A/N: Hello! I'm soo sorry it's taken so long to update! I had some important stuff going on! But here's the next chapter! I'll be able to write more soon, I promise!

Disclaimer: The characters belong to a Ms. Kelley Armstrong!

To my surprise, it was Ms. Van Dop who looked at the bandages the following morning.

It was before breakfast, Liz was in the bathroom getting ready when the nurse came and knocked on the door. She gave me a long look before she had started doing my bandages, but didn't say anything. It was only when she had unwrapped the bandages that she started to talk.

"We're going to take the bandages off for a few hours today, to let it breath. But after class time, I want to put them back on. They're not looking too much better." She looked at me and thought for a moment.

"Refrain from doing any more cleaning. Laundry will be fine, but don't do any scrubbing. It may be why your hands aren't healing appropriately."

I nodded as she got up and made her way to the door. "Hurry and get ready. Breakfast will be in ten, then afterwards Liz will show you to the classroom. Don't worry about bringing any supplies, they are already provided."

"Yes Ma'am." I said quietly, getting up to round up something decent. I had showered earlier, after waking up at an unholy hour and running to the bathroom. Apparently, the bug that I had caught hadn't passed through.

I was feeling a bit better now, so I didn't really feel it necessary to tell the nurses.

After I was dressed, I took a look in the small mirror placed by our door. I could understand why Miss Van Dop had looked at me weirdly.

I was even paler than usual, my face looking a bit thin. Dark circles had appeared, and my eyes seemed a little dull. I almost looked like the ghosts that stalked me.

I sighed tiredly. Times like these made me wish that I had taken an interest in wearing and carrying makeup. It would be so easy to cover the dark circles, to make me look not so sickly. I combed through my hair with my fingers, then moved to pinch my cheeks, trying to get some color back in them. It worked a little bit, and I gave a small smile to myself before heading down to the kitchen.

Downstairs, mostly everybody had taken their seats and had started eating. Liz was still upstairs, finishing up, while Tori was taking her medicine with Mrs. Talbot. I took a deep breath and stepped in behind her, waiting my turn. I kept my hands behind me, covered by the long sleeves of my shirt. Tori was the last person I wanted seeing.

As soon as she finished taking her meds, she turned sharply and walked to the dining room table, ignoring my presence completely. I breathed a sigh of relief as I gave a small smile to Mrs. Talbot. She smiled back and turned to grab my medication.

"Good morning! How'd you sleep dear?"

"F-Fine," I lied quietly. "How about you?" She turned and smiled at me, holding out the pills for me to take. I reached out and grabbed them, throwing them in my mouth and faking a swallow.

"Oh, I slept wonderfully! Working so much has made it so much easier to sleep." I nodded and started to head toward breakfast, stopping by the trashcan to quickly spit out the medication before taking my usual seat at the table. Liz appeared a few minutes later, skipping over for her medication, then returned shortly to sit with the rest of us.

Breakfast was a quiet and quick affair. Everyone seemed too preoccupied with their food to start up a conversation. I pushed my food around, the smell making me a little nauseous. I knew that I was hungry, but just imagining myself eating it... I stabbed a piece of waffle and shut my eyes, quickly swallowing. Starving myself wouldn't make me better, choking down what I could could only help.

Or come back up for me to later taste again.

After taking about three or four bites, I gave up and pushed my food to Derek again. He looked up at me for a second before moving the food from mine onto his. Simon caught the action and elbowed his brother.

"Hey." He said to him quietly before looking at me. "You aren't hungry? You barely ate last night."

I shrugged. "I don't usually eat breakfast, anyway." I said, getting up. "Besides, I should probably head to class early. Mrs. Abdo probably wants to go over a few things with me."

He frowned, but nodded. "Alright. Here, I'll go with you, I'm about done eating anyway." He picked up my and his dishes and ran them over to the kitchen before making his way back to me to lead me to the classroom.

I sneaked a quick look to Tori, and was not surprised at the look I received. It was like I was the one who told him to come with me. Her fist was clenched tightly around her fork, and her glare was colder than the current storm outside. I looked back at Simon when he pulled me towards the class, slight fear prickling through me. I tried to pull away from his grip on my sleeve, but he was being stubborn. I let it be for the time being.

He opened the door to the classroom, leading me in. Mrs. Abdo looked up from her computer and looked between me and Simon.

"Good morning, you're both early."

