Falling to Pieces

Jason stood on one end of the courtyard, leaned up against a dimmed light post and staring up into the night sky, his mind clouded with thoughts. All he could think about was his father still laying ill in that damned bed, and the bastard who put him there was still roaming free. The young man frowned, thinking back to his run in with Evelyn. He wanted revenge, that much he knew - it burned in his blood, but was if it just a hopeless cause? He just...
The autumn sighed, clenching his fist. He wanted to make the man pay. Then his father would be well, and their family would be safe and happy again. With his mom and with Jayden...

He paused on that thought. Jace realized he had hardly seen his brother since the incident had happened. When he did, he was deathly silent, not moving. Was he even breathing? The young man tried to recall and felt ashamed that he'd never noticed before, but lately he'd only been able to picture Spion's face in his head, and how dearly he wanted to see him dead.

It didn't take long for Penny to make her way into the courtyard. It hadn't been very long since she had moved into Beata so she still wasn't very aware of what had happened. All she was focused on was how much she couldn't sleep because of how she actually kind of missed being at home. So, on this wonderful starry night, she decided to take a walk, even though it was after curfew... if that was even held up anymore. Within a few minutes of her walk, she spotted Jace. Although she was honestly surprised that someone else was out here, she didn't take too much time to walk closer to him only to see how hard he seemed to be thinking about something. Actually, it was a little funny to watch his facial expression change so fast. "Whatcha thinkin' about?" she asked him a little playfully.

Jason's head shot up at once, clearly caught off guard by this new girl's arrival. Some girl he'd never seen before, which felt a little strange to him at first since he at least knew the names of almost every person on campus, but then figured she must be one of the newer arrivals. Oh, well. Great for her, he supposed, it was the perfect timing. Still, he ran a few fingers through his hair and tried to relax, throwing a smile on. "Oh, you know. Airline food." He said in a serious tone, "I just can't figure out what's the deal with it." He pretended to look dismayed and shook his head before shrugging it away and looking back at her. "Wandering around a little late, though, aren't you?" Jace mused.

At first she was a little confused about him bringing up airline food, but she just shrugged it off and actually shrugged as he asked her about being out late. "I could ask you the same thing," she replied quickly, giving him a curious look as she walked around him and stopped a short distance away, sticking her hands in her pockets and placing most of her weight over one foot. At first, she really wasn't going to answer the question, but when it grew silent for a moment, she thought otherwise. It was a little strange meeting someone this late at night, and she thought that the more they talked the better. She was also wondering what the real reason was as to why he was out so late. "I couldn't sleep. But this has been going on for quite a while. Still just trying to get used to living here, ya know?" she continued, hopefully getting something out of Jace.

"Sorry. That joke was really lame." Jason muttered throughout the awkward silence, crossing his arms together. "Especially for me." The young man chewed on his lip, shooting her a curious glance of his own as she walked over to him. He wasn't sure what to say. He was out here because, to be frank, he couldn't stay in his room and the chances of anyone giving him any trouble at this hour were slim. Jace waited for her explanation before speaking again. So, she was new after all. "Yeah, I got'cha." The autumn boy said with a small smile, "Don't worry, though. You'll get used to this place sooner or later... Whether that's good or bad is questionable." He shrugged and leaned off of the pole, offering his hand out to her to shake. "Jason Wright." He introduced himself. A few months ago, he might've gave her his name in a much more slick manner, see if he could grab the number of this pretty girl while he was at it. Yet, he didn't have the heart for it now.

Penny grabbed his hand and shook it with quite a bit of energy. "I'm Penny Carson. It's nice to meet you Mr. Jason," she said with an obvious playful mood about her. Ever since her first run-in with Evelyn, she had kind of brushed things off about the very recent history of the school, but it still was lodged in the back of her mind. "But now that I have answered, it's your turn. What are you doing out here so late?" she asked, only halfway expecting an answer. He seemed to be in that one funky mood where you just don't want to talk but talk anyway simply because you don't want to seem distant due to the thoughts running through your head. Yeah, Penny did that a lot. But she did in fact want to know.

The young man raised an eyebrow, "Mister Jason?" He repeated, slightly amused at her energy. It was definitely a change of pace. "Nice to meet you, Miss Penny." Jace's smile fell a bit along with his hand, stuffing it back into his pocket. He wondered if he wanted to speak at all for a few moments, and if he did, if it was worth telling her the truth - and how much of it. "Same as you. I couldn't sleep." The blonde mused, "A lot of stuff has been happening lately, if you didn't know about it."

