Fisher High's school day. Ezekiel and Jacob would be down in the basement with Colonel Baird and Mr. Carsen already, halfway through their mandatory hour of service. Now there was another snag. The connections were recent, but they seemed important. Cassandra barely knew Ezekiel yet, but she sensed a sort of kinship with him, and was really excited to spend more time with him. He'd been kind to her so far, and it had been a long time since her last good friendship. And Jacob… she still hadn't figured him out just yet, but she had a feeling there was a lot below the grumpy outer layer, and that deeper Jacob was both appealing and intriguing. She hoped to explore that further, if she could.

Before she knew it, a bell startled Cassandra out of both her subway of thought and her attention to Mr. Bors. He glanced up and frowned. "Mm. End of day. I'm sorry, Miss Cillian, I have an important department meeting to get to. I do hope I've helped to convince you, though. You'd be such a strong addition to our school." He nodded to her and set off.

Lamia led Cassandra out of the room and they moved slowly down the hall, surrounded by the traffic of students rushing to get out of the school. Lamia waited until the rush died down to speak, leaving Cassandra feeling very awkward.

Finally the halls were quiet again, and Lamia turned to Cassandra, leaning in and smiling her slightly-dangerous smile. "So what're you thinking?" she asked. "I think the choice is pretty obvious, myself. You'd clearly do well here with us. And with me." Her smile grew.

Cassandra bit her lip, flustered yet again by the girl's behaviour. "I, um…" Blinking and glancing down, she took a deep breath. "You know, this school seems really impressive. It's true you have… a lot to offer. Benwick, I mean." She screwed her eyes shut, trying to plan out her next sentence so as not to embarrass herself. "That is, you know… I think in another life you and I might've been great friends, and all. But I'm starting to carve out a bit of a space of my own at Fisher High recently, and that means a lot to me."

She met Lamia's eye again. The girl leaned back with a sigh and an eyeroll, her friendliness disappeared. "God, I've been so nice to you for like a week and a half," she muttered. "This is exhausting." Then she reached behind herself and opened a door, her other hand grabbing a startled Cassandra by the shoulder.

"What-?" Cassandra managed to squeak in alarm.

"Later, loser," Lamia said, shoving Cassandra through the door and slamming it shut, leaving her in the dark. An unnerving little click followed, and a moment later Cassandra's suspicions were confirmed when she urgently jiggled the handle, to no avail.

"What kind of door locks from the hall side and not the inside?" she squawked in alarm. Turning around and putting her back against the door, she pulled her phone out of the folds of her skirt and woke it up, shining the light around her. She was trapped inside a small janitor's closet.

For a few moments she pounded on the door and shouted, but there was no response. Willing herself not to panic, she sat down on a stepstool and looked at her phone again. The battery was dangerously low, and she moaned.

"Okay. Okay. This is fine," she told herself. She took a few deep breaths. Then she opened her text app, stared for a moment at the available names, and selected Ezekiel.

She knew she was in a janitor's closet. She knew she was on the second floor of the north wing of Benwick. She knew the door was locked and no one was coming to help her right now.

She managed to shoot off one text to Ezekiel before her phone died.