I don't quite remember everything that happened. I don't know why he did what he did, but I do know that it is my fault. I let him pin me down, let him draw those lines on me with his knife. It was my fault that he managed to get to me. I need to leave, need to run away. Lying awake at night, I've never before wished that the explosion that took my parent's lives had killed me too, but right now, if I had one wish that would be it. I need to find a way out, I can't face him again.

Harper sat on the floor, reading the piece of paper that she had extracted from underneath her bed. Memories flooded back, memories that she had been suppressing for two years. In her mind's eye, she was struggling underneath the boy's weight, biting her lip to keep from screaming as he dragged the knife across her stomach. His messy black hair hung in his face, his mouth stretched in an evil leer. "You know you like it, H. You know it was bound to happen eventually"

She shook her head, pulling herself back to reality and out of the nightmare. Sighing, she threw the paper into her dresser drawer and tramped down the stairs. "Yo, Harper! Aren't you going to class, like you're supposed to?" a shout behind her made Harper whirl around. A boy stood behind her, his blonde hair perfectly straight and clean. He wore a plain black t-shirt and baggy jeans. "Oh, hey Mello. Yeah, that's where I'm going right now. What about you? Aren't you in my algebra class, too?" Harper retaliated, sticking out her tongue. Mello just laughed, rolling his eyes. "I'm going, but I noticed you weren't at the usual meeting spot. So, I decided to go lookin' for you." Harper blushed, hefting her school bag a little higher on her back. Together, the two walked down the corridor to room 34. "Geez, we made it by, like, 30 seconds. You know Ms. Williams will give you a detention if you're late again." Mello rolled his eyes, ignoring Harper's comment. "There's only so much that Ms. Williams can do. Besides, I never go to her detentions anyway." He said, pushing open the classroom door and striding over to his seat, sitting down and reclining in his chair. Ms. Williams glared at him. "Mello, you do realize that this is the third time that you've been late to this class. Therefore, I must give you a detention…" Harper raised her hand, a knowing smirk on her face. "Excuse me, Ms. Williams, I don't mean to be rude, but I must make a correction to your statement. This class starts at nine-fifteen. Mello and I arrived at nine-fourteen and 45.6 seconds. Therefore, we were on time by 14.4 seconds." Mello shot Harper a smile, and she winked back. Ms. Williams groaned inwardly, tired of dealing with geniuses. "Very well, Mello, Harper, your detention is withdrawn. Be warned, I will not tolerate any more smart comments from you, H." Mello sniggered, while other students looked annoyed. Harper was one of the only students to be officially awarded with letter status. What's more, L had been the one to give her the letter, personally, through one of his House wide broadcasts. Harper just sank down in her chair, disliking the cold looks everyone was giving her. Mello, seeing his friend like this, frowned at the class. "God, how pathetic can you get? So what if she has a letter? She's H, for crying out loud! The letter that has no association with any subject, even I could do better than that." He thought, feeling a little guilty. Mello couldn't deny that he, too, was a little envious. Harper was the youngest student to receive letter status since L himself. The girl in question was now pulling a sketchbook from her bag, turning a blind eye to Ms. William's annoyed glances. Harper rarely paid attention in class, or rather, this was the appearance. Many a teacher had tried to nail Harper with a sudden question, only to receive a detailed, elaborate, and one hundred percent correct answer. No one could figure her out. The one time Mr. Godden, the Psychology teacher, actually took away her drawing utensils, she actually couldn't pay any attention whatsoever. Mello had stepped in on this occasion, and taken the liberty of breaking into the lounge to steal the sketchbook back. Much to his surprise, Harper gave him a deluxe Hershey bar from New York (no one knew how she got it, and Harper wasn't talking) that was almost half his height! Yes, Harper was strange, to say the least, but what really drew Mello to her was one, simple fact; Harper was the only girl at Whammy's that was not irritated by his presence. Mello only had to walk onto the front yard and, automatically, he would receive glares from the twenty –six female students. Even Maddie, who was only eight, hated the blonde haired boy. In fact, Mello had few real friends. Matt, his roommate, was a videogame junkie and had some sort of power that allowed him to attract any girl he wanted. He hated wearing leather and the color black and was a steadfast atheist. How he and Mello (who, by the way, loved both leather and black, plus was a devout catholic of his own accord) ended up as inseparable as twins who shared a brain was beyond even the geniuses of Whammy's House. The two were always seen with each other, Matt following along like a red headed puppy, eyes glued to his Gameboy SP. A stinkbomb in the boy's bathroom: Matt and Mello. Tarantula in the macaroni and cheese: Matt and Mello. Linda's hair being knotted securely to the bed frame after calling Mello a girl and telling him that he was gay and therefore going to hell: Harper, Mello, and Matt. (That was Harper's idea). Linda, who needed to have her long, blonde hair cut short after the aforementioned incident, harbored a particularly strong hatred for Harper. On multiple occasion's, the girls had clashed over the simplest things, such as spots in the lunchroom or who handed in their homework first. Unfortunately for Linda, Harper never backed down from a challenge. She saw everything as an opportunity to hone her skills, and practice for whatever she was going to do with her life after she left Whammy's. She knew that she was never going to be chosen as L's successor, seeing as Near was the most likely candidate. The white haired child was brilliant, holding all the brain's any normal person would ever need in his little finger. The rest of his body was filled with random tidbits of information, ideas, and cases that needed solving. Mello was thoroughly annoyed by Near, who beat him on every test by a margin of three points or less, and held a consistent Number One on the Whammy's House Ranking, while Mello was always Number Two. Harper had spoken to him about it, questioning why he was so upset.

"I mean, come on Mello! You're the second smartest out of over fifty kids! Higher up than 48 others! Why is that not good enough for you?"

"You know why! That stupid little sheep thinks he's so brilliant, the next frickin' Eisntein! I'm sick of always being second best at everything! The little cotton ball even beat me at soccer the other day! Soccer! He's such a wimp, so how in hell did he manage that?"

Harper sighed. "Look, Mel. I would give anything to be where you are. At least you have a shot at being the next L. I'm stuck at Number Four, no matter what I do. Matt gets me on every exam by one point. Just one point, but I'm not complaining. I think I'm lucky to be here at all. I could be dead, but L saved my life. I feel that I at least owe it to him to try my hardest, and if Number Four is my best, then that's what I'll give. Why can't you see things the way I do?"

At this, Mello stood up and walked away. " 'Cause, we're two completely different people." But in truth, they were more alike than he realized.