I straightened my shirt, because something about me had to be straight for once. Leo was lying on his bed, looking less than awake.

Our door banged open and Siggy and Cam came inside. Cam went over to Leo's bed and yanked him so that he crashed onto the floor. Cam kicked Leo in the stomach, hard.

"When a dog pisses on the carpet, you rub its damn nose in it. Action, consequence." Cam pulled Leo to his feet and shoved him at Siggy. "Sig, show Leopold here what happens when you wreck a classroom."

Siggy grabbed Leo and punched him in the face, sending Leo stumbling back. Leo groaned and rubbed his jaw.

"Are you sure you and Rogan were adopted? You two both hit the same," he said.

"Don't talk about Rogan," Siggy said, striking Leo even harder.

"Point taken," Leo said.

Cam grabbed Siggy and pulled him out of the room after shooting a dirty look at Leo. They shut out door and Leo snickered.

"Siggy takes it too easy on me," he said, rubbing his jaw again. "I love to piss him off and get a real punch out of him."

"You're actually insane," I said, shaking my head.

"You're not wrong." He slung his bag over his shoulder. "Let's go, Killian."

We left the dorm and met up with Kaz, Pete, and Mikayla. Leo stepped up next to Mikayla and they fell into easy conversation despite how early it was and how tired everyone looked.

Pete seemed to be in a foul mood, glaring at everyone that walked past us. Kaz flanked him carefully, shaking pills out of an orange bottle into his hand and holding them out to Pete.

Pete took them and threw them back without even bothering to check what he was taking. Kaz noticed me and grinned.

"You can give him any pills and he'll take them," he said, ducking out of the way easily before Pete could hit him.

"Shut the fuck up Kaz," Pete snarled.

"Always so pleasant in the morning, Peter," Kaz said.

Pete reached for Kaz, but Kaz slipped away from his grasp with ease. He slipped the orange bottle back into his bag.

Angry drug addict and slippery little thief with a bad haircut. Totally belonged in this crowd, thanks mom and dad.

We made it to class and took our seats. I couldn't stop watching as Pete's mood shifted from eternal anger to fogged up friendliness.

"Hey, Rogan," Leo said as Rogan walked past. "Your brother hits almost as hard as you. I'm surprised a Blue has it in him."

Rogan grabbed Leo's chair and yanked it until Leo crashed to the ground. He groaned and rolled onto his back.

"This morning is turning into a nightmare," Leo moaned and pushed himself to his feet.

"Don't talk about my brother," Rogan hissed.

"Why not? He's a spoiled Blue who forgot about your sorry ass the second you put on that vest," Kaz said, leaning against Leo's desk.

Rogan spun around and swung at Kaz. Kaz ducked and caught Rogan's arm, twisting it behind Rogan's back and pinning him up against the wall.

"No wonder he forgot about you. He has a future. And you're just a hotheaded imbecile who will forever be stuck in the bottom ranks of Conversion Academy," Kaz said.

Rogan tried to fight him off, but Kaz kept a tight hold on him. Rogan glared furiously at Kaz.

"Fuck you, Warrick!" Rogan snapped.

"Careful who you piss off Rogan," Kaz said, smiling.

He released Rogan and stepped back. Rogan shoved by him and went to the back of the room, dropping into his seat.

Oh god get me out of this damn place.

The door opened and kids scurried to their seats as Mr. Sternberg entered the room. His room had been fixed up yesterday, but the bibles were stacked on his desk.

He went over to them and placed his hand on one, eyeing all of us with cold looks. He tapped his finger against the cover of the bible.

"You're all here for various reasons," he said. "Violence, theft, addiction..." He picked up the bible and waved it at us. "All of you have your vices. But for some of you, those vices landed you here. How many of you disgusting little freaks walk these halls with sick perversion on your mind? How many of you dream of lying with the same sex? How many of you can't stop thinking about sex in general?"

I tried to keep my face neutral despite the guilt rising in me. Shit man, just @ me next time.

"You're already here for your horrible qualities, right? Why not just shame your parents a little more?" Mr. Sternberg continued. He moved over to Mikayla's desk and held the bible out to her. "What about you, Mikayla? You of all people know what it's like to sin before God's eyes."

"Maybe my perversions include shoving that bible up your ass," Mikayla said. "Keep talking and you'll find out."

"I'm kinkshaming you," Leo said.

