Jerome was sitting alone in the common room, well, the common room was full but Jerome was alone on the couch. Everyone else was having fun in the dining room/kitchen; the Sibuna's sat together whispering, Trudy and Victor were trying to clean the oven, and Mick and Mara were acting mushy. Jerome pulled out his phone and stared at a new text, then he threw his phone at the wall, it shattered. Everyone stopped and stared at him, he stared back as if to say: What are you looking at?

The next time Mick and Mara started acting sappy, Jerome cracked,

"God, could you shut up! No one cares how much you love each other and no one else ever asked how many stupid names you can come up with!" he yelled. Mick retaliated

" Please Mara, you're always telling me this guy has 'a sensitive side' and that I shouldn't judge him, but don't you see how cold he is, he doesn't have feelings! He calls me a meathead but he's a jerk and a con! You say he's put up walls but to hide WHAT! A shriveled, shrunken, sorry excuse of a soul!" Mick screamed, and Jerome stopped in his tracks. Mick had expected a snappy comment, a sarcastic comeback, a quick retort, but his silence was deafening. And his "come-back" when it finally came, was quiet and cutting, lacking in sarcasm.

"Mick, you do not know one thing about my shriveled soul." But Mick wasn't done,

"So tell us Jerome? What about that text made you so mad huh? Are you secretly a deep, caring person?" Mick let out a derisive laugh. Jerome took a step back, and looked around, everyone was watching, including Trudy and Victor. He and Alfie locked eyes, Alfie gave a small nod.

"My Dad left when I was five, my sister and I live with our mum. She decided that she could only take care of one kid, so to boarding school I went, she didn't visit. I go home for summer break, but I rarely see her. When I was seven she married Arthur Baur, a hopeless drunk and child abuser. When I was home I would try to protect Poppy, but I can only do so much." Quickly, he took of his shirt, revealing white scars running up and down his chest and back. Nina and Amber gasped "My mum still doesn't believe us. I stopped trusting after the first boarding school, started scamming at the second, I found my Dad here, thanks to Mara." He finished with a smile to Mara. Mara ran up and hugged him (remember Jerome is still shirtless) Jerome gently pushed her away,

"I don't want your pity, any of you." Mick wasn't about to give it to him either,

" And the text?"

"Arthur isn't going to let Poppy come to school next year."

Mara looked at Mick with contempt, " You can't say he doesn't have feelings now, Mick. He is a living, feeling person!"

"Whatever." Mara gestured Mick to her room. The rest of the house could hear their argument down in the common room, but SIBUNA all left the room in the end, off to solve the great mystery. Hours later, Jerome was in the same position in the common room (though he had put his shirt back on) Mara came down the stairs her mascara had run all over and by the looks of it she couldn't care less. She looked up at him and smiled cautiously,

"I think it was great you know, that you finally told them all." She said

"I think it's great you know," he mocked her earnest tone "That you finally broke up with meathead."