Institute for Criminal Youths.

My eyes trailed after her as she marched away from me, I flinched as she slammed her cell door shut so loudly the noise bounced off the walls in the corridor and hit my ears at full force.

Shaking my head in disbelief, I rolled my eyes as I contemplated what I should do. She was clearly upset and maybe she did have a point about being by herself in a class of strangers. It was still her first, proper day and I knew I wouldn't want to be in that position if I were in her shoes.

Sighing heavily, I walked up to her cell door, peering in just in case she was throwing a furious fit inside. Nope, no psychotic actions going on. Just a very pissed off Victoria huddled in a ball in the corner of her room. Great, I made her cry.

I tapped the door with my fist once, unsure of whether I should go in or not...she might want to be alone or something, being a girl. You could never tell what they wanted.

Victoria looked up from her arms and scowled at me through the window in the door but nevertheless nodded to give me permission to enter. I slowly did and pushed the door shut behind me softly...I remained where I was stood.

"What?" she huffed at me, suddenly finding her fingernails extremely interesting.

"I'm sorry, Vicky." I said, completely sincere.

Her face lifted and she eyed me cautiously, as if checking to see if I was telling the truth or not. This girl clearly had trust issues.

"Really. I am." I assured her, stepping forward once so I was a little bit closer to her.

She cocked her head to the side and watched me for a moment before raising a hand to beckon me over. I grinned and slid down the wall to sit beside her, twisting my head slightly so I could look at her.

"You haven't been crying, have you?" I asked guiltily.

She shook her head but I could see the tell-tale signs. Red-rimmed eyes, faint tears tracks still shining on her cheeks. Great, she was right. I am an arsehole.

"You have. Again, I apologise for that." I mumbled, touching a tear stain on her face carefully with my finger. I didn't know why I did it, I barely knew her...but I felt like I'd known her for months, maybe even years. Maybe I was just so out of touch with human contact and interaction that I couldn't help myself.

A thought struck me suddenly. What if she didn't like me touching her face? Quickly, I glanced to her eyes but I could see they were shut. Had she fallen asleep?

"Vicky?..." I said, leaning forward to get a better look.

"Hmm?" she murmured, opening her eyes just a crack. So she'd been awake yet she hadn't pull away from me? Interesting.

"Nothing."

We lapsed into silence, though it didn't feel awkward. All I could hear was Victoria's light breathing and the sounds of the other students talking and shouting to each other...for the first time since I'd come here, I almost felt peaceful.

"Jamie? Do we have to go to lesson?" she said quietly, so quietly that I almost didn't catch it.

I paused and thought about it. I guess we didn't have to go...they wouldn't miss us for a day, right? I've skipped enough lessons to know that, at least. No, we could just sit in her cell or my own. The guards wouldn't come looking for us today.

"Nah, we can stay here, if you want." I replied, arching my back when it started to hurt from leaning against the hard wall.

I shut my eyes when my body relaxed again, managing to shut off the thought of having a cigarettes for a few minutes longer. I was really craving one.

"Thanks." whispered Victoria.

I was about to say something back but a small pressure on my shoulder stopped me in my tracks. Making sure it didn't look too obvious that I was trying to see what was on my shoulder, I slowly opened my eyes and turned my head...only to be met with a face full of hair. Victoria's hair. She was leaning her head on my shoulder.

Unable to think of what to do, I was frozen with indecision. Taking a steady breath, I went with my instincts...and gently laid my head on top of hers. When she didn't dive away from me screeching insults, I took that as a good thing and smiled to myself.

"So what are we going to do all day?" she breathed, totally oblivious to how thrilled I was to have someone who I could be myself with.

I grinned, even though she couldn't see it. "I can think of a whole lot of stuff we could be doing..."

"No, Jamie. Just no." she laughed and I knew she was rolling her eyes at me somehow. "How about we go to your cell?"

That took me by surprise. "Why?"

"It's a change of scenery, I guess. Can we go?" she asked again.

"Well, if you want...I don't know what you expect to find there, I mean...it's pretty much like this except the windows on the other side." I told her, pulling away from her to stand up.

I held out my hand to hoist her up and she took it with a shy smile on her face. Oddly enough, I felt exactly the same as her. I was trying not to show it as obvious as her face was but I felt automatically panicky of how I should act.

How on heck could this be happening?