"Will you please stop bothering me?" I groan, and the jerk smirks, actually smirks, at me.

"Not until you don't think I'm a jerk," he says. He gets up and puts the stereo on, turning it up. "This actually isn't bad," he says, and then throws himself on my bed.

"I'm trying to study!" I say, wondering why Jen let him in. "Chemistry sucks," I groan. "And, believe it or not, you being here isn't helpful."

Something seems to strike him, and he looks cautiously at the door. He pads over to my desk, pulling up my beanbag chair.

"If I can prove that I'm not a jerk, will you swear on your life to keep it a secret?" He asks, deadly serious.

"Sure," I shrug.

"Okay," he says. "I can help you with your homework, I'm good at chemistry."

I blink at him slowly, then laugh. "Right, good one." It's been days, but I still know that Logan Reese is not good at school.

"I'm serious!" He says, offended. "I'm good at chemistry, if you don't believe me then I'll just take my help elsewhere," he says, walking off.

"Wait," I say, grabbing his wrist. "Please help me. But what secret do I have to keep?"

He looks at me like I've sprouted a second head. "Uh, that I'm good at chemistry?" He says, as if it's obvious.

"That's not embarrassing," I roll my eyes.

"Whatever," he scoffs.

We work quietly, and his teaching is actually quite useful. I learn more than I have in my whole school life and find myself getting confident. I realise something.

"Hey, Logan," I say spinning my chair to face him. "I'm sorry for calling you a jerk without getting to know you better." He smirks. "I mean you are a jerk, but at least I know better now," I finish.

His smirk falls, "right."

"But, if you want to keep trying to convince me, I wouldn't mind," I smile, and he nods thoughtfully. "Friends?" I ask.

"Friends," he says, and we shake hands.

The next morning I wake up feeling strange. I can't put my finger on why until I realise that I can hear faint shouting from outside our room.

"Hey, Jen, Lil, what's that noise?" I ask, kicking off my covers. I look over and realise that Delilah isn't here.

"Lilah left to paint the sunrise, and the noise is Nicole and Dana," Jen says.

"Thanks," I say. "Ugh, I can't sleep like this." I get up and realise that I don't have time to sleep, since class is starting soon. "Oh."

"What?" Jen asks.

"Class starts in like forty minutes," I say, hurrying to get dressed, hoping to have time for breakfast as well as getting dressed.

"What?" Jen shouts, and this time she leaps off her bed and begins struggling to get dressed alongside me. "I can't believe I got distracted."

"How did you get distracted?" I ask, packing my bag as I pull on my shoes.

"My book got really good," she says.

We leave the dorm and go to breakfast, and have enough time to eat without having to rush. When we get to class, we're exactly on time, and the panic from this morning feels years away from the calm of the moment.

At lunch, Jen leaves me to sit with the people in her next class, eager to talk about the work. I smile at her, wishing I could enjoy my lessons, rather than just doing them. I go ahead with my food and find Chase and Zoey sitting one of of them tables. I get there at the same time as Michael. "Speaking of 'freakish roommates'".

"What?" I ask, wondering what I've missed and why Chase said that, but Michael is horrified.

"Save me," he says, and we look at him in concern as he sits down.

"From what?"

"That," he says, pointing at Quinn who's at a different table, alone.

"That's Quinn, she lives in our dorm," Zoey says, sweetly.

"She blew up a basketball," I say, taking a bite of my food.

"Yeah, well, you know, I saw her having lunch by herself," he looks at me, "and I now know why. So, I sat down next to her. You know, being friendly and all."

"Uh huh," I say, understanding where this might be going.

"And?" Chase asks.

"She started feeling my food," Michael says. I freeze. That's not what I was expecting.

"Huh," I say, looking over at the girl.

"What do you mean, feeling it?" Zoey asks.

Michael reaches over for my salad. "I mean feeling it," he says, playing with my salad.

"My salad," I say, sadly.

"Well, that's just weird," Chase says, and I mumble my agreement, bringing my dessert forward to hide my salad.

"You think?" Michael asks, shaking his hand to get the rest of my salad off it. I hand him a napkin, with a scowl.

"I feel sorry for her," Zoey says. "She's always by herself."

"If she feels people's food I kinda get why," I say, although I wouldn't like to be alone and so I understand why Zoey sympathises with her.

"Come on," Zoey says, grabbing her tray and standing up. I follow her, sighing.

"Come on where?" Chase asks.

"To sit with Quinn," I say, flatly.