"Chloe figured she should be here early, since she's new." He said, smiling his charming grin towards her. She gave a small smile back.

"Very smart of her." She looked to me. "It's nice of you to be here. Now, usually I just give the assignments that you're missing out on at your schools. If you're struggling with anything, you can ask someone near you, or you can ask me. Think of it as just a "catch-up" period. I'll be sending the papers to your teachers to grade, or if they are easy enough to grade, I'll do it and return it to you in the morning." I nodded and she motioned to one of the front row seats.

I sat down, looking around the room. There were only enough desks for every kid here, no more no less. The desks were separated into three rows, none within arms reach. I figured that she didn't like too much talking in the classroom.

Mrs. Abdo pulled open a drawer from her desk and pulled out a folder filled with papers. She got up and plopped them on my desk, as well as a calculator, a couple sheets of extra paper, and a pen and pencil.

"Most of the supplies are in the back of the room, labeled. The pencil sharpener is to your left, next to the window. If you need anything extra, just let me know and I'll see what I can do. Class ends when it's time for lunch. Anything that you can't get done today that is due tomorrow will be homework. Inside the folder you'll find a timeline. This timeline was created by your teachers, and shows when each assignment is due. Make sure to follow this timeline, I heard your school doesn't accept late assignments." I nodded again and mumbled a thanks, before opening the folder to take a look at the behemoth of homework left for me.

My teachers certainly weren't taking it easy on me. For the few days that I've been gone, each class seemed to have assigned five different assignments. I sighed and looked at the timeline. Luckily, only about a quarter of the assignments were due tomorrow, while the rest were due next Monday and Tuesday. Simon had sat next to me, whistling at the amount of homework on my desk. I looked up and he gave a smile.

"Don't worry, all the new people here have a ton of homework to do at first, it'll get better. I promise."

I gave a small smile back. "You don't happen to be a whiz at math, do you?" I looked back down and pulled out my homework for Algebra 2. I held up the sheet of paper and waved it. "I have a feeling that a majority of this folder is just that." He quickly shook his head and raised his hands.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not willing to sacrifice my sanity for you just yet. Math drives me crazy, hate the subject. I'm more of an... artistic spirit." I scoffed and put the paper back down. "You know," he started, "Derek is a genius when it comes to that, and he owes you now." I looked at him, confused.

"Owes me?" Simon's grin got wide.

"You've given him your meal twice, I think that's the best kind of payment for Derek." I gave a small laugh at that.

"I somehow don't doubt that. I'll think about it."

After our little chat, I got to work, skipping math for the time being and focusing on the other subjects that were due tomorrow. It wasn't anything too difficult, especially after Mrs. Abdo showed me where the computers were located and how I could access the necessary textbooks. I got a couple assignments done before the rest came in, grabbing a folder similar to mine from the nurse and taking their seats. I didn't miss the kick to the shin as Tori walked past me to sit in the chair behind me. I held in the moan of pain and just squeezed my pencil tighter, keeping my head down and working.

However, I had to quickly stop squeezing as I realized that I had reopened a small part of my wound on my hand. I pulled my sleeve back a bit and pressed my right hand on my thigh, careful not to get the small amount of blood anywhere on my assignments.

I wonder what my teachers would think, getting an assignment covered in blood. Maybe they would take one look at it and decide just to give me a B-, not wanting to grade bloody homework.

I looked to my right and saw that Rae had taken the spot next to me. She felt me looking and met my eyes, giving a small smile.

"Feeling alright there, girly?" She asked quietly, her voice carrying more than I would have liked in such a quiet room.

I nodded. "Yeah, fantastic." I murmured, gesturing toward my homework. She winced.

"I feel you. My first day was pretty bad too." We gave quick smiles and went back to work, feeling the gaze of Mrs. Abdo.

The rest of class was quiet, and I kept my head down and my mind on homework, trying not to think about what happened the last time I was in a classroom. I could feel eyes on my back, but figured that it was just Tori staring me down, trying to see if it was possible to kill someone with a hard enough look. After about ten minutes of this, I turned my head slightly to see that it wasn't Tori that was staring.

I met Derek's gaze and quickly looked away, blushing. I shifted in my seat, slightly uncomfortable. I never liked people looking at me. Some girls appreciated the attention, but I could hardly stand it. I always felt that if someone stared hard enough, they could see that I wasn't like them. That there was something wrong with me.

The rest of the class went like that. I would focus on my homework, and every now and then, I would feel that gaze on me.

