When Saira arrived back in the dorm room, Fareeda was writing something at her desk. Once she saw Saira, she quickly closed the diary's cover. Whatever, she was probably just writing about her boy crush. Saira couldn't put up with Fareeda along with Orchid and Stoll today, so she ignored her, heading into the bathroom.

She stripped off her clothes and hopped into the shower, nothing like a steamy bath to calm herself. Orchid's wrong and you're right, her mind convinced her. Orchid didn't get it, at least she had money to her name. Saira didn't, her mama didn't. God, if Mama lost everything because of her, Saira would never forgive herself.

As the water battered her back, she pushed her forehead to the shower's wall. You really screwed up, her mind hissed. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she counted the minutes that slipped away until she had to get out of the shower for Fareeda. She stepped out, wrapping a towel around her body as she shivered. Saira glanced at herself in the mirror—slumped posture, bags under her red-rimmed eyes, and a girl whose life was spiralling out of control.

Suddenly, all the pain that Saira had been burying all these years finally was unearthed, and she started to sob uncontrollably. She spent all these years hiding from the officials for the murder of her abusive father, and soon enough, for what? Utterly nothing. She collapsed on the cold floor, crying.

There was a knock at the door. "S-Saira?" Fareeda asked quietly. "Do you need help? Are you okay?" Go away, go away, Saira thought miserably. Fareeda did end up retreating after Saira didn't respond for several minutes. Finally, she threw on a sports bra with some loose shorts. She slid down the wall, covering her mouth to hide her raspy sobs.

She dialled Mama's phone number quickly, sniffling as her phone rang. Please pick up, she shut her eyes. Finally, Mama picked up. "Sar? It's almost midnight, Jesus Christ," came her mama's voice. Despite her crude words, Mama's sweet voice was almost relieving.

"Oh, Mama," she sobbed.

"Sar?" Mama became alarmed. The wind whipped over the phone, she must have just finished her shift at work and was walking back to her apartment. Maybe Saira shouldn't have disturbed her.

"Oh no, it's the flood that happened a week ago, right? Or was it two weeks ago? I just assumed it hadn't hit your area, I'm lucky that our apartment complex was far enough away not to be evacuated... That is what's upsetting you, right, Sarah?"

Sarah. Could Saira be Sarah, the girl who let her father die in a fire, again? "Yeah," she said, forcing a smile despite only talking to Mama over the phone. "The flood just spooked me, i-it was kind of scary," she lied.

"Oh, sweetie, take it easy," Mama said gently. "Things have been hectic over here too, the police are dealing with the aftermath of the flood and checking for missing people." So Headmaster Roux hasn't called the cops yet to notify them that three people had passed. Saira honestly couldn't see Silverleaf's headmaster's angle, but she always deemed him as a lying bastard, barely keeping the academy together.

"Ma? Can I-I ask you something?" Saira wiped her tears away. "Can we ever stop running and hiding?"

There was a long pause. "Pardon?"

Saira pressed the phone to her ear, crying. "If people discover I allowed my father to die in a house fire, they'll stare at me and call the cops. Then the cops will arrest y-you and me because we disappeared all those years ago." Shortly after Mama called the fire department, they both realized that they had committed murder—they shut the door on Papa, letting him die. The police will find us, we can't explain this, little old Sarah had shouted. Mama agreed, so they fled the scene, letting the firefighters and police arrive to deal with the mess.

They'll find us eventually, Mama had said. So yes, they had decided to flee and go into hiding away from the law. They had their names changed—Sarah Le Vil was now Saira Levine and Elina Le Vil was now Ellen Levine. Saira had suggested the last name Levine in honour of her therapist, Ally. The name Saira came from Ally's niece, she vaguely remembered her.

They miraculously got the acceptance letter from Silverleaf Academy despite their poor wealth, the lies kept piling on. I can never be Sarah again, Saira thought hopelessly. Mama was quiet before speaking. "This is all my fault, I'm sorry, sweetie. I-I shouldn't have let us go on the run." She was crying now too. No, no, no.

"I should have been a good mama and taken the blame, I should have said I locked the door."

They had deemed that lying to the police that Papa was too slow to escape was not realistic enough. They would have found a burnt and locked backdoor and a dead father—the police officers would have never believed the two women.

"It's not your fault," Saira whispered. "You were only fifteen when you had me, you were my age. God, I can't even imagine what you went through. Papa died when you were only twenty-one, you were still so young to be making such a hard decision. I believed you were protecting me—I mean, no one else would take care of me if you went to jail—and I still believe you. You're my mama.

