^ Cassie (you'll read about her 👇🏼) ^

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T h e   H o l l o w s   O f
H I R A E   T  H
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"Sky!" I turned around, tray in hands, to see Avery waving her arms at me like a lunatic from across the hall. I laughed to myself; what an idiot. She was sitting with two girls—of which I could recognise since I'd seen them in a couple of my classes.

I knew for sure that the girl sitting next to her was called Cassie since I had met her in PE—she had short, dark brunette hair that just touched her shoulders. She was quite a short girl, much alike to Avery, and I imagined that I was quite a few inches taller than her.

I started to walk to the table only to feel someone following behind me. I rolled my eyes and turned to face Jameson, almost surprising him enough to have him topple over me. I raised my eyebrows at him but he only shrugged.

"Jameson, seriously?" I whined.

"Yes 'seriously', I'm your guardian." Jameson fought back almost defiantly.

"No offence, but you really need to get over yourself," I began, "And, really, Jameson? What is going to happen for an hour at breakfast?" I asked him.

Not waiting for a response, I sarcastically gasped, "Oh wait, maybe Avery will stab me with her sausage." I stated, with a deadpanned tone, being utterly bored of the premature argument already.

I saw Jameson try to fight an amused smile, but in the end, it turned out that I was the one that burst into laughter.

Still laughing, I punched his shoulder jokingly, "Go eat with your friends," I looked around and saw a group of boys, a few of them waving at me. I turned back around to face Jameson who was shaking his head at them with half a smile on his face.

I kicked his foot, "Go on," I encouraged him, nodding my head in their direction, "Have fun." And with that, I walked off to the girls. As I sat down, I watched Jameson take one last hesitant glance over at me before he slowly strode over to his friends. I grinned from ear to ear when I saw him participate in some stupid handshake with all of them.

"Oi, Miss Sunshine, you gonna sit?" I rolled my eyes at Avery who just laughed at me. And so I sat down and started to devour my breakfast.

"So, Sky," Avery spoke up and I nodded at her, signalling for her to continue, "I want you to meet Cassie," I offered her a friendly smile, even though I had already met her.

"And Sapphire, but she doesn't like that name so call her Sandwich." I laughed and nodded. I actually like the name Sapphire; I think it's a beautiful name. Sapphire had light, olive toned skin and her hair cascaded over her shoulders in dark brown waves, but was still only a little longer than Cassie's brunette hair.

"By the way," Sapphire addressed me with her cup in her hand, "Don't call me Sandwich, please just call me Saph," Sapphire threw a piece of her toast at Avery and I laughed.

"So what's with Jameson?" Avery's voice split through our banter.

"Hmm?" Was the only audible sound I got out as I swallowed some orange juice.

"You know, the way he is always—and I quote—"breathing down your neck'," I sighed, frowning.

"Yeah," I began with a sigh, "I really don't know what that's about, he's just so uptight," The girls nodded.

"When I first joined," Cassie spoke up, nodding her head in the direction of a girl dressed in black, which I noticed pretty much every guardian stuck to. She had a dark brown, almost black, head of hair, tied up tightly at the top of her head in a ponytail, reaching down to her mid back.

"My guardian pretty much dressed me for a month." We all started laughing at that.

"Well, it would be weird if Jameson started dressing me," I laughed.

Avery rolled her eyes, "Yeah, obviously, because we all know that he would actually be undressing you." I gasped and slapped her arm whilst the other girls erupted into a fit of giggles.

"No, but seriously," Saph put in, "Does he have a door rule?" I frowned. "Assuming that you do have a door between you?"

I nodded quickly, "Of course we do!" The girls laughed at me. "But yes, we have a door rule. I think it's actually quite respectable, though, I don't understand why I'm not allowed to lock it," I wandered off into a trail of thought.

Avery's eyes widened, "Saph, don't." She warned her. A frown formed between my brows as I watched cluelessly.

"I think she should know," Saph shrugged, "Unless you already know?" She pondered, eyeing me for a few seconds.

"He should be the one to tell her!" Avery hissed. All of this happened whilst Cassie sat happily munching on her fries—I considered asking her for answers but then thought better of it; I don't think I'll ever get anything out of her, not with food being the only thing on her mind.

"Look, it's not like there's another person in this room right now who doesn't know!" Saph hissed back.

