A day has passed since James asked me for the English notes. Alex and John are out right now, so I'm least expecting it when there's a knock on the door. I figure it's them coming back because they forgot something, including their room key. I answer the door and am shocked to see James.

He has a black and blue bruise beginning to form around his left eye. He has smaller bruises all over, and his lip is split and bleeding.

"Can-can I come in?" He asks, sounding choked up. It's quite clear he's holding back tears.

"Of course." I reply, and the smaller boy practically collapses into my arms as he begins to sob. I carefully help him over to the couch, and the two of us sit there, James clinging to me as if I'm some sort of life support.

"I-I didn't want to…" I hear James mutter through his sobs. "I didn't want to g-give him what he wanted…"

"You're safe now, it's okay." I reply softly.

James continued to cry, soaking my shirt. "H-he didn't give me a choice!" He wails.

"Hey, you're okay now." I say, continuing to try to comfort him.

"I shoulda never told him...he doesn't cease to blackmail me!"

"Tell him what, James?" I ask softly.

He ignores my question and continues to sob. Slowly, his tears let up. "S-sorry…"

"What for?"

"For just coming in on you like that." He says softly. "And for soaking your shirt."

"It's alright, I'll just change out of it later."

"You can do it now. It's probably really uncomfortable."

"You sure?" I ask, unwilling to leave him since he just stopped crying.

"Yeah, it's fine."

"Alright." I get up and go to my room, pulling my shirt over my head and throwing it in the laundry. I begin to search through my closet for a clean shirt when I hear knocking on the door. "One moment, please!" I shout, guessing it is Alex and John back from their date. I continue to look through my closet when once again my ears are met with pounding on the door. "Fine, fine, I'm coming!" I shout, walking bare chested across the dorm.

I swing the door open and find myself face to face with Thomas.

"Where's James?"

"Why would I know that?" I reply. I've always been bad at lying, but I hope for James' sake that Thomas believes me.

"Don't lie to me, Marie. You know where she is."

"Who's 'she'?"

"Her! James! Where is she?"

Thomas has lost it. He was mental before, but now he's being an absolute lunatic.

"I don't know where James is, Thomas." I say, trying to stay calm.

"You still call me Thomas?" He asks. "So you do still care. If you really don't know where James is, you could come back to my dorm with me." I feel his eyes raking across my bare chest. "You may have left me, but you're still hot." He wraps his hands around my waist. "Wanna have some fun, Marie?"

I immediately shove him backwards. "Keep your hands off of me!" I shout.

"Then where's James?"

"I'm right here, Tom." He says, emerging from around the corner. "Laf and I are partners for a biology project." He says. "I was just talking to him about it."

"Tell me before you leave next time." He says, grabbing onto him and pulling him out the door.

"Okay." He says, quickly turning his head and looking at me helplessly before Thomas pulls him away.