"I only dragged you down, Mama. You were a great mama, you were the best." And you protected me from Papa, Saira bit back the words. "Well, i-it's no use crying over it now, the damage is done."

"No one will ever figure it out, Saira. We've been too clean and clever for all these years, you're Saira now and I'm Ellen. The day you got accepted into Silverleaf Academy, I was overjoyed, you could finally get a splendid education for a better future. A future without these burdens."

Burden was such a funny word. Saira sighed. "I need to sleep, Mama. Good night."

"Goodbye, Sar. Love you forever." She hung up.

I need to get all these feelings out of my system, she thought, standing up. If the world was going to discover her dirty secret, then she may as well live her life. Saira opened the sink's cupboard, finding bleach and dye. When times get tough—just dye your hair instead of getting depressed.

After a few hours of going back and forth, she had bleached out her pink roots, going full blond. Saira's natural hair colour was a dirty blond, but now it was a sort of white-ish blond, similar to Draco Malfoy. Well, it didn't matter, the movie version of Draco was hot according to the Harry Potter fan pages she once stumbled upon. She found a pair and cut her hair to give herself layers, just like a longer version of a wolf cut.

Finally, sleep-deprived and aching with exhaustion, Saira brushed out her new haircut. She cleaned up the bathroom before checking the time on her phone; 3: 31 AM. She went into her dorm room and saw Fareeda passed out on her bed. She had her curly, frizzy hair splayed out and she looked really pretty without any effort. The sort of beauty that makes you squirm with envy while admiring it from a distance.

Saira turned away, feeling herself getting flustered. No, Fareeda replaced Ruth's place as a roommate, why is she suddenly warming up to her? Saira rubbed her eyes tiredly, dropping onto her bed. She pulled the blanket to her chin, drifting off to a deep slumber.

┉┈◈◉◈┈┉

When Saira woke up, she remembered it was Saturday, to her relief. On weekends, Silverleaf Academy allowed students to roam around with free will. Fareeda was an early bird, so she was already up and at it, writing in her diary. "Oh, you're a-awake," Fareeda stammered, closing the cover of her diary.

While Saira hadn't always seen Fareeda writing away, she definitely knew Fareeda kept a diary. "Don't worry," Saira chuckled, stretching her arms. "I don't care about your obsessive crush on some random boy."

Fareeda's cheeks went pink, turning away. "Good morning to you too," she mumbled. Saira laughed, standing up and heading over to the bathroom. "Wait, did you change your hair colour?"

"Yep, from dirty blond hair to pink roots, I got fully bleached locks," she replied, snorting. Looking over her shoulder, she observed Fareeda. The girl had a beige long skirt with floral patterning topped with the academy's blazer. Little Miss Perfect for the Silverleaf scholarship, Saira thought sourly. Fareeda's curly hair was thrown into a flowery hair wrap with loose curls sticking out. She clutched her diary and Saira noted Fareeda's short black nails.

"Cute nails."

Fareeda became flustered. "Thanks, although my mummy hates it when I use black nail polish. She complains that it's not feminine enough for a girl like me." She rolled her eyes. "She claims it's a sign of defiance, that I'm supposedly rebelling from her since it's not a social norm."

"Ah, Fareeda Patel as a rebel? Who would have thought?" Saira smiled. "Don't worry, my mama doesn't appreciate me bleaching and changing my hair every time I get post-depression vibes."

As Saira plucked her selected outfit for the day—ripped jeans with a baggy sweater—when Fareeda cleared her throat. "So, since it is Saturday after all, how about we go to Silverleaf's greenhouse?"

Saira spun around, shocked. "Our school has a greenhouse?"

"Well, how else do you think Silverleaf Academy gets its fresh produce, huh?" Fareeda's remark made Saira feel dumb. "Since I'm mainly going here for the botanical programs, I get special access to the greenhouse." She held up a key. "Want to check it out together?"

Saira winced. "Uh, today is not the best day. But we can go for a walk around the academy instead." Great, she was officially okay with Fareeda being her roommate.

Fareeda grinned. "Okay, Saira."

┉┈◈◉◈┈┉

They walked through the hall in tandem, making chit-chat about their scholarships. What was surprising were the rumours of Robert Reuters' disappearance, they were catching on. He's dead, she wanted to tell them. It's all a lie. From the corner of her eye, she saw Orchid Gray near Headmaster Roux's office, waiting outside nervously.