Maybe I just happen to be sitting where his eyes usually zone out? I thought hopefully. I hadn't done anything to really piss him off, have I? I mean, sure, I may have been a bit of a jerk when he cornered me in the bathroom, but who corners people in the bathroom, anyway? It wasn't my fault he was being creepy.

After feeling his gaze for about the tenth time, I turned and slightly glared at him, mentally telling him to stop. He met my gaze with a blank stare, motioned toward my work, then to the vacant seat next to him. I looked at him confused. He sighed and rolled his eyes. He bent his head for a second, writing something on a blank piece of paper, before holding it up for me to read.

You need help with math. He then pointed to the seat next to him.

I looked at him, a bit surprised, before gathering my things to go sit by him. He moved the desk closer to his, and motioned for me to sit when I came by. Mrs. Abdo gave us a quick look, then after figuring out I was asking for help, went back to whatever she was doing.

We were in the back of the class, far enough that if we kept quiet, the others would struggle a bit with listening in. Everyone's back was to us, all hunched over with whatever they were working on.

As soon as I sat down, Derek took the few assignments that I had finished and gave them a quick look over before scribbling down a few formulas. He continued to look through them as I watched him quietly. Why would he help me? From what I gathered, he wasn't exactly the most social. So him offering to help wasn't what I'd expected. Besides how did he even know I needed help? There wasn't enough time for Simon to tell him that I needed it.

His voice snapped me back from my thoughts.

"You were close, but you messed up the formulas on 4, 9, and 11. Same with the third page, except with numbers 8, 9, 10, and 13." I looked at the pages, seeing the neat script written by each problem.

"Are those the only ones you needed done today?" I nodded. He looked back to his own work and started, signaling the end of our conversation. I placed the papers down and fixed up the problems. It only took a few minutes, seeing as though I had the processes written right in front of me. As soon as I was finished, I erased his writing and stacked the papers next to my folder, keeping the completed work separated from the unfinished. I looked at the clock and saw that we only had about ten minutes before class ended. Everyone else was either rushing to finish the work or goofing off. Simon in particular was doodling on the end of his paper, while Rae had her head on the desk. Liz and Tori were talking quietly to each other, as usual.

I looked back at Derek to see him still working. His hair was slightly covering his face, shiny because of how greasy it was. It was kind of gross, but I couldn't really blame him. Puberty could be cruel. I had a friend who showered every day, but by around dinner, her hair would already be greasy again. His face was a bit flushed, his acne showing a bit more than usual. He wasn't absolutely hideous, though. His chin was strong, and even with the layers on you could tell that his shoulders were broad. He was chubby, sure, but he wasn't large. Besides, his eyes were a really pretty green….

"If you've finished your math, you should work on your other assignments." He rumbled, meeting my eyes. I blushed at getting caught.

"Cl-class is about over. I don't want to start an assignment and not finish." He shrugged and slid his homework back into his folder, cleaning up around his desk. I swallowed and gathered my courage before talking.

"How did you know that I needed help with math." He stopped and slid his gaze back, before sighing and sliding back into the chair, crossing his arms.

"You were sitting and not writing anything, just staring at your homework."

"Is that why you were staring?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Part of it." He motioned to my hands before talking again. "There's something wrong."

"What? No way! I had no idea! How did this happen?" I snarked. He glared at me, and I huffed and looked away, crossing my arms and hiding my hands from his view.

"I mean, those aren't self-inflicted wounds. Even if you caught your skin on a loose nail or window, it wouldn't cause that kind of damage." I snapped my head back to him and stared.

"W-What makes you so sure?"

"I'm not stupid. Your wrist wounds go up from the middle to the top of your palms, on both hands. Seems unlikely you'd be able to do that to both hands. It would be too painful to grip the blade to do the second one. They're also too deep for a nail."

I stared at him, wide-eyed. This boy was too smart. Smarter than the teachers and the doctors that had seen these.

Just then, Mrs. Abdo dismissed class for lunch. Derek stood up and looked down at me, I looked back, refusing to back down. I faced ghosts scarier than he was, I wouldn't let him scare me off with just a look. His eyes narrowed before widening slightly.

"You already know what you are, don't you?"

My heart quickened its pace, and I felt my breath hitch for a second. He couldn't possibly mean… no. It wasn't possible.

"What do you-" I was cut off as Simon jumped into the picture.

"Yo! Ready for lunch? I heard that it's tuna sandwiches today…."