"She doesn't need to know the details." Avery's voice fell to a deadly serious, almost threatening, tone as she spoke slowly.

Just as Saph opened her mouth to say something, Cassie's interrupted, "Guys calm the heck down!" Silence overwhelmed our table and Cassie sighed, dropping a fry she was holding, she spoke again, saying, "I personally think we should tell her," Cassie shrugged as if it was an easy decision to make. Saph smiled victoriously whilst Avery's eyes widened.

"Saph is right," Cassie continued, using the silence as an indication to carry on, "Everyone in this room does know. But since we can all agree that she's close with him," Saph nodded, shooting me a wink, whilst Avery sat back in defeat.

"I feel like she should get more details." Cassie finished and Saph's victorious smile only widened, and I hoped that Cassie hadn't just boosted her growing ego.

Saph leaned closer and we all edged in too to keep our conversation to ourselves.

"Do you know about Jameson's background?" Saph asked me in a hushed voice. I pondered the question—Jameson never had spoken about his past. I never pushed him to talk, but, all the same, why hasn't it come up? He did ask about my past; but what about his?

I pursed my lips, shaking my head, "He hasn't told me anything." I answered and Saph nodded.

"Because I don't know either," I rolled my eyes but smiled at her humour. "But apparently he has been here a long time,"

"Yeah, like a very long time." Cassie echoed, the three of us turned to look at her and Avery shook her head at her. I bit back the urge to laugh and instead turned back to Saph.

"Just before any of us got here, he had a special one to look after," Saph informed me.

My eyes widened, "I thought I was the first!" I exclaimed in a hushed voice.

Avery shook her head, "He guarded him at a very young age, maybe twelve? And then when I got here, he would've been thirteen." Avery nodded her head to confirm this as if she was sussing out all of the maths in her head.

"His name was Bert, he was a small guy; obviously couldn't defend himself. So they paired him with Jameson. At the time, he wasn't fully prepared, but he apparently had some moves on him." Avery then told me, her eyebrow quirking up.

"Seemingly, they were really close," Cassie intervened, "Like Batman and Robin; they were the best of friends." Cassie frowned and smiled sadly. Oh dear.

"So..?" Saph rolled her eyes at my input.

"So, when I got here," Cassie began again, "It all unfolded." Unfolded? This sounds worse and worse by the syllable.

"Cassie and I were busy at one of those stupid cliché parties." Avery picked up where Cassie left a huge cliffhanger, "Hitting it up with boys, getting drunk off our arses," Avery frowned, sighing, "We were all so shocked." She whispered to herself.

"It was one of those awkward moments where the song comes to an end and you have to find another," Cassie picked up where Avery left off, and I found myself wondering if they always finish each other's sentences.

"The room was filled with only chatter as we waited for the next song. And then it happened—" I hung on to every last word Cassie spoke, waiting for the conclusion to this mysterious tale.

"—a gunshot echoed through the Academy's halls." Cassie folded her hands together in front of her.

My eyes widened and my jaw went slack. I swallowed the bile rising up my throat, my breathing out of whack for a few seconds. "He.. died?" I was so speechless, those were the only words I could utter.

Saph nodded slowly, "They had a room like yours, both Bert and Jameson could close the door at their own free will," I frowned, oh how things changed.

Saph continued, "Bert shut and locked the door, took a gun to his head, and killed himself." Saph finished with solemnity. I opened and closed my mouth, completely lost for words.

I felt as if I had been hit by a tonne of bricks, the wind had been whipped out of me and I struggled to see straight.

"Sky," I snapped my head up to see Jameson looking down at me. I couldn't help but instantly pity him. Everything made sense now, his uptight personality, the grave look I see sometimes when I catch him from the corner of my eye. Jameson is a damaged person—and I know that he's damaged.

"We have to go to class now." I nodded at him and silently bid farewell to my friends. I grabbed my bag and followed Jameson out, not a single sound leaving my lips. How on earth do you tell someone that you know their biggest secret? Their most heartbreaking moment? Well, Sky, you don't.

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SKY!

YOU CANT KEEP SECRETS FROM BAESON LIKE THAT!

So, now we know more about Jameson

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

You'll never know this is the end to the book

I'm kidding

Love you

Sorry for kidding

Next update: Wednesday–Friday (evening)

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN SPOILER:

There is a squad scene, and a Skyson scene, but can Sky keep her most recent secret?

–Chloe