"You seem on edge," Tom offered to the silence after they pulled out of the school parking lot. Behind the wheel, Tom seemed more tense, unlike his usual relaxed self. The sleeves of his oxford shirt were pushed up to his forearms, and his hair was sticking in odd directions after he'd run his hands through it.

"I have a lot going on right now." Polly bit out, closing her eyes. The darkness of her eyelids welcomed all of her problems. The compact. The person following her. Doctor Higgins. Her neglectful parents. Jenny appearing in her nightmares.

Polly was on edge. She felt stressed, sleep deprived, and she certainly didn't feel safe. She felt like she was one step away from being kidnapped, or worse, killed.

She thought her past was behind her. She thought.

"Don't we all," Tom added, and then sighed. "If you ever want to talk, I'm here. I know I'm not your first ideal person to talk to, but I'm still someone."

Polly was suddenly very grateful for Tom. She didn't know much about him, but he was genuinely a nice person. He cared about Minny enough to care about her.

"Thanks. Maybe I'll take you up on that offer." She tucked her legs beneath her body, running her hand over the dashboard. "Thanks for this," she added, sneaking a look at him.

She never imagined she'd be sitting in Tom's car, as if they were friends. Before she was locked up at camp and schooled from there, she'd gone to public school, and she was an outcast. She kept to herself, didn't bother talking to the popular students. But here, it all felt different. She felt like belonged, and she felt that the gap between popular student and outcast wasn't very large at this school.

In fact, she felt as if it didn't exist.

"No problem. I know Minny must feel trapped, you know? And today was his first day. I can only imagine what it must be like to suffer at the hands of parents."

Polly nodded, knowing fully well what it felt like. It felt like suffocation.

When they pulled up to the prep school, there was a few minutes until the school let out. Tom rummaged through the glove box before pulling out a package of mint gum, catching Polly's gaze as he did so.

"Want some? I keep it in here for Minny, since it's his favorite. But I'm sure he wouldn't mind you having some."

Polly took one. "You keep it here for Minny?"

Tom snorted. "Of course. I'm not keeping it for myself; I hate mint. C'mon, I think I see people leaving the school."

Tom lifted his tall frame from the small car, and Polly followed. The prep school loomed over them, looking expensive and unbelievably cold. It held personality, but the school itself looked as if it was home to a prison rather than a school. There was nothing fun or colorful about the education received here, Polly knew that for sure.

She watched as a stream of boys wearing identical uniforms run out of the front doors. She looked for Minny, but couldn't find him in that group, so she continued to look, her gaze catching that of a girl walking down the steps.

With her head held high and her caramel curls falling down her back in a wave, Polly instantly felt inferior. The way the girl held herself screamed important, and the way she wore a simple uniform was so much more regal than Polly could ever dream to be in her fox print tee shirt.

The girl flattened her skirt against the wind, and then raised an arm to wave to someone in a car. Her bracelets jangled together, and for a moment, Polly was lost in her confidence and her beauty.

Until Tom grabbed her arm. "There he is!"

Polly whipped her head to look at Minny who was walking down the steps alone. He wore the uniform, but it looked all wrong on him. Of course, Polly was used to his crooked style of rolled up pants and colorful shirts, but he looked like a robot in his sweater and his khakis. He looked like a spoiled rich kid.

When he approached them, Polly just stared at him, wide eyed.

"Well, hello to you too, Polly," Minny laughed, reaching out to place a large hand on her head. She raised her own hand tentatively to do the same, running her hand over flat hair.

"You cut your hair." It wasn't a question.

Minny took his hand back, stuffing it in the pockets of his pants. "Yeah, I had to. My father made me."

His short, black hair looked weird, and his made his face look older, like he was in the military. Polly didn't like the thought of that. She missed his old hair, long on the top and shaved on the sides. She missed the uniqueness it brought, how totally Minny it was. This, this flat hair style, it just wasn't him.

She felt like she was looking at a stranger. A rich boy dressed in expensive clothes with a messenger bag slung across his body.

