I grab our bags, throwing them on both of my shoulders. I turn to run back but I see Roman walking, alone. Towards me. He doesn't have a smirk, actually, he looks upset.

ⱧɆ ĐØɆ₴₦'₮ Ⱨ₳VɆ ₮ⱧɆ Ɽł₲Ⱨ₮ ₮Ø ɆӾ₱ⱤɆ₴₴ ₴₳Đ₦Ɇ₴₴

Not going to lie, I completely agree. I drop our bags and run up to him. I grab him by his throat, throwing him to the wall.

He hits the lockers arm first. When he lands on the ground I walk over to him. I pick him up by the collar of his shirt and push him against the lockers.

"What did you do to him?" Roman looks confused and I growl. ⱧɆ'₴ ₣₳₭ł₦₲ ł₮

"Who?" I pull him away from the lockers then push him back harder. He groans from pain and glares down at me.

"Logan. What did you do to him?" Roman looks confused and I growl. He cannot be serious.

"I haven't done anything to him."

"Then what about earlier? What was that, huh?"

"I haven't seen you all day." Wait what? He can't be serious. Does he not remember?

ⱧɆ'₴ ₥Ɇ₴₴ł₦₲ ₩ł₮Ⱨ ɎØɄ

Yeah, I know.

"If it wasn't you, then who was it?" Roman shrugs and I drop him. My arm was getting tired.

"What did... I... Say?"

"You said that we should go find Logan. And quick. Then you said we should wait till lunch. He was laying in our space, covered in blood. WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!"

Roman looks shocked. He looks around and stops. I look in that direction and see two other theater kids running towards us. I turn back to Roman and force him to look me in the eyes. I grin while talking.

"I have the feeling I'm about to get beat. So here's what you're going to do. You know where my spot is in the woods. Bring Patton's bag there and give it to him. Then come back and have your way with me. I don't care. But you WILL run there and give it to him. Then. LEAVE. No words spoken. Understand?"

Roman nods and I back up, throwing the bag at him. He catches it and runs off.

Someone punches the back of my head and I fall to the ground. I lift my head and look behind me, seeing a foot coming towards my head. I catch it and twist, watching the kid go crashing to the ground.

I get up and run. I grab my bag and run into a random classroom. The teachers know what I'm doing when I run into their class. Except I don't think I've ever seen this teacher.

"Excuse me, who are you? Do you see that I'm teaching? You can't just-"

"Are you a substitute?" The teacher nods and I sigh. That's why. I walk over to her and hold my hand out, trying to keep my cool.

"Virgil Nanni. I can't believe they didn't tell you. Oh, right, would you mind locking the door for me?" I grin up at her.

She shakes my hand, looking shocked. She then goes and locks the door. I smile and walk to the back of the classroom.

"What didn't they tell me?" I grin at her and sit on the counter.

"It's an unspoken agreement that whenever Virgil runs into a classroom, the teacher has to lock the door immediately. It's mainly because he never runs so when he does either him, or someone else is in trouble. If he closes the door behind him, it's him, if not, then it's someone else."

I thank Illana for explaining it for me. Then I remember Logan. And Patton. What have I done? I have to be there for them but I also told Roman that when he gets back he could have his way with me. What do I do?

₮ɆⱠⱠ ⱤØ₥₳₦ ɎØɄ ₵₳₦'₮ ฿Ɇ ₮ⱧɆⱤɆ Ɽł₲Ⱨ₮ ₦Ø₩ ₴Ø ⱧɆ ₵₳₦ ₥ɆɆ₮ ɎØɄ ł₦ ɎØɄⱤ ₴₱Ø₮ ₳₣₮ɆⱤ ₴₵ⱧØØⱠ Ɇ₦Đ₴.

Good idea.

I stand and walk back to the door. I look out the window and see an empty hallway.

"Unlock the door for me, will you?"

"You just came in?"

"Yeah well, now I need to go out." I turn back and glare at her, seeing her glare right back.

"Ok well, what were you running from?"

"Society. Now open the door before I jump out the window." I growl and hear a few students 'oooo'ing.

"You wouldn't."

"He would. He'd do anything to get out of class. And if he dies, he looks at it as a bonus."

I nod and smirk. The teacher sighs and comes over. She unlocks the door and I run out of the classroom. I run back to our spot but get stopped by Roman halfway. Does he have blood on his hands?!

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To my friends. After school, I promise. Meet me at my spot and you can come do 2x worse than normal just, please let me help them."