A lot of stuff, huh? He wasn't referring back to that whole spill Evelyn had given her, but at the same time, she felt that it was the exact same thing. For a moment as she thought back to that day in the studios, her face showed a little bit of the worry she remembered having until she took one deep breath and let out a huge sigh. But as soon as the worry appeared, it was gone and replaced with a curious smile instead. "I'm pretty sure I've heard it before. Unless that Evelyn girl was seriously messing with me." While it might have sounded like she was joking, her expression soon showed that she was beginning to take it a lot more seriously. "But I only heard a few of the details... if that. What's been going on at this school anyway?"

"That Evelyn girl?" He repeated, a bit confused at first, until the words suddenly suddenly registered and caught his attention. He shot Miss Penny a much more curious look this time around. "You know Evelyn?" Jason frowned a bit. The winter girl certainly wasn't the type to mess around, at least as far as he knew about her. Honestly, it was just a surprise to him alone that she had known Penny, who seemed to be a rather upbeat, outgoing person in sharp contrast. But that was aside from the point. Jace sighed, "I wish I could give you all the dirty details, but I can't be completely sure myself." The autumn shrugged, trying to appear uncaring and continuing on in a monotone. "The old gifts teacher went haywire. He stabbed the secretary in her home and brought her to the school. And soon after killed the math professor. Nearly killed the headmaster too."

Penny nodded as Jace asked her about Evelyn. Yeah, she wasn't too sure how much Evelyn liked her. Actually, she didn't seem to like her very much at all. It was a weird relationship, really. But Penny's thoughts were quickly drawn back to Evelyn's story as Jace practically gave her the short version of what happened. Almost instantly, her quirky and happy mood shut down, leaving instead a little nervous and surprised looked among her face. "So, Evelyn was being serious. That did happen... Huh," she replied softly as her mind tried to override the rejection of the story. Why would two people tell the same lie? Especially when Jace's attitude seemed to drop a little? He didn't seem to be the kind of person to put on that much of a show to pull of some prank. "Well, then... Uh, I'm really sorry to hear about that. I... um, is the headmaster okay? I mean, I guess that explains why I never saw him around. Everyone in the main offices said that he had matters that he had to attend to."

Jason wanted to ask more questions about their little meeting, but dropped it instead, nodding his head instead. He kept silent for a bit, unsure of what else to say. It was a rather delicate subject, one he didn't quite feel like building up on. Was the headmaster okay? The image of him laying in the same cot flash through his mind, his body pale and worn. He was alive, Jace supposed, thank God. "I hope so." He chuckled humorously, "He's been bedridden for months, so I guess that's a pretty big matter to deal with. Nurse won't leave his side." Forget that they were both his parents. He didn't want to seem too attached to them. Family angst was his concern and he was certain she wouldn't like to hear any of it. His golden gaze looked up at her, "Sorry to damper the mood a bit."

"Psssh, it's no big deal!" she replied in such a way to try to lighten the mood a little bit, or at least to show that it really wasn't a big deal. It was just a lot to take in at once, even though Evelyn had told her the same thing not too long ago. This Jason fellow just seemed to put it a little better. Well, he at least wasn't making as much of a fuss about it. But then again, Penny was pretty certain that she really pissed the girl off. "But, um, if you don't mind me asking... Does anyone know specifically why this happened? I mean, there's got to be a good reason. I-I'm pretty sure that someone wouldn't do all of that unless there was a certain reason." She said, still pondering the thought of why in the world someone would want to do such a horrible thing. What was the motive?

Is that so? Jace tilted his head at her. She really did seem like the optimistic type, didn't she? A slight look of frustration came onto his face as she went on. "There has to be some reason, right? If there is, I don't know it. A few of the teachers seem to know, but if they do, they're playing dumb and keeping to themselves." He eyed a small pebble near his feet and kicked it clear across the courtyard pathway. "So, your guess is as good as mine." He took a few steps forward, stretching some of the stress out he felt build up suddenly.

"Well that's stupid. We go to this school too. Why should we not be in the loop too? Wouldn't it be better for everyone to know instead of the newer students looking like idiots?" she asked, mainly talking about herself in the last question, but she didn't really show it as she crossed her arms in front of her chest before watching Jace kind of move around awkwardly. "Sorry I keep stretching out the conversation. I just want to know the details. I can't stand being in the dark," she huffed before tossing her hair back behind her shoulders.

The autumn shrugged, rolling his eyes. "Very stupid." He said, but he supposed there wasn't much else to do. You would've thought they'd have said something by now, especially to the ones who had no idea what was going on. The poor, excited souls. "Its fine. I feel the same way." Jason waved his hand dismissively, "Anyway, we're stuck here. You seem pretty cool. I'd be happy to show you around or whatever if you ever need it." His golden gaze flickered back to Penny, wanting to drop the subject and leave it to die at that. And he meant what he said. She didn't seem like a bad person to hang around.