Institute for Criminal Youths.

I led Victoria out through the doors, pulling on my shades when the sun hit my eyes. Sure, it wasn't exactly blinding light outside but when you're stuck in a prison for long periods of time, in the dark and claustrophobic cells, any sort of light affects your eyes.

"Hey, did you eat your breakfast?" I asked casually, trying not to sound like a panicked mother or anything.

"I felt sick." Victoria replied simply, making a point with her tone that the subject shouldn't be pushed any more. I obliged and instead leant against the metal fence when we reached the edge of the concrete yard.

I stared past the wire and fixed my gaze on the gleaming lights that were passing vehicles in the distance. A part of me longed to escape from here but I'd already come to terms with being stuck in prison. I couldn't help what had happened to me so that I had wound up in this place...might as well just keep on living.

"Do you miss it?" mumbled Victoria quietly, as if she could read my mind. Though I knew perfectly well what she was referring to, I played dumb and skirted around the question as best as I could.

"Miss what? Breakfast? 'Cause mines somewhere back in the cafeteria, Vicky. I can almost hear it calling me..."

She rolled her eyes and moved to my side to stare out at the world we'd never really fit into again. "No. I meant out there...normality."

Reluctantly, I turned my back on the scene and instead stared to the cafeteria doors. It was the only entrance visible that led back into the prison. I forced my expression to go blank when I faced Victoria again.

"Of course I don't. Free food, lots of time to think to yourself...why wouldn't I love being in here? There's no responsibilities...the only worry you have to deal with is not getting on the wrong side of the others or the guards." I told her flatly.

"That's not much of a life..." she countered.

"It is for me."

"I can't see how."

"It just is, okay?"

"I don't believe you." she said.

"Argh!" I growled, slamming my palms against the fence. I didn't get how she was winding me up so easily...maybe it was because she was the only person to have really struck the core of my problems. It felt like she could read my mind, like she saw straight through my lies as if she'd known me for years...and I'd only known this chick for a day!

"Victoria, choose to believe me or not. There's nothing you can do about it anyway."

"So that means you do care about being in here. You're putting on some sort of mask to hide who you really are." she guessed, stepping in front of me to read my face. She raised her hands to lift my sunglasses from my face. I tried to keep it clean of all emotions but there was no denying that I was starting to sweat a little when she got closer to the mark.

"I don't care!" I said, my voice becoming slightly louder as my nerves started getting the best of me. I couldn't risk her finding out, I'd be a dead man if the truth was exposed to the other kids.

"I know you do. I can see it...you're...you're..." she slithered closer to me, her eyes burning into mine. "You're afraid."

"I'm not! Victoria, can't you just-"

"Jamie, what did you do to get in here?"

Damn. Why can't she just let it be? I shut my eyes, cursing them for being so bloody readable. I willed my frozen feet to retreat from her, her hands that were loosely holding up my glasses sliding away so that they dropped down back onto my face.

"You can tell me! I won't let anyone else know, I swear!" I heard her shout as I strolled away. Why did she have to say it so loudly?

I turned back around abruptly and pulled off my sunglasses to stare her down. She had been following me across the concrete yard and was barely a foot away. I watched as her pleading expression changed to terrified.

"Don't shout that!" I hissed, casting a look around quickly to make sure no one was about. When I saw the yard was still empty except for me and Victoria, I turned my attention back to her.

"What happened to me is of no concern to you, crystal clear?" I said bluntly, lowering my voice when I caught sight of a wandering guard.

Victoria said nothing and nodded once to show she understood clearly what I was telling her.

"Good. Let's just pretend that this never happened, okay? I'll go back to being the nice guy and you just keep away from the psycho's in here, right?" I said, trying not to feel guilty when I saw the tears flooding her eyes.

"Yes. I understand, Jamie." she whispered, not looking at me but at the floor instead.

Great, I feel bad now. God, why did I have to be so damn soft for? It's probably the reason I'm in here to begin with.

"Look, I'm sorry. It's a touchy subject, okay? You know how hard it was for you to tell me what happened with you? It's like a thousand times worse for me." I admitted to her, agonising over whether I should comfort her or not when she let out a whimper.

I almost did. I had raised my hand to pull her towards me but she looked up at my face as I went to. Quickly, I dropped it and gave her a small smile.

"You can't know that. You can't know it's worse for you then it is for me." she said slowly, as if she were afraid to question me in case I erupted again. At that point, I swore to myself to never get angry with her again. She was too fragile in her mind to have me yelling at her.

"I do." I said softly, shoving the sunglasses back on my face when the emotion threatened to over take my face. Emotion is weakness, especially here.

"You don't seem to belong here, Jamie...like me. There's something different about you to the others..."

I felt my face freeze for a split second but I relaxed the pained smile I was wearing. I didn't need her to be more suspicious.

"And I'd tell you that you haven't met all the others here yet, love."