"Lil," Scout said quietly, leaning back in her chair and tilting her body towards her friend – she and Lily were sat next to each other in Maths – "are you sure you're ok, I mean, you just seem kinda out of it today."

"Put it this way," Lily barely looked up from her paper, "two hours sleep is definitely not enough." She laughed, smirking she looked up at Scout. "What did you get for question two? I'm not smart enough for this."

"Come on Lily, you're like the smartest girl in school. When we sit them exams in summer you'll ace them all, trust me." There was no jealousy in Scout's voice, just respect for someone she knew deserved the As and Bs plastered on report cards.

"Scout, shut up." Lily said playfully.

"You know it's true, Lil. Anyway, I got x=5 for number two."

"Awesome, cheers Scout."
"Do you girls know the meaning of 'silent working'." Mr Chalk had walked over to them and leant over the desk,

"Sorry sir." Lily and Scout both muttered.

"It's okay girls, just get on with it please." Daniel walked back to his desk and slumped into his chair. He sat staring into space for the last five minutes of the lesson. The ringing bell soon sounded and the lesson was over.

"That was the longest lesson of my life." Scout muttered to Lily as she picked up her back and shoved her books into it. "Science now right?"

Lily didn't answer straight away, she was staring at her phone.

"Lily, hey? What's up?" Scout was scared, Lily's face was twisted into shock. "What's on your phone?"
"It's nothing." She finally answered and went to put the phone in her pocket, still in panic. A video was on the small screen. A video of her. A video from this morning. It buzzed again, she could feel it against her leg but she didn't look at it. Her heart drummed and her blood felt like it was trying to escape from her veins. "I don't wanna be late for Mrs Diamond, we should get going."
"Yeah, course." Scout sounded confused, she had absolutely no idea what was going on – Lily wanted it to stay that way for as long as possible.

They walked together, having to push their way through the crowds of students, waves of them, all with somewhere they needed to be. Lily could still taste his cigarette breath at the back of her throat and she could still feel his hands, his hands with the rough skin. She felt sick. Not like she was actually going to throw up but nauseous, like she was on a boat, it was dread.

"Lil are you even listening to me?" Scout said loudly.

"Sorry, what?" She dragged herself out of the daze.

"I was asking if you'd done Diamond's homework? All that Chemical equations stuff."

Lily exhaled loudly and closed her eyes: "I completely forgot. Shit Scout, what do I do?"

"Tell her you left it at home or something. It'll be fine." At that moment they rounded the corner and hurried into the classroom. "Sorry we're late Miss."

"That's fine girls, just sit down and get out your homework." Sian turned back to the board and started scribbling some notes while the girls rummaged in their bags. Lily felt the twisting feeling in her stomach as she stared at the empty desk, she had completely forgotten about the work. She knew exactly where the blank sheet was: on her desk, next to her bed.

"Thanks Emily." Sian had started to collect the homework in. When she got to Lily's desk she sighed, "Lily, where's your work?"

"I, um, I left it at home I'm really sorry Miss."

"Lily what's going on with you today? This isn't like you?"

"She just slept really badly last night, Mrs Diamond, she's really tired and stuff." Scout butted in, seeing her friend's fear at having to explain herself and her lack of homework.

"You have to make sure you get enough sleep, it's important otherwise you can't concentrate. See me at the end and I can help you out with the homework." Sian knew she hadn't really left it at home, it didn't take a first from Cambridge to work that out.

"Right," Sian called out to the class, "can anyone tell me what the atomic number of fluorine is?" Lily cautiously raised her hand in the air not thinking about how much too big her jumper was. Sian saw the bruises when her sleeve slipped a few inches down her arms. Her stomach was a sinking ship. Those bruises, added to the ones from earlier, did not seem to equal a trip up the stairs. "Yes Lily?"

"Nine."

"Good, and can you tell me what the atomic structure is?"

"Erm," Lily paused, trying to remember how it worked, "is it two and then seven?"

"Excellent Lily, you've obviously been paying attention." Sian smiled at her and continued to ask questions.

When the bell rang at the end of the lesson she walked over to Lily,

"You obviously get this stuff, how come you didn't do the homework?" She pulled the seat in front of Lily's desk to face her.

"I have done it, Miss, I just left it at home."

"Lily, we both know that's not true." Sian said sympathetically, this was more than just a general lazy pupil, she knew this was much more. "Are you going to tell me what's going on Lily?" She didn't answer, she just sat, staring at her hands, feeling her pulse racing across her skin. She was electric with panic and dread. "I could tell you were lying about the homework and you know what else," Lily looked up, "I know you were lying about the stairs."

"Miss, I–"

"I'm worried about you. It's my job to notice when things aren't okay and today you're not okay."

"I'm just stressed about school and about the exams. That's all." She started to push her chair back, ready to stand up. "I just need to get some air, I'm fine. I just couldn't sleep last night and I'm stressed."

"Sit down. This is about more than school work."

"No, honestly it's not, I'd tell you if it was. I'm not stupid, Miss."

"I'm not saying you're stupid. I care about you." Lily didn't sit back down, she pulled her bag onto her shoulder; Sian could tell she wasn't going to talk right now. Something was definitely going on. "Like I said earlier, my door is always open."

"Thanks Mrs Diamond, I'll hand the homework in tomorrow first thing." Lily rushed out of the classroom and made her way to the toilets. She locked herself into the far cubicle and pulled out her phone – she wasn't supposed to have it in school. There was five unread messages, two from Scout asking where she was and three from him.