"So, dude, how was your first day?" Tom raised his fist, and Minny returned the favor, bumping it with a grin. The act was so intimate that Polly found herself shaking everything away. She was here, with Minny, and she didn't know when she'd see him again. Now that seeing him at school wasn't an option.

"It was crap. Look at these kids - they're so self entitled. They truly believe they're the best things around. Like people should bow down to them."

"Benjamin!" A female voice called, and when Polly turned on her heel, she saw the same girl from earlier, waving her arm at him. "We're going to be late!"

A dark look crossed Minny's face as he turned towards Polly and Tom. He looked angry and frustrated, but most of all, he looked defeated.

"Listen guys, I have to go." He jerked his thumb towards the girl. "She's my ride home."

Tom took a step closer. "Dude, I'll bring you home."

Minny looked like he was debating it, rolling it over in his head. Polly could see the words fall from his lips before he said them, and she knew it would be a no. There was something about him that reminded her of a dog on a leash.

"Minny, please. I need to talk to you about something important." Placing her hand on his arm seemed like a harmless action until she saw the look in his eyes, the burning fire behind them. At first, she mistook it for anger, but then she knew what was happening when he leaned into the hand and closed his eyes.

Like a dog leaning into the hand of someone who is petting it, Polly thought.

She knew Minny might like her, the way she liked Kenzie. Tom had said so, and so had Kenzie, but Polly hadn't really been sure until that moment. Until she saw the look in his eyes when she put her hand on his arm.

She didn't want him to take it the wrong way, but she feared he already had. She moved her hand away, and watched as he let out a tense sigh. Again, the girl called for him, the clinking of her bracelets loud. A reminder of who she was.

Minny turned to her. "I'm getting a ride with them."

He gestured to Tom and Polly, and ignored the look on her face. He turned back to his friends, and Minny realized for the first time that they were possibly his only real friends. He'd had plenty of friends in his lifetime, and he was constantly surrounded by people. Tom though was different. He'd been his best friend since childhood, and therefore was his best friend, always. Nothing would or could come between them.

Polly, however, wasn't really that close to him. She was new, and while he'd taken interest in her, he knew nothing about her. But, he admired the fact that she'd come so willingly to see him after school like this. He liked seeing her here, in the throng of preppy young adults, looking as innocent and normal looking as he could have hoped.

He wished he could see her everyday, waiting after school for him. It was a fleeting thought that went as quick as it had come.

Minny wasn't good with girls, especially when it came to friendships. When he closed his eyes, he could still vividly remember his friendship with two girls named Nancy and Kenzie. Both were close to him, and both were fantastic friends.

Both deserted him in the end. Backstabbed him.

He opened his eyes to see Polly, and he saw something different. She wasn't hard and edgy, like Kenzie. She also wasn't conniving and stealthy, like Nancy.

She didn't have anything to gain from being friends with him. She wasn't using him.

"Okay, where's your car, Tom?" He directed the question at his best friend, who was ogling some girl in a skirt. Typical Tom, but Minny was used to it. He was used to Tom, the ladies man, taking note of the women around him.

Tom grunted and pivoted on his heel, walking towards the crowded parking lot. Polly followed, but kept her pace beside Minny. She needed to talk to him about the compact and if he knew anything about it. She needed to talk to him about that favor he needed.

Polly, in all honesty, wanted to tell him everything. She ached to tell someone. She ached to tell Kenzie as well. And never before had she wanted to spill her secrets so badly, but she wanted help. She was afraid and worn out.

Minny held the passenger side door for her, but Polly shook her head. "You take front. I don't mind being out back."

And so, Minny sat in the passenger seat, but his body was angled so he could look at Polly as well, keeping her in the conversation as well. Polly enjoyed this, and for a moment, she felt like she belonged. Like, even though she wasn't friends with Tom, she could be.

Minny was grumbling about a hat, then produced one from under his seat. He slung the beanie onto his shaved head and sighed, resting it against the headrest. It looked all so normal, him chewing his mint gum, wearing a beanie like he used to, and Polly found it hard to breathe. Things had changed so rapidly in the past few days that it made her dizzy.

And then she screamed.

There, standing in the middle of the road, was Doctor Higgins, and he didn't look happy.  

* * *

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