Zoey smiles at me, "yeah."

"You guys go," Michael says. "My food's been felt up enough."

"Are you gonna eat that?" I ask him, and he shakes his head. "Then I'll take it as a gift."

We go over to the table and she's feeling up her own food. We all say hello and she smiles at us. She's nice, despite her strange habits.

"I brought you some food to feel," I say, passing her my salad and the food off Michael.

"Thanks," she says, genuinely, and I can't help but return her happy grin. "May I feel your food, also?" She asks, already reaching out, and Zoey puts her hand out to block the action.

"Um, why?" The blonde asks.

Quinn retreats her hand. "I'm working on a theory," she says, and I become curious.

"Which is?" Michael asks.

"Every food has its own distinct energy, almost like emotions, which can be better identified through touch. As opposed to taste or smell."

"Right," I say, not quite sure what she means.

"So you want to feel if my food is happy?"

Zoey asks, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who's lost.

Quinn nods, "or sad, worried, frightened."

"I'm frightened." I pinch Chase's waist under the table so that Quinn can't see. He grimaces but doesn't say anything.

"So Quinn," Zoey continues. "Why do you always hang out by yourself?"

"Well, I have a theory," Chase says, under his breath while stuffing grapes into his mouth. He glances at me after he says it, and hides away from my glare. "Sorry," he mumbles. Luckily Quinn didn't seem to hear.

"I guess 'cause I just haven't really made any friends yet," she says, and I begin to pity her. It's not her fault that she acts differently and other people don't like that.

"What about your roommates?" Zoey asks.

"Yeah! Even Zoey's roommates get along sometimes," I add.

Quinn shakes her head. "I live alone."

"How?" I say, loudly.

"Why?" Chase says, at the same time. "What's wrong with you-" Zoey kicks his foot under the table and I pinch him again, harder. He crumples in pain. "You so pretty, Quinn," he corrects himself. "Pretty, pretty Quinn."

"Um, thanks," she says.

I shrug. "Well if you wanted," I begin, but trail off awkwardly.

"If you ever want company," Zoey says, for me. "I mean, you can hang out with us, and my roommates, sometime."

Quinn frowns. "Aren't they the ones always screaming at each other?"

I snort and cover my nose as my water comes out. "Yeah, that's them," I grin.

"Good point, maybe just us three should hang out then," Zoey says.

"Really?" Quinn asks, a big smile blooming.

"Sure, why not?" Zoey laughs.

I hold out my hand to Quinn, "it would be my pleasure," I grin.

"Thanks," she says, reaching her hand out.

"Don't touch my salad," Zoey says, and the girl moves her hand over.

"Don't do it!" Chase warns, and I take my cue to leave, throwing my trash out and happily heading to class.

"Hey," I hear a voice to my left, and see Logan approaching me.

"Hey, Logan," I say. "How was lunch?"

He smirks, "hot," he says, and I realise he's waving to some girls.

"Logan," I sigh, "really? While I'm here?" I hit his chest. "Stop!"

He turns to me, shocked. "What was that for?"

"Stop flirting with people while we're walking together, jerk." He rolls his eyes.

"Hey, you should be glad I'm waking with you, you're gaining popularity right now!"

"And losing brain cells," I mumble. "Hey we didn't have homework did we?" I ask, and he shrugs. "Great, it's the first week and I might already be behind," I groan.

We go to class and then say goodbye when we get to my dorm on our way back. I find Zoey moving her things from her room and wonder why. "Hey, Zo?" I shout.

She doesn't look back at me, but responds over her shoulder. "I'm moving in with Quinn."

I realise this might be because of her roommates and grimace, but go to my room, too tired to deal with anything right now.

"Oh hey, Lil," I say, seeing my other roommate for the first time today.

She smiles at me, "hey, Harper."

I catch myself staring at her painting. "That's great," I say. "You should hang it up so we always see the sunrise when we wake up."

She laughs, "that's not a bad idea, but this is a gift for my parents. They're missing me so I thought I could show them what I see everyday, if that makes sense." I nod, the homesickness comes and goes and I get it.

"Well I'm going to bed, with Nicole and Dana's fighting, I don't think I've had a good sleep all week," I groan.

"You know they kicked Zoey out," she says.

"I did not," I say, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "That's why she's staying with Quinn?" She nods. "Poor Zoey."

I climb into bed and watch as she rolls up her paintbrushes. The sound of her work lulls me to sleep, and I fall under quickly.