Jess looked at Laura's empty bed, the sheets crisply straightened with not even a wrinkle. She'd slipped into her bedroom the day before, avoiding everyone, and remained there with only the occasional trips to the bathroom. She'd been preparing herself to talk to Laura, but Laura never came home. Which only increased Jess's anxiety.

She'd already deleted three texts to her best friend, reasoning that if Laura had wanted her to know where she was, then she would have messaged her.

She took the narrow steps down to the kitchen, where her sorority sisters were already up making breakfast. All conversation reduced to whispers when they spotted her. Her shoulders hunched as she felt eyes watching her as she made a quick breakfast.

'So you did come back?' Mira said, leaning against the counter with her arms crossed. 'The girls said you skipped class.'

'I wasn't feeling the best, so my sister dropped me back here,' Jess lied.

'And you stayed with your sister?' Another girl asked.

Jess nodded whilst stuffing her face with her unappealing cereal. It was cloggy and when she finally swallowed it; it sat heavy in her churning stomach.

All other conversations had died as they watched her and Mira.

'I think Laura is right. Your sister is a bad influence.'

Jess blinked, taken aback by the venom in Mira's tone.

'So you've been talking about me?' Jess asked, hurt.

'Laura has been concerned for you. We all are.'

'Or you just like to gossip,' snapped Jess.

A number of heads looked away with guilty expressions, but Mira didn't back down.

'We don't want your sister coming around here anymore.'

'My sister hadn't done anything.'

'She got arrested. The police think she has something to do with Charity going missing,' shouted Mira.

'And the police are complete idiots if they believe that. My sister only came here because the cops called her after I got arrested,' Jess reminded her forcefully, locking eyes with a few of her other housemates.

'A sister that we never knew existed,' piped another girl to a chorus of agreement.

'That's true. If your sister is such a good egg, then why have you never mentioned her?' Mira demanded.

'Because it's complicated.'

'Doesn't seem so complicated to me. Your sister is trouble. And when you came here, you got away from her.'

'That...isn't true. Not anymore. My sister is a good person. She's always been a good person.'

'Good people aren't suspects in a missing persons case,' Mira snarled.

'Ash. Had. Nothing. To. Do. With. Charity,' Jess said through her teeth.

'And how much can we trust you?' Mira demanded. 'How much of what you've told us is a lie? How are we to know?'

Jess' eyes flashed around the room at the nodding heads staring back at her, landing back on Mira, who was shaking with rage.

'I've been a part of this sorority for three years. I've been your sister in arms for three years. I've helped with the fundraisers, planned parties, been there for you during exam stress. And you're seriously asking me that, just because I'm talking to my sister.'

'It's not that, Jess,' a girl spoke up. 'We want you to stay, but your sister, she's not one of us. She's dragging the sorority down with all these rumours. And it doesn't look good for you to be with her, given her involvement with Charity.'

'She's not been proven guilty, Rose,' Jess pointed out.

Rose waved off the minor detail as if it were nothing. 'But the rumours, Jess. We've become the height of whispers. That's not what we stand for.'

Murmurs returned as others agreed with her. There were even a few cheers, which made Jess' stomach drop.

'So what would you have me do, Rose?' seethed Jess.

'Isn't it obvious? Cut off ties with your sister. She's not good for you, Jess. We can all see that.'

It was the sea of nodding heads that struck the final chord on Jess' nerves.

It was like one of her nightmares was coming to life. She'd always been afraid of what her college friends would do if they ever found out about her past. Now it appeared she was getting her answer.

'I'm not abandoning my sister. I can't believe you'd even say that.'

'We've only got your best interests at heart,' Rose said.

'Funny how you haven't mentioned a single reason for why it would be better for me to cut off ties with my sister. Rumours about the sorority. Whispers behind your backs. Don't pawn this off as something for my best interests when all you're doing is thinking about yourselves,' she yelled.

Even Mira had the decency to lower her head.

