“Did you hear?” A tall boy with blond messy hair says as he comes up to Rebecca and her group during breakfast. Joey looks up from his food. It’s been a week since Levi pulled the trigger and things are still tense in St. Margaret’s institution. Rebecca knows it. It’s not like people are angry all the time. But the feeling in the air is one that you can only feel when emotions are on the edge. The smell of a death of someone who people loved hangs in the air. Rebecca just knows. She also knows that Joey doesn’t like this boy with messy blond hair. There aren’t many people here at the institution but Becca hasn’t seen many of the other people due to the fact that she spent most of her time in her room and the only times she went out were to eat and for private sessions. Dr. Littrell is still sad about Levi. Rebecca doubts that he’ll ever stop being sad in some way, shape, or form. The guys escorted her everywhere. She had only known Levi for a few hours before he died but during that time she couldn’t help but like him… like an older brother almost. She was starting to feel that way about all the others in that family sense as well. She shrunk back into her seat as she saw Joey’s eyes narrow ever so slightly at the boy.

“No I don’t think any of us heard Carter.” Said Joey. “Do tell us.” The others by this time have all looked up from their food and are looking at Cater. Rebecca guesses that the boy cannot be trusted since the guys wouldn’t act like that around anyone unless they really deserved it. Carter smiles and begins talking.

“Well it sounds like we’re getting another new girl. And this one snuffed her parents.” He says grinning. He then looks at Becca who tries to shrink into her seat. Joey, who is sitting next to her, moves so that Carter can’t see her. Jc, who is on her other side, puts his arms up around her defensively. Carter grins wickedly.

“Better be careful little princess.” He says, grin widening. He licks his lips and laughs a little. “Cause from what I hear you’re going to be sharing a room with her. And that’s not the only danger you’ll have.” Joey stands up and gets in Carter’s face.

“Beat it Carter.” He says. “Leave Rebecca alone. She’s new here and she’s just a kid. The last thing we need is for you to start scaring her.” Carter just laughed wickedly again.

“I’m not scaring her.” He says. “I’m just being honest. There aren’t many girls here. And a pretty little thing like her, well she’d better watch out.” He looks at Becca who grabs hold of Jc and buries her face in his chest.

“I’m only going to tell you this one last time Carter and if after that you still don’t listen, I’ll get pissy.” Joey hisses, taking a step forward. “Beat it. And I’d better not see you anywhere near Rebecca. Ever!”

“Is there a problem here?” One of the staff members had heard Joey shouting. Joey looked up and Rebecca peaked out from Jc’s shirt. It was Kevin. Behind him was Dr. Kirkpatrick. But Dr. Kirkpatrick liked being called Chris better. Becca hadn’t really been around them that much but they both seemed nice. Kevin was standing behind Carter and Carter turned around. Chris placed a hand on Carter’s shoulder and clucked his tongue.

“You bothering them Nick?” He asks. Carter shook his head. Chris raised one eyebrow. “Oh really? From what I heard you weren’t being particularly nice to them.” Chris looked at Becca. “Especially not to this young lady here. Didn’t your mother tell you to be nice to girls?” Nick explodes.

“Never talk about that bitch around me! She’s not my mother; she’s a whore!” He screams and tries to take a swing at Chris who ducks and grabs hold of Nick. Chris yells for a security officer who comes in and takes Nick away. Chris stays with the group.

“So how is everyone?” He asks in an effort to be cheerful. Everyone shrugs. Joey sits back down. Becca lets go of Jc’s shirt and picks at her food. She’s not feeling very hungry anymore. Chris comes over to her.

“So have they been good to you?” He asks. Becca doesn’t look at him but she nods and smiles a tiny bit. Chris smiles and pats her shoulder, nodding approvingly.

“Good. It’s nice to see you have friends here.” He says.

“What can we say?” Joey shrugged. “She’s a princess here. And last I checked princesses always had knights protecting them.” He looks over and grins at Rebecca who giggles a tiny bit though you can barely hear it. The others grin.

“Hey Chris.” Howie looks over at him. “Is it true that Becca’s going to be sharing a room with another person now?” Chris sighs and nods.

“If it makes any difference to you I was against it but the others felt it would be best if she was with another person.” He looks at Becca who’s biting her lip. “Don’t worry kiddo. We’re going to be keeping your room on close surveillance. If she tries anything then we’ll be there.” Becca nods and pushes her tray away.

