Elisabeth awoke with a start, as she did every day, and reached over to the empty spot in her bed, but the person she was hoping to find wasn't there. She had simply been dreaming again...dreaming of the one person she would least likely ever find in her bed. She craned her neck to peek at the clock. Eleven-thirty it read. The exhibition was at twelve. Damn!

If one were to simply peek through one of the apartment's windows, they might've laughed a little, because the sight was simply a mess. There Elisabeth was, running around the house like a madwoman attempting to fix her hair and collect her things, whilst simeotaneously trying to find a nice dress to wear. By the time eleven-forty came about, she was running out the front door and down the street. She hailed a carriage, but the driver was busy making conversation with a woman on the road. Forget the carriage.

And so, after running all the way across town, she stood panting at the entrance of the gallery. She checked her wristwatch: Eleven-fifty-five.

As the owner rounded the corner, he spotted Elisabeth staring off into space.

"You're early. We still have five minutes until it starts, and people haven't started crowding yet."

He gestured to the entrance, "Here, let's fix you up. You look like an absolute mess, almost as if you'd run here all the way on foot."

The former teacher, now artist, sighed and silently prayed that the rest of the day would go as planned.

"I can't believe Racket has us darning socks again." Wolzogen groaned.

"Speak for yourself, Westhagen is darning underwear." Shouted Paapke, while laughter erupted amongst all the girls.

Westhagen furrowed her brow, "Just shut up will you?"

"Well, it was your fault in the first place."

"I was trying to help! Don't you hate it being starved like this? I'd much rather prefer food from home...if only that letter had reached-"

"Yes we do hate it, but we would much rather prefer someone who knows how not to get caught." This was definitely Treskov. Even she had had enough.

Since that fateful evening when Manuela attempted to throw herself down the stairwell, several teachers had resigned, leaving the school with few teachers, and even fewer finances. This only allowed the girls to eat half of what they had been eating only two years ago. Most of their faces shown gaunt and their ribs visible enough to call a doctor; but, as much as they complained, Racket ignored their pleas.

One girl in particular was replaying that same evening over and over again in her head. As many times as it would take to keep her distracted from the feeling of loneliness sweeping her body. Even surrounded by all her friends and classmates, Manuela felt utterly isolated from the world. As if she were stuck in a dark room, without any light-

"Manuela!"

The red-haired girl snapped out of her daze and looked at the culprit. Yvette was peering at her with pleading eyes, but she wasn't the only one staring.

"What's going through that head of yours? It took you forever to respond."

But before Manuela had the chance to respond, Treskov spoke up.

"It's useless Kleist. She's been stuck in that fixated trance for a while. At least since Fraule-"

"I was wondering if you're planning on auditioning for this year's play?" Yvette smiled vaguely.

Manuela looked briefly around at all the other girls wearing the most importunate looks then turned back to Kliest.

"No. I don't think that's a good idea, considering last year's performance." She sighed, remembering the unfortunate performance she gave. Every day before the night of the performance she had managed to keep her brain away from any breathing memory of Fraulein von Bernburg, but on the night of the performance, she didn't have the strength. Her acting lacked effort and she had forgotten several of her lines. At some point, it became too much for her to handle and she ran off stage. Before being scolded by Racket, several of the other girls followed her backstage and attempted to console whatever worries the girl had bore, but Manuela could never speak of it; not even to Yvette who had become one of her closest friends since the incident.

Since that night, almost anyone could have easily noticed that Manuela was different. The girl had stopped taking part in plays and theatre in general, rarely spoke, and was always gazing off somewhere; never focused. Like now.

"Meinhardis!" Racket's voice boomed in the small room

As quickly as she had lost consciousness, she snapped her head in the direction of that irritable voice to find a red-faced Racket gesturing to the sock Manuela was working on. The only sock.

"How is it that you've had an entire hour to complete such a simple task as darning socks, yet you haven't even finished one?!"

"I...I-" Manuela stuttered, completely thoughtless in how to respond.

"Detention, Meinhardis! And as for the rest of you lazy delinquents, if you don't get your act together, at least while Frau Oberin is in treatment and I am in charge, you shall all be darning the very clothes on your backs! Understood?!"

"Yes Fraulein von Racket!" They all recited.

"Here, Manuela can have a pair of my socks."

Racket's head snapped in the direction of the culprit.

"Kliest!"

Innocently Kliest protested, "She can't be bare foot..she'll need some at least, and I have an extra pa-"

"Kliest, I can't believe you! Detention for you both now!"

Manuela stared, disbelieved at Yvette, who smirked proudly in return.

Racket gestured to the door and both the girls rose and followed order.

As they made their way down the hall and up the stairs, Manuela whispered in Yvette's ear, "What are you doing? I don't need a pair of so-"

"I know. I just didn't like the idea of you getting lonely during detention." The blonde girl spoke as the bumped manuela's shoulder playfully.

"Kliest! Meinhardis! No talking!"

Manuela smiled at her friend, grateful she had at least someone who loved her…

AN/ Hey! So I hope you enjoyed chapter three, although it took a very long time to write; which you all have my apologies. I had some obstacles that got in the way, one of them being writer's block for almost two weeks! And second being that I actually got really close to finishing it, but my internet decided to stop working (can I get a hhhhhhhnnnnnnn). So yeah...hopefully I'll have the next chapter out within the next week or so! I was really trying to introduce the school in a more negative depth, and the relationship between Manuela and Yvette! I also really want to thank you all for your amazing patience and your support with this fanficton so far! You are all so dear to me! Now, for less use of exclamation points, the music rec:

How Deep is the Ocean by Julie Andrews

(if you have trouble finding this song in its best quality, just look up "The Best of Julie Andrews" and it should be in the album that pops up!)