"And you, Leopold, you have your sick pleasures. You and Casimir here are quite greedy, are you not?" Mr. Sternberg said, rounding on the two.

"I'm hardly greedy," Kaz said, folding his hands behind his head and looking at ease. "I'm more of a thrill-seeker."

"I'm totally greedy," Leo said. "I'd swipe your wallet right now, Sternberg, but I'm not in the mood for getting bitch slapped with a ruler."

Mr. Sternberg eyed the rest of the class and his eyes landed on me. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Maybe I wasn't so good at hiding my guilt.

He slowly made his way back towards me. "Killian, you've been quiet in classes. What about you? What vices drove your family to cast you away?"

I couldn't help it; I winced a little. I could recall the horrified gasp of my mother as she walked in on my make-out session. I could still hear her hysterical voice asking my father where they'd gone wrong with me. I could feel the tense silences my father had given me choking me even now.

I wanted to shoot back something sarcastic, but I couldn't pull my mind away enough for it. What had my parents told the rest of my family when they abandoned me to this Academy? Would things between us ever be fixed?

Mr. Sternberg roughly grabbed my vest. "I asked you a question, Killian."

"Sir, I..." My words died in my throat. I what? I'm sorry that going to church school didn't protect me from homosexuality? I'm sorry that my parents are still stuck in the mindset of the 1900s? I'm sorry that my sass fails me when I need it the most?

I looked around desperately to Kaz and his friends for help. But Kaz was watching everything with the same disconnected, easy-going look he usually wore. His friends looked from his face to me and stayed out of it.

I wasn't one of theirs. Kaz said he protected his own, but I wasn't part of that group. Maybe I followed them to classes, but that was it.

"A man who can't even admit to his faults is not a man. You're a pathetic boy. You'll be easy to fix, though," Mr. Sternberg hissed, releasing my shirt. He raised his voice as he turned back to the class. "Killian prefers to let his demons destroy him from the inside out. Perfectly fine by me. Less work I have to do."

I stared at my desk in silent anger and embarrassment. Mr. Sternberg had moved on to another target, but their words were a muffled background noise as my mind flashed through the changed relationship with my parents.

They said they'd call me, but they hadn't done that yet. Just a few texts from my mom, which I'd ignored. Maybe she'd slowly stop messaging me. Maybe she and my dad would slowly fade me from my family's memory. My dad hadn't even tried to message me or call me.

I stirred in my own thoughts until it was time for the next class. I followed everyone to Mr. Miller's room and took my seat, watching as Kaz's group huddled around him, talking and laughing with no cares in the world.

I looked around the classroom at all the kids as they talked with their friends. I didn't fit in here. I wasn't some tough delinquent kid that got off on law breaking. I lost sleep if I forgot to say thanks to someone holding a door open for me. I had never worked out at a gym a day in my life. I got paranoid if I went 36mph in a 30.

Mr. Miller entered the room and I sank down in my seat, hoping to get through class without him noticing me. I'd rather just be left alone after that shit show in Mr. Sternberg's class.

Unfortunately, Mr. Miller seemed drawn to my pathetic state. As he went through problems on the board, he kept calling on me and screaming about how stupid I was when I didn't know the answers.

I basically sprinted out of the room when the class was over. I hurried to Mr. Sudlow's class and took my seat, keeping my head down as kids piled into the room.

Mr. Sudlow came into the room at the start of class and stood at the front of the room. He glared at all of us.

"Hands on the desk, all of you. My earlier class was full of delinquents who couldn't keep their hands off their phones," he snapped.

"Can you blame them? You're boring to listen to," Kaz said.

Mr. Sudlow snatched a ruler off his desk and wasted no time in smacking Kaz in the hand with it. Kaz seemed bored by the anger, and Pete laughed as he watched it happen.

"You," Mr. Sudlow snarled, pointing the ruler at Pete. "I'd hit you, too, but it'd be a waste of my energy since you're so high on pain killers all the time. How you haven't overdosed yet is beyond me."

Pete smiled good naturedly, though I could see a distant edge to his expression that announced it was his drugs speaking. "Self-control is a talent of mine."

"Apparently so is comedy," Kaz said.

I dropped my hands into my lap, nervously rubbing my palms against my shorts. It was a habit I had developed over the years as a way to calm myself down. Today was stressing me out, and seeing an abusive teacher on the warpath was not helping my anxiety any.