'My sister has been there for me my whole life. She saved me when my mother tried to kill me. Took the blows that would have killed me when I was only a baby. She was the one that tucked me in at night and read me bedtime stories when our Nana had card games to hustle. She worked nights at the circus when I was a teenager so that I could have new books and clothes for schools. And when I got arrested, she drove two hours to make sure I was okay and has been there for me ever since. So let me tell you one fucking thing, my sister thinks about my best interests, and don't you fucking dare suggest that she's anything less than an awesome person who deserves so much more than what she's got in life.'

Jess' chest heaved as she spilled her past to her stunned housemates.

'Jess we didn't-'

'Save it Mira,' Jess interrupted. 'I really don't want to hear it.'

She tossed her bowl in the sink with a clatter and picked up her bag and coat. There was nothing that could make her stay in that house a minute longer. Especially given the way her sisters in arms were staring at her when they thought she wasn't looking. There was no doubt in her mind that as soon as she left, the conversations would start.

As she walked down the street, she was already regretting her outburst. How could she be so stupid? She was supposed to be playing down rumours, playing the game, not screeching her life story to people. At least she had the mental capacity to keep her family's gifts a secret.

She thought about calling Ash, but couldn't bring herself to admit what she'd said. Mira's words were still too fresh in her mind, and her anger hadn't yet dissipated.

Despite not being a hundred percent truthful with her housemates, she'd always been there when they needed her. In fact, she'd thrown herself into college life with a desperate need to fit in and feel like she belonged.

Only now she wondered whether she'd just been kidding herself. As soon as her past had come knocking, her best friend had abandoned her, and her housemates wanted nothing to do with her. Where was their support when she needed them?

A hand on her shoulder jolted her from her thoughts. She'd been brooding so much, she hadn't noticed that she was outside the history building.

The hand spun her around until she came face to face with a furious Daryl.

'Where the fuck have you been? Why haven't you been messaging me back?' he demanded loudly, making passing students stop.

'Daryl, I really don't want to do this now.' But his grip on her shoulder stopped her from moving.

'Tough shit,' he spat. 'I deserve some answers.'

'I was with my sister, reconnecting. Then yesterday I wasn't well, so she dropped me back off at the house and I went to bed for the rest of the day.'

'Laura said you'd gone with your sister.' An ugly sneer crossed his face. 'You really should stay away from her. She's changing you, Jess.'

'I didn't realise you and Laura were so close,' Jess snapped.

'I was worried about you, so I went to the house. Laura told me everything.'

'And what did Laura tell you?' Was there anyone that Laura hadn't gossiped to?

'You're different Jess. Your sister's not even been here a week and everyone can already see what she's doing to you.'

'And other than being a good sister, what has Ash done to me?'

'She's made you distant,' he yelled. 'It's like since she's come, you only have time for her. The rest of us don't matter.'

'She's my sister. Sorry for taking a few days to reconnect with the only family I have left.'

'But that's just it. No one even knew about her. Laura asked all your other housemates, and you hadn't mentioned her to a single one of them. So what else are you hiding, huh? What else are you keeping from me?'

And for a moment, Jess thought about telling him. But reality crashed into her before the thought could even fully form.

The way he was seething at her, his teeth grinding together with splashes of red on his cheeks, she realised that she didn't want him to know. He would never understand because he'd only ever seen what he'd wanted to see. The perfect college student.

Up to this point, he'd never cared about her family, or the fact that she spent Christmases in the sorority house. Never wondered at the effort it took to keep smiling through his swim meets, that she found boring, or the parties, that weren't her thing.

He's never once seen that she was wearing a mask. That the idea of his little perfect Jess that he'd constructed in his head was very different from who she was.

And she was to blame for all of it.

She had wanted to be in his world. For once, she was going to be a regular person and have the full college experience. She just hadn't realised how much of herself she'd been hiding. Her sister had been right that first night. Not her best friend, nor her housemates, not even her boyfriend, could honestly say they knew her.