I see something in Roman that I don't think I've ever seen in him. Pity.

"Uh, yeah, go ahead." I run past him, trying to get back to Logan and Patton as fast as possible. Who knows what he did to them.

I get there and see Patton petting Cookie. Logan's still laying there, but instead of being all bloody, he has a whole bunch of stitches. If it weren't for those, it'd look like nothing happened.

"Virgie!" I look at Patton. He looks just like his normal, bubbly self. Except for that fact that his cardigan is hanging off a branch on a tree not too far away and it's all bloody.

"Guess what?"

"Yeah?"

"It wasn't Roman who did it!"

I freeze and see how happy Patton looks. How can he be so happy? How can he trust Roman?

"What do you mean?" He motions me over and I walk over to him. I sit next to him and smile at how excited he looks.

"There's a shapeshifter in this school! His name is Janus Randall. He's nice! At least, Roman thinks so."

"Wait, you believe Roman? How could you trust him after all he's done?"

Patton looks down, still smiling. Of course. His instincts told him to trust Roman.

"Well, how could you trust him to bring my bag after all he's done? I trust your judgment, Virge."

My breath hitches and he looks up at me. Of course. Patton follows my lead. If he doesn't know why I trust someone, he'll trust them without question. But I can't tell Patton about the deal because he'll freak out on me.

I look at Logan and see his chest slowly rise and fall. He looks better than when we found him.

₦Ø, ⱤɆ₳ⱠⱠɎ?

I'm ignoring you.

"How'd you save Logan?"

"Roman helped." My head shoots back to look at Patton. He can't be serious. Roman wouldn't help Logan. Not after what Logan did.

"It sounds like Janus." Patton shakes his head.

"I could tell. It was him! Maybe Roman's coming around." Poor Patton... He shouldn't get so excited all the time.

₩ɆⱠⱠ ₥₳Ɏ฿Ɇ ⱧɆ'₴ Ɽł₲Ⱨ₮.

Seriously? You can't possibly be siding with Roman.

ł'₥ ₦Ø₮. ł'₥ ₴łĐł₦₲ ₩ł₮Ⱨ ₱₳₮₮Ø₦.

"Virge, back to reality. Now, I know this sounds like a lot, but me and Roman talked while we worked. Roman has a lot of built-up anger from years of rejection so he takes it out on us because of how we don't fight back anymore."

"How did you find out all of this?" He giggles and winks.

"I'm very persuasive, Virge" I smile and agree. I'm sure he's right. If he knows all that about Roman, then he probably knows what he's talking about.

"This doesn't mean you'll leave me for Roman, right?" Patton smiles and hugs me.

"Of course not."

ⱧɆ'₴ ⱠɎł₦₲

Shut up.

₥₳₭Ɇ ₥Ɇ

Fine.

"Hey Pat, could you sing to me?" He starts by humming, something that calms me down but doesn't shut up the anxiety.

"I don't wanna drive a fancy car today, I don't wanna ride in a red corvette. I don't wanna jog my Saturday away, but I don't wanna go home yet."

Of course. This is the song Patton got me addicted to sophomore year. It's from his favorite musical. He said something about knowing the cast at some point.

"Today is not the day to jump out of a plane, I don't wanna parasail or play roulette. I don't wanna risk it all, or go insane, but I don't wanna go home yet."

I start humming along

"I just wanna watch the birds go by, from my handy fold-able blue canvas throne. I wanna watch them fly and fly and see them soar up into the unknown. But I'd feel just like a nerd, watching birds, watching me here all alone"

I smile and curl up to him, resting my head on his chest. He's always been good at comforting people. Specifically me.

We hear a groan and both of us look at Logan, who's now rubbing his face. I jump up and quickly crawl over to Logan. He sits up and looks at me and Patton, who's at the other side of him.

"When did you two get here?" I wonder if he remembers anything. It'll help out a lot.

"A while ago. Now, what do you last remember?" He looks down at his hands and turns his hand to look at his knuckles, which are bruised again.

"One minute I was fighting Roman... The next... I was fighting with someone else. Half of their face seemed burned and their skin felt like sandpaper. I didn't get a good look at them, I was knocked out shortly after." I look at Patton and he nods. So maybe it was Janus. 

"Was anyone else with him?" Logan shakes his head and I nod, taking it all in. He looked at his hand. It's all scratched up like yesterday. Roman was acting off today so... is it possible we've never actually seen the real Roman? If not... where is he?

Word Count- 1689