"Killian!"

The furious boom of my name had me freezing. I looked up, a deer caught in headlights as Mr. Sudlow stomped over to me.

"I told you to keep your hands on the desk!" he said, reaching down and gripped my wrist. He slammed my hand onto the table. "Palm flat on the desk, you worthless throwaway!"

I stared at him in shock, slowly flattening my hand against the desk. He raised the ruler up and I flinched back, letting out a yelp of pain as it slapped down against my skin in an erupting sting.

Mr. Sudlow's lips curled into a smile of sick satisfaction at my pain. He grabbed my other hand and slammed it on the desk, bringing the ruler down on it, earning another yelp from me.

He stepped away, yelling at Rogan to about something and swinging his ruler around. But I was busy staring at my alarmingly red hands in shock.

How could these teachers get away with this? How could my own parents abandon me to a place like this?

Class went by terrifyingly slow as Mr. Sudlow continued to simmer in his own bad mood. When it was finally over, I hurried out of the room, head bent low and hands still stinging.

Instead of heading to the dining hall for lunch, I let my feet carry me to the area of trees we had hidden in the other night to sneak out. I collapsed with my back against a tree, cradling my hands against my chest as the day caught up with me, wrapping me in a cold embrace of reality.

I was a student at Conversion Academy. My parents would never believe me about what was happening here. The students could scream about abuse all they wanted, but at the end of the day, we were in maroon vests and no one would take our word for it.

My eyes watered and I buried my face against my knees as I sobbed silently. Why did I have to be here? What I liked in the bedroom shouldn't brand me with a maroon vest at this hell.

Maybe I made my mistakes, but I was overall a good kid. I'd never been in trouble before at school, never even had a speeding ticket. But the second I make out with a guy, my parents drop me here for fixing and tune me out. Childless until someone beat the faggot out of their son and returned back a boy they could accept and love.

My sobs were growing stronger, but I tried to choke them back. I had a strong sense of sarcasm, but that was retreating now and leaving me with the truth: I had no skills for survival in a place like this. I didn't stand a damn chance here. They would bend me until I snapped, and they'd take their time doing it.

"Reality's a bitch, ain't it?"

I pressed my head against my knees harder, embarrassed. I could hear a few twigs snap under Kaz's feet as he moved closer to me.

Leaves crunched as he took a seat next to me, his arm lightly bumping against my shoulder as he settled himself on the ground. He was silent for a few minutes as I tried to stop my crying.

"Let me see your hands," he said at last.

I slowly picked my head up and held my hands out to Kaz. The red was starting to fade from them, but it was still clear where the ruler had struck.

Kaz held out his hand, showing the fading bruise there from the abuse he'd endured the other day. He lifted his hand and pushed his hair out of his face, though it swung right back when his hand dropped to his side. Something told me he was a hair diva (and by something I meant the glint of hair gel I mean seriously boy it already looks like shit why even bother).

"I told you keeping your head down doesn't work here. They're predators, and predators would rather attack lone prey than a pack," he said.

"I'm not useful to you. Why are you so insistent on recruiting me?" I asked, wiping at my eyes.

"Everyone is useful to me," he said.

He stood up and brushed his clothes off, looking neat and put together. He held his hand out to me and I eyed it.

Kaz had warned me that I'd have choices to make at this school. He'd already tested me, and apparently I'd passed, though I still wasn't sure exactly why he seemed so determined to get me on his side.

I thought of my family and everything that had happened today. Maybe I didn't fit in with this group, not by a damn long shot, but what choice did I have? I would never make it out of here on my own. I didn't have the self-esteem or the self-confidence to come out of this with my sanity. Like it or not, Kaz was right. I needed him.

I reached out and took his hand. He hauled me to my feet and grinned a little, looking every bit the danger I knew he really was.

"I know you're not like the rest of us. But run with me..." He shrugged. "Bruised, but not broken."

"Can you at least call me Killian?" I said.

"Now where's the fun in that, O'Malley?" He turned and began to walk away. "We missed lunch. Unless you want another beating, I suggest you hurry to class."

I started walking, but stopped as I realized what he'd said. "We" missed lunch. He had been looking for me this whole time.

I shook it out of my head. I was just doing this to get by. Kaz clearly had his own agenda for everyone, but I just had to survive long enough to get out of this hell, and then Kaz and his friends wouldn't be my concern any longer.