'You want honesty?' she shouted. 'When I came here, I was determined to fit in and leave my shitty past behind me. So I did. I went to parties, I got drunk, I fucked boys, and I pretended that it was everything that I wanted. That this life I built was perfect. But I knew it wasn't. Because that's not me. Do you know that I hate loud music? That my favourite films are actually classic horrors? That the smell of a toffee caramel makes me miss my Nana?'

'What are you saying?'

'I'm saying that you don't know me. I like women for fuck's sale. And it took my sister coming back for me to admit that to myself.'

'You're gay?' he spat. 'How can you be gay?'

'I'm bi. But I prefer women,' she admitted. It was a small white lie. She was gay, and she knew it, but despite being pissed at Daryl, she didn't want to totally crush his feelings.

'I can't believe this,' Daryl said, holding his hands to his head. 'This isn't right. There's something fucking wrong with you.'

'There's nothing wrong with me. I just need to start being me, and not the person everyone thinks I should be. I'm done with that.'

Unbelievably, there were a few muffled claps from the crowd around them, which only seemed to rile Daryl up further.

'What's it to you?' he screamed at the gathered crowd. 'This is between us.' He gripped Jess' arm, meaning to drag her away when a tall lad from Daryl's swim team stepped forward.

'Calm down Daryl. Let Jess go.'

'You're making it sound like I'm the one to blame here. This bitch played me.'

'I don't think that's how this went down.'

'You heard her,' argued Daryl. 'She's fucking gay. And we've been dating for the last few months. How is that not playing me?'

Daryl's teammate stepped forward with a grim expression. 'Get off your high horse. It's not like you've been exclusive, now is it Daryl? If your "relationship" was that important, then you should have kept it in your pants.'

'I don't know what you're talking about,' Daryl refuted.

'That's your problem. Come on Jess, I'll walk you to class.'

Under his teammate's watchful gaze, Daryl released her before storming off.

'Thanks Thomas.' Jess fell into step with him, occasionally glancing behind her to check where Daryl had gone. It had surprised her how quick he'd jumped to anger. His body practically shook with it, and she was sure he'd left a sizable bruise on her arm. She'd never seen that side of him.

'How you holding up?' he asked.

'You mean other than the fact my best friend hates me, my housemates don't want me in the house anymore, and I just had a screaming fit outside my class with my EX boyfriend, you could say I've had better days.'

Thomas shook his head. 'When you really go for it, you go for it big time, don't you?' There was a small smirk growing at the corner of his mouth.

'What you said about Daryl sleeping around? Was that true?'

Thomas shrugged. 'I caught him a few times sneaking out. And I saw a girl climb out of his bedroom window once when you came to see him. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I just didn't know you were serious, you know.'

'It's okay, Thomas. I get it. Do you know who it was?'

'Didn't see her face, just her blonde hair sticking out of her hoodie.'

Jess nodded. She thought it would bother her more, but it didn't. In her heart, she already felt better knowing that she could stop pretending with at least one person.

'If Daryl hassles you again, just give one of the team a call.'

'I don't think he will,' she dismissed.

Thomas fixed her with a look. 'I say this without any offence, but I'm not sure you ever knew Daryl that well. The boy's got a ruthless streak. It's what makes him a good competitor, but it can get out of hand.'

Jess frowned. That didn't sound like the laid back Daryl that she knew.

'I'm sure I'll be fine.'

'Take care of yourself, Jess,' he said with a wave as they made it inside the building. She waved back and entered the class, stopping short at the sight of the two police officers being eyed up by her classmates.

'Jessenia Hawthorne,' they said in unison as soon as they spotted her.

All of her classmates started whispering as the lecturer tried to keep things calm.

'Is this really necessary?' he admonished. 'I'm trying to teach a class.'

But both officers ignored him. 'Miss Hawthorne, you're wanted for questioning regarding the disappearance of Charity Artridge.'

In a daze, she allowed them to escort her out of the building and to the waiting police car. They continued to spout off her rights, but they could have been explaining how to pilot the space shuttle for all the attention Jess was paying.

Even though Ash had warned her it could happen, Jess never really believed her. But as she was helped into the back seat of the police car, reality seeped in. She was really getting arrested.