“You want to go back to your room now Becca-Hime?” Jc asks getting up from his seat. Becca nods. She also gets up. Jc takes her hand and goes with her back to her room.

“One of us will come back for you later for some of the activities.” Jc says as they get to her room. All activities had been cancelled that week since Levi had blown his brains out. Activities had been put on hold until yesterday. Becca nodded and Jc opens the door to the room. Becca’s eyes go wide as she saw that Levi’s bed was no longer empty but that a young woman only about four years older than her, maybe, was lying on it with her arm over her face. Becca turns and nods to Jc indicating that he can go now. Jc nods back and leaves. He along with the others is getting used to Becca’s unusual ways of communicating.

“So I take it you’re my roomy?” The girl mutters taking her arm off her eyes to look at Becca. Becca notices that the girl’s eyes are filled with a mixture of anger and sadness. Still something seems familiar about her. Something about her smell and appearance. Becca nodded in reply and went to a far corner of the room and curls up there. Ever since Levi’s death she had made that her spot for when she wasn’t sleeping. She was kind of relived that her roommate was also quiet. She had a feeling that any words that this person would say would be as cold as the ones she had said to her earlier.

Sometime later, Lance came and took the girl out of the room. It was probably for her physical exam. Becca didn’t know or care what time it was that the girl had left. She was glad that she had gone. It was like a heavy weight had been lifted. It was as though a blanket that was blocking out all light in the room had been removed. A few minutes later Howie came to pick her up for dinner.

“Turns out activities aren’t going to start for you till tomorrow. Sorry.” He said. Becca shrugged. She wasn’t too concerned about activities. At that point in time she was just worried about what they were serving for dinner.

“And the finest chicken covered in a delicate gravy with finely mashed potatoes for the lady.” Said Joey placing a tray in front of Becca who smiled at him in thanks and began eating ravenously. A couple bites of sandwich and a few sips of milk can only hold a person for so long. She looked up only after she had finished eating to notice that the others were looking at her with surprised looks on their faces.

“Two minutes flat.” said Howie looking up from his watch. “You really were hungry.”

“I want some more please,” She said. “I’m still hungry.” The guys all looked even more surprised. The little mouse had spoken!

“Okay.” said Jc. “We usually aren’t allowed to get seconds so you’ll have to wait till dessert.” Becca nodded. All of a sudden they all heard words that pricked them like needles.

“Nick’s gotten himself landed in solitary confinement for at least two days for taking a swing at Kirkpatrick.” Said a man with tanned skin and bleached blond hair that stood straight on end. Becca had heard the others talk about him. His name was Aj McLean. And hardly anyone liked him. He wasn’t as bad as Nick but he was still very mean.

“If it hadn’t been for Joey and his crew Nick wouldn’t have ended up in there.” Aj continued. “He was just teasing that girl. It wasn’t any reason to throw a fit. This is all that idiot Levi’s fault.” He growled. “If that stupid dumb-ass hadn’t blown his brain to bits none of this- uhg!” Aj was interrupted when the girl who was Becca’s new roommate came in. Apparently she had heard Aj’s little rant as well and didn’t take to kindly to it. She had stormed up to him and grabbed him by the hair and thrown him to the ground. In a way Becca was glad that the roommate had gotten to him first because she had noticed that the guys were starting to get up out of their seats. She watched as the girl began to deal a series of swift kicks to Aj who was curled up in a ball

“Don’t! You! Dare! Talk! Shit! About! My! Brother!” She said in a voice that could only be described as having the same feeling as a chunk of ice crushing a small animal. “Or you will rot in hell with my fucked parents!” With every word she gave another swift kick and only when one of the supervisors yelled at her to knock it off did she stop. Aj scrambled to his feet and backed away from the girl.

“Wait.” said Joey. The bewilderment was just starting to show in his eyes.

“You’re Levi’s brother?” Yells Brian who had seen the whole event take place. The girl looked up. Her eyes were cold and filled with anger.

“What do you care?” She asked, that same coldness still lingering in her voice. “My brother’s dead. You should know that by now.” She sat down and didn’t say another word. Brian rubbed his face and slowly walked out of the room while Aj scrambled to get away from her.

“Who is she?” whispered Justin.

“She already said she was Levi’s sister.” Whispered Joey.

“Well I guess the moodiness really did run in the family.” Jc said. Becca was just silent. She suddenly wasn’t as hungry anymore. The girl looks over at them and yells across the room.

“We are not moody and my fucking twin didn’t have a problem, got it?” Jc recoils back and continues eating.