"So, this is it. You already know that, though-"

"No I don't," David said as he walked into Caleb's room. She said they can forget about it, and he was playing along. She let out a small laugh, "oh yeah, must be thinking of something else."

He looked around for the first time. He already had his bag on the floor, leaned up against the bed.

"Make yourself at home. There's no use in keeping a museum room. Caleb wouldn't want that," she said to him.

"He always said you were smart," David said, still looking around at all the stuff Caleb kept in the room. This hit a string in Alice's heart. "Yeah..I'm just- I'm gonna go. You, do whatever it is you do."

She went into her room and laid on her bed. She closed her eyes, trying to keep her thoughts on track. She had a million and one things to think about and only so much energy.

After a while her mind settled, and things were beginning to feel more relaxing.

"Alice, hey baby," a guy greeted her when she got into her dorm room.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked, her heart starting to race.

"I miss you, you can't stay away from me like that. Come on, Alice, you know you love me," he had this sick smile on his face.

"I don't love you, not anymore. Please leave, you're not supposed to be here." She didn't even put her books down, or let go of her backpack. The door was still open and she wasn't about to let it close.

He got up from her bed, making her jump a little. Something about him scared her.

She back up, but the door was now closed and her things were gone. She turned around, trying to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.

"Come on, Alice, I'm not going to hurt you." He walked closer to her. She tried to punch him in the face but it only angered him. He balled his fist and hit her right in the cheek, making her fly to the floor.

Alice swung her body up, her eyes wide open and in a panic. She looked around and began to calm herself when she realized she was safe at home. She sighed and loosened the tension in her muscles.

Her secret was killing her. She had nightmares about it regularly, only this past week it has improved until just now. She didn't know who to tell. How they'd react. How her mom and dad would react, especially her dad. It's not like they could do anything about it anyway.

She got up and walked to the living room, noticing on the way that Anna's door had been open.

"Anna went to work already?" Alice asked her mom.

"She did. She was going to say goodbye, but you were sleeping. Why don't you hang out? David's helping Luke with his homework." She couldn't help but notice the new glow on her mother's face. It was like this David guy was some kind of miracle in her life.

She looked over at the two, going over some math problems that made Alice's head spin. She never liked math, never was any good at it. The moment she had to start adding the alphabet to numbers, it completely confused her. Not that she needed to know what the solution to 6(a)x56(b+c) was in the real world. That wasn't going to pay her bills, or help her survive unless she wanted to be a math teacher or wanted some other math-related career.

"So, honey, how has school been going?" the dreaded question.

"School? It's been good." She kept the answer short and to the point.

"When do you have to go back?" and she thought the last question was bad.

"Oh, not for a little bit.." she didn't know how to answer.

"Is the flight taken care-"

"Everything's good, ma. You don't need to worry right now." Key words: right now.

"Well, I hope you're all hungry. I'm going to start dinner," her mom got up and went to the kitchen. Now it was just her, David and Luke.

She listened to them going over a problem. "What do you think the answer is, Alice?" David asked her. She furrowed her eyebrows, "do I look like I'm any good at math?" she laughed.

"I didn't know there was a look to it," David said. If he was being sarcastic, she wouldn't know. She laughed again, "I don't know, sorry. I'm no good at that. 2 plus 2 is 4, if that's not the problem or the answer, then I can't help you."

"How did you pass school?" Luke teased.

"Knowing numbers from school does not make you smart, Luke," she reached over to him and messed his hair up. "School just makes you learn stuff that you'll never use again so that they can either pass or fail you. There is no in-between in school. If you don't know the stuff, you fail. They'll try and tell you that they can tutor you, and so on, but that doesn't change the way school works. In the end you're graded on everything you do. Passing might be a 65, but God knows if that's what you end up getting, you're still looked at as if you failed."

"Interesting way of putting it," David said. Alice bit her lip. She just went on a rant about school, she probably sounds like a dropout. Then again, she technically is.

Luke finished and went to put his things away, leaving her alone with David. It was quiet for a bit, but Alice decided to break the silence. "So. What are your plans?"

He took a second to think, shrugging his shoulders. "Probably going to look for a job, I'm not sure yet." She shook her head, liking where that was going. It means she wasn't alone in the whole weak plan thing. If David didn't have a solid plan then why would it be the end of the world if she didn't either? He looked at her, his blue eyes glowing.

"You know, your eyes are incredible. The first thing I noticed about you when we ran by each other," she complimented.

"Thank you," he smirked. "The first thing I noticed about you was how sad you looked."

"Well that's always nice," she laughed.

"And I wondered why someone who looked like you would be so sad," he added.

"And what exactly do I look like?" she questioned.

"Dinner's ready!" her mom announced through the house.

"Dinner's ready," he smiled as he got up, avoiding the question completely.

Hope you enjoyed (: Trying to get as many chapters out as I can before I have to go back to work on Saturday. Let me know what you thought! Leave a review and I'll try to get a new chapter up later tonight.