Christmas vacation didn't come fast enough, and it didn't last long enough.

Suzanne had managed not to touch anyone else, so that was a plus. Though she was the only one who seemed to care about doing well academically. And she was the only one who had refused to warm up to any of the others. Some had managed to make friends, after a fashion.

She'd even caught snippets of roiling emotions from a couple who'd been making out in the hallway during lunch. It didn't take any stretch of her abilities to figure out it had been May and Cliff. Go figure. They were both good-looking, both had raging hormones, and both had the ever-convenient no-strings-attached policy. They were perfect for each other.

The teachers weren't too bad, though it was obvious that almost all of them weren't there because they wanted to be. They'd needed jobs, a paycheck. And they'd given up, finally settling here as a last resort.

Tru, she knew, was always sneaking off to the top floor to get high and forget the world. Fred snuck up to the roof to smoke, Tom to drink. The boys had seemed to get along well enough. Suzanne wouldn't call them friends, more like occasional companions in silence.

Then there was Alan and Syd. The only two black kids, and of course they got along just fine. A couple of black kids surrounded by a bunch of white ones. They were united against the world.

Suzanne found the idea ridiculous, but understandable. She'd touched an old black man once, a step-uncle on her mother's side. She was the only one who liked the guy. His secret had been somewhat foolish (his first experience with sex had not only been a drunken misadventure, but it had been with another man). Honestly, she didn't see what the big deal was. But she knew he loved her aunt, so that was fine.

Besides... He couldn't remember it now anyways.

Suzanne glowered at the old building. Over the past few months, she'd come to hate it more and more. At first she'd hoped she'd get used to it. But alas, no such luck.

She just couldn't get over the wrongness she felt whenever she was inside. It was subtle, and easily ignored if she put her mind to it, but it was still there.

And she hated it.

She shook her head, tugging slightly on the straps of her backpack. The day was surprisingly sunny, not a cloud in the sky, but that didn't change the fact that it was cold.

There were crunching footsteps behind her, and Suzanne turned around just in time to be tackled by a overly-excited Eddie.

"Suzie!" He cried, engulfing her in a big, fluffy hug. Suzanne was suddenly grateful that it was winter and that they were both bundled up from head to toe. It meant that she got only a face full of his coat and a rush of relief and happiness and anxiety. It was better than stealing his secrets. "How was your Christmas?" He asked excitedly, finally releasing her from his unexpected bear hug.

She glared at him. "Why do you care?"

Eddie was just one of those types that got along with everyone. You couldn't hate Eddie, no matter how hard you tried. Still, he was too much of a flirt for Suzanne's taste. He frowned. "Ouch, Suze. That hurts. Right here," and he placed a hand over his heart.

She glared at him a second longer, then scoffed and turned on her heel, heading for the warm interior of the school.

Upon seeing Fred next to the front door, she hesitated, but only for a brief instant. Like always, she could feel his ever-present curiosity long before she'd even reached the steps. She stepped past him, ignoring the clear scent of cigarette smoke as she started to open the door.

"Y'know it's not polite to ignore people," he said.

She sent him a flinty look out of the corner of her eye, but didn't turn her head. "Hi. Bye," she said. Then she stalked inside.

She felt a spike of irritation that wasn't her own, then the door opened again behind her.

There was muddled confusion outside, likely from Eddie, who had watched her exchange with Fred silently.

Like always, Suzanne had to bludgeon aside the inexplicable instinct that told her to go left, and turned towards the right, where their lockers and classes were. Even if she hadn't been able to hear Fred's angry footsteps behind her, she could've felt his frustration a mile away.

The question was: Why?

What did he want from her?

He grabbed her arm, wrenching her to a stop. Her mind flashed to a memory that had not originally belonged to her — one of a battlefield that she was too young to have ever been on, and the betrayal of a friend who she had never met. A flashback to a memory she'd stolen from her war veteran grandfather. Panic seized her, and she reacted on pure instinct. She spun, and her bare palm connected with Fred's face.

She didn't hear the slap's echo. She didn't care.

The hallway vanished. And she was stuck outside her old principal's office, watching herself come out of the room and give her a look of absolute disgust. She came to a realization that wasn't hers.

And when she snapped clear of the memory, she came to another one that was hers. Well, two of them, actually. The first being that the memory she had seen was not a secret, and therefore she had not stolen it and he could still remember it.

The second being that Fred—

No, she thought. That's stupid. That doesn't even make sense.

How could he even...? Why would he...?

Suzanne realized that they were both just standing there, staring at each other. He looked somewhat disgruntled, to put it mildly. But also confused.

Of course. She probably looked like a dead fish with her mouth hanging open like that. She snapped her teeth together with a sharp click, accidentally taking off a small bit of her cheek in the process. She ignored the pain and the metallic taste of her blood.

"What the hell was that for?" Fred snapped at her, still holding her arm in a vise grip.

"You idiot!" She snapped, suddenly irritated. She wasn't sure if it was her own emotion, or if she was feeding off his.

Fred blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You're an asshole. You can't have... That's stupid! Why would you...? Augh!" Suzanne tried to wrench her arm free, but his grip only tightened, the emotions in the hallway gaining a mix of confusion, as well as anger.

"What? Why would I what?" He demanded.

"You hate me!"

"What?"

"But you... You hate me... I don't—"

"What are you talking about?"

Suzanne stared up at him helplessly, his emotions a bubbling mess of frustrated befuddlement. He did. He really did.

Well, shit.

"Hey, you guys alright over there?" Suzanne and Fred both looked back towards the main lobby where Eddie was standing at the beginning of the hall. He was looking at them, waves of curiosity and worry coming off him. "I mean, nothing against you guys, but if you're gonna go at each other, maybe do it someplace private? I mean, sex is great and all that—"

"Oh my god," Suzanne groaned, covering her eyes with her free hand.

