I have never seen joy more pure than the moment Alice saw Kate again. The little bunny started jumping around enthousiastically, bouncing around in my room. Kate laughed loudly, and grabbed Alice from the ground, holding her close to her. She kissed it on its forehead. I've never seen a bunny so happy in my entire life.

"Well hello, Alice! I've missed you! Have you missed me too? Yes you have, yes you have!" she whispered to it.

"She told me she missed you every night." I say jokingly, and giggle at the image of a talking rabbit.

"Sure she did, sure she did!" Kate laughs. She puts Alice back on the ground and pets her soft, furry coat.

"She's not the only one who missed you every day." I say, gesturing to a particular small group of polaroids on the wall.

She runs op to the wall to study the five polaroids i've hung up there.

"Aw, Max! How cute! We were drinking tea here! And here we were studying for geography, damn, i still remember how hard that test was. And this is- Huh? At what moment was this one taken?"

She points at a polaroid of her sitting outside against a tree, between the fallen autumnal leaves.

"The moment i fell in love with you." I answer, and i feel myself blush a bit.

"You sure are a sneaky one, Max." She throws a playful look my way. immediately after that she runs op to me and starts tickling me.

"Kate! No!" I giggle "Stop it, it tickles!"

"Thats what you get when you sneak up on me to take pictures!" she laughs, and keeps tickling me.

We fall on my bed, and the tickling takes halt. We look into each others eyes, and kiss.

After we made out for a while, Kate got up and went back to her room. I offered to help her clean up a bit, but she insisted she wanted to do it alone.

I decide to go for a stroll in Blackwell's garden, and get some fresh air to reflect on all the wonderful things that have been happening lately.

As I walk through a row of carefully planted trees a random thought pops in to my head.

I haven't even told my parents about Kate.

What would they think, that their 'Blackwell hero' as they call me now, didn't only save Kate, but also fell hopelessly in love with her?

Shit, this means that I have to come out of the closet too. I haven't really thought about me being a lesbian before, which is weird, because i've been dating a girl for quite some time now.

I decide that my issues can wait when I see Nathan and Victoria sitting on a bench together with a phone in between them. They seem to be watching something.

When I pass them they look up at me and laugh loudly. Victoria's eyes shimmer with hate.

"What's so funny, huh?" I ask, walking up to them. "None of your business, dyke." Nathan jeers  sharply. Victoria giggles.

"Don't worry, Maxie," Victoria tries to say kindly, but bitterness just seeps through the cracks of her voice. "You'll find out soon enough."

"Now get lost, dyke!" Nathan yells, and stands up to show me his 'or else' pose.

I figure they're not worth wasting my time over, and I continue my walk, faster than before though. Everyone i pass, even Alyssa, are grinning at their mobile phones.

"Jesus, this is worse than Pokémon GO." i whisper to myself. "What on earth is going on here?"

I start walking in an even faster pace, close to running running now, passing a group of teens laughing at a phone.

One spots me. "Get that promo, Blackwell hero!" he yells to me. No idea what on that means.

I try to ignore them but they block my way.

"Guess Kate is JUMPING from joy now, isn't she, blackwell hero?" a guy named Eric says mockingly.

"When where you going to tell us this was all staged, huh? Maxine, the blackwell slut!" The one girl of the group laughs impishly. She comes closer. I've never seen her around blackwell before.

"What the hell are you talking about? Have you learned nothing at all? Don't you believe she was trying to jump?" I have no other words or questions to ask. The pure injustice and evil in those nasty comments are blocking my throat, and I start crying helplessly.

They laugh and split their circle in half, opening a spot for me to pass through.

I start running, loudly sobbing, to the safe confinements of my room.
I rub my eyes, smudging my eyeliner and turning myself in to a panda.

I smash the door shut behind my back and notice Kate sitting on my bed, her warm smile takes place for a a concerned frown when she sees how upset I am.

"Woah, Max! What happened?" She hugs me, and I start crying harder, thinking about the evil stuff they said about this tiny little angel.

"W-We have to leave, Kate." I stutter. "We cannot stay here"

"what do you mean Maxine, what happened? Tell me, please. I can help!"

"They're so evil, Kate, the students are so, so evil! You wouldn't understand it. We have to go. You will understand when I explain." I grab her by the shoulders. "Please, trust me, Kate. You're so strong, but this blow will be too hard for you now. Please just, just trust me on this." I look into her eyes, and see little tears form in the corners.

"Alright, I trust you, Max. After all, we're in this together, but you must promise me to tell me when we're out of this place."

"Knock knock!" someone laughs outside of my dorm room. I recognise that voice out of the thousands.

"Fuck off, Victoria!" I scream at the door, close to hysteria.

"I have a surprise for you, Kate!" She yells through the door, giggling maliciously.

"Leave her alone, please, Victoria, she doesn't deserve this! Have you learned nothing at all?"

"Oh, but I have, Max." She answers calmy.

Kate stays silent, looking at the door with big eyes.

"In case you haven't gotten enough attention yet with your PR-trick, there's a new promo video online. Get a hold of your own copy quickly, because this one's limited time only." her laugh slowly dies out, implying she's leaving again.

Kate stares at the door with disbelieve, shifts her look to me, and then back at the door. She looks struck by lightning, and all colour dissapears from her face.

"This is what I wanted to protect you from, Kate! All this cruelty you do not deserve. All this hate!" I start sobbing again, and put my face in my hands. 

Kate expression doesn't shift a bit. It's like she's wearing a stone mask.
She looks like she just heard it will rain tommorow. Nothing more, nothing less.

After a minute of what seems to be her looking in to her past, she gets up and says :

"Let's go, Max. Let's get out of this awful place."

I shoot up from my bed and start packing.