"Uhm, let's take a breather," Saira told Fareeda, leaning against the wall. She stared at Orchid again, blinking. What is her angle?

Suddenly, Bailey Preston burst out of Roux's office, fuming. Damn, I wonder what happened, she thought. Headmaster Roux ran after Bailey, shouting, "Miss Preston, please! Miss Preston!"

"Where is that bitch?!" Bailey shrieked, her eyes bloodshot. Mascara dripped down and she looked aggravated.

"Whoa, what's happening?" Fareeda whispered as Bailey stormed down the hall.

"No clue," Saira responded, raising her eyebrow.

All of a sudden, Ivory Kee and Ruth Barlowe walked down the stairs, catching Bailey's eye. "You bitch! You slept with him! You slept with him!" she screamed, charging at Ivory. Shit! Saira abandoned Fareeda, running at Bailey who was throwing punches at Ivory.

"Christ, Bails!" Saira yelled.

"What the hell?" Ivory gasped as Bailey smashed her fist into Ivory's cheek. She stumbled back, Ruth barely catching her. A red cheek was stained on her cheek and Saira gasped, it looked like the same mark on Mama's face all those years ago. Saira grabbed Bailey's arms, pinning them back to get ahold of her.

"Bailey, stop!" Saira yelled as Headmaster Roux came over. He shouted at Bailey to stop, but she kept struggling against Saira, quickly breaking free. Bailey threw herself at Ivory, sending them both to the floor. Ivory kicked and screamed as Bailey yanked her glossy black hair. Holy crap.

"You're crazy!" Ruth hollered as she tried to pull Bailey off her. "Stop it!"

"Miss Preston, stop this madness!" Headmaster Roux roared, grabbing her off Ivory. Saira gasped when she saw Ivory's battered face—bruised cheeks, thick blood running down her nose, and Bailey's sharp nails managed to claw cuts down Ivory Kee's neck.

Helen, the office secretary, darted down the hall to reach them. Saira glanced, seeing Orchid enter the office, no doubt, after telling Helen that there was a brawl in the hallway. Despite her argument with Orchid and Stoll, Saira realized that she had to buy Orchid time in the office.

"Pin her!" Roux commanded Saira and she did so. Bailey's fists were shaking uncontrollably as she resisted, angry tears flowing down her cheeks. I'm sorry, but it's for Orchid. She 'accidentally' released a feral Bailey, making her hound Ivory. They fought as Bailey let out screeches of rage. She slammed Ivory's head against the wall as a deafening crack echoed through the hall. Was that her skull that cracked? Blood oozed from Ivory's head as Ruth cried out in shock, dropping to the ground.

"I-Ivory!" Ruth sobbed, taking shallow breaths. Helen and Headmaster Roux bent down to assist with the bloody mess. Is she dead...? Oh God, did she release Bailey just to have her severely injure Ivory?

Roux stood up, grabbing Bailey as she wailed furiously. "You're too aggressive!" he growled, looking around. "Where's security? Security!" Unfortunately, the security guard, Gil, was on the other side of campus, probably asleep.

Why was Bailey so violent all of a sudden? Despite Bailey being Orchid's friend, Saira had met her a couple of times. She wasn't some wild and raging beast, she was a loving girlfriend to Robert, curse his unfaithful ass.

Fareeda joined Saira as Bailey began to ramble furiously. "Ivory screwed Robert, my boyfriend! My dead b-boyfriend because of her! That bitchy girl must have killed him!"

Roux's face went pale when he realized that his secret was out—now all onlooking students knew a student was killed. Wait, Ivory allegedly murdered Robert? That was crazy...but could it be true?

"Finally!" the headmaster said, quickly changing the subject. "Security, restrain this student and get Miss Kee medical help!" The 'security' that Headmaster Roux referred to were officers walking through the front doors.

Saira froze, paralyzed. Crap. The police were finally called after a few weeks of hell and its aftermath, soon enough, they would inspect the three deaths that had occurred. And then they'll find out about Orchid being a witness, tracing her back to Saira, the cops always figured shit out.

"Hey," Saira said, grabbing Fareeda's hand. She needed to lay low and hide from the police for as long as she could. "How about that visit to the greenhouse? Like a cute best-friend-date sort of bullshit."

Fareeda blinked, flush with colour. "Like right now? But..." She gestured to the blood that was steadily flowing from Ivory. As the cops neared, Saira gripped Fareeda's hand and dragged her away from the scene. Behind her, she heard Bailey crying and thrashing as the police tried to drag her away.

"Yeah, we need to go. Right now, Fareeda."