At the same time Fred shouted at Eddie. "Just shut up! That's not what — that isn't — Just forget it." Then he turned to Suzanne, and it was as if Eddie had simply ceased to exist. "Why would I what?" He repeated, his voice too low for Eddie to hear.

She glared at him. You've got to be shitting me. He just won't give up! She pointed at him accusingly. "You," she hissed, also keeping her voice down. She swallowed, gathering her nerve. "You have a crush on me!"

His eyes practically bugged out of their sockets. "What!?"

"You do! I'm not sure if you're aware of it or not, but you definitely do."

"Bull shit! You're annoying, and stuck up, and you hate my guts!"

"I'm not stuck up! I just don't like people!"

In the background, Eddie was trying to get their attention. "Uh, hey guys?" They both ignored him.

"Oh, so you do hate my guts," Fred snorted. "Well, if it's any consolation, I'd never want to kiss you."

"I didn't say that! And how in the world you expect it to be consoling to tell a girl that you wouldn't wanna kiss her? In what twisted part of your mind does that make sense?"

"Why? Do you want me to kiss you?"

"What!? No! Where did that come from? You're the one who has a crush on me!" She snapped back, exasperated. Again, Eddie tried to catch their attention, but again his attempts were in vain.

"Hey. I never said I had a crush on you. I don't even know anything about you, except that you're too nice for your own good, and you can't stand up for yourself."

"That's fucking bull shit and you know it! I can take care of myself just fine, and I'm not nice!"

"You are, actually. Why else would you always be getting in trouble for someone else's screw-ups? People blamed everything on you, and you just sat there and took it. And for what? What could you possibly gain by taking all the blame? Nothing. You're just too much of a damn pussy to stand up for yourself. You don't have to do that! You're a respectable student, teachers like you most of the time! Hell, you even do some volunteer work after school! So what is it? Do you hate yourself that much? I mean seriously. What's your damn problem?"

Suzanne gritted her teeth and tried counting to ten. She had to start over a few times before coming to the conclusion that it wasn't actually helping. He didn't know anything. And how could she expect him to? She couldn't expect him to know about her. That she was psychic. Aside from that police detective on the first day of school, she'd never met anyone else who knew anything about people like her. And there were others like her. Why else would the Soldier have questioned her like that?

She tugged on her arm, but Fred still didn't let go.

"Let me go, Fred."

"No. I want answers. I want to understand—" He cut off abruptly, his eyes widening. She could feel the cold sense of realization as he looked at her. She wondered what he'd figured out.

Once again they were staring at each other in silence.

And then he grimaced. "Fuck my life. I'm an idiot."

Suzanne gave him a flat stare. "Really. Hm. Fancy that."

"Come on. We've got an audience."

Only then did Suzanne realize that all of their classmates had joined Eddie at the end of the hall, and were watching them with mixed expressions of curiosity, irritation, and amusement.

Eddie shrugged, though he looked too amused to really pull off such a nonchalant gesture. "Tried to tell you guys, but you were too busy yelling at each other."

Suzanne didn't think her face had ever been so red before, and she ducked her head so that her dyed-black hair would hopefully hide her mortification. What the hell has gotten into me?

Stupid teenage brain! Stupid hormones! Stupid stupid stupid! This is all so fucking messed up!

All the same, she found herself following Fred all the way to the roof.

After being inside where it was warm, the sudden cold seemed to slap her in the face. She shivered as the door swung shut behind her. Fred walked up to the edge of the roof, leaning against the railing. Off to the side was a skeleton of what might've been a greenhouse, once upon a time. The wood had greyed and splintered with time, and there were loose broken boards scattered in a couple spots around it.

Swallowing and stuffing her hands into her pockets, Suzanne joined Fred at the railing.

"So how did you figure it out before me?" He asked after a while.

"What?" But she knew what.

Fred didn't look at her right away, at first focusing his attention outward at the small field behind the school. Then he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

She sighed. "You wouldn't believe me."

"Oh yeah? Try me."

Suzanne glowered at him. First week back after Christmas break, what a way to start the day. "It doesn't matter," she said, shaking her head. "Let's just call it female intuition."

"Bull shit."

"Look," she snapped, her frayed patience on the brink of completely unraveling. "It doesn't really matter how I know, does it? You're just trying to distract me from what it is I know, and it's not going to work."

He sighed, and Suzanne felt his anxiety trying to creep up on him. He fought it off, but it was still there.

Of course, she thought. A part of him is afraid I won't feel the same. Did she feel the same? How would she even know? Most of the time she wasn't sure if what she felt were her emotions or someone else's. When it was just him though, she could mostly manage to keep them straight.

So... "Do I feel the same?"

He twitched. "I wasn't gonna ask that."

She snorted, ignoring his hasty response. "Well, I don't know. It's not something I've ever thought about, to be honest." After everything else... All the stolen memories and traumatic experiences (most of which weren't even hers)... This seemed almost trivial. Foolish.

He nodded.

Then something changed.

The atmosphere suddenly became choked, oppressive, and Suzanne found her heart pounding and her lungs without enough oxygen. She gasped, trembling.

I'm panicking, a distant, rational part of her noted. But why? I'm not afraid...

But someone else is.

Someone is petrified, terrified for their life.

"Suzanne? Woah, you okay? Suze?"

She couldn't breathe, couldn't focus on anything. Something was coming for her, but not her. Someone else. Someone was in danger. Someone was about to die a very, very horrible death.

She couldn't breathe.

Fred grabbed her by the shoulders, giving her a slight shake. "Suze! Snap out of it! What's wrong? You're wheezing. Do you have asthma? Do you need an inhaler or something?"

An ear-splintering scream was his only answer, shattering the stillness like glass.