"Okay class," says Peter, "I have a project for you." Multiple groans heard around the room. "Since you just finished reading White Oleander and the book was about surviving and such and having to live in different places under different circumstances I want you all to make a suitcase just like she did in the book. Now here's the parameters. It has to be about your life at home. We're kind of doing this as a educational/counseling mix-in. You know. The usual." He looks over at you. "And Amber you don't have to do this assignment since you just arrived, unless of course you know the story."
"Actually its one of my favorite books," you find yourself quickly saying.
That Day you leave class finding yourself thinking, how do you fill a suitcase with nothingness?

You pace up and down the girl's dorm. Its happening again. Your skin is itching and you just want to run, but you know you can't because of your asthma and also, well, school rules.
"What's wrong with newbie?" remarks Shelby as she walks in from taking a shower. "I thought she wasn't a user. Looks to me like she's having withdrawals.
"Should I go get Peter?" asks Juliette in a panicky tone. You can tell she feels like backing into a corner and crying. She almost always looks like that. You want to scream at her. To make her do exactly that.
"Hey guys, I'm fine. I just have this problem with night and sometimes I can't contain myself. I just want to be everywhere at once and I can't. I can't even fucking run because of my asthma. I'm sorry, I know the pacing is annoying. I'll go outside." You walk out as soon as you finish your sentence, leaving the apparently uncaring crowd.
You walk to the side of a building, crouch down and lay your back against it and begin trying to talk yourself out of it.
"Its all okay, you're fine. Why do you always fucking do this? You were fine earlier and now you're psycho freak. Everyone here is going to hate you. They'll eventually just send you to a mental hospital if you keep this up. And then you'll be drugged all the time."
"Who said there was anything wrong with that?" You turned around to see Ezra.
"Well actually it would be quite nice, its just not what I'm going for. I'm trying to get back home. I mean. I need my friends. I need my cat."
"Yes, Daisy said you had a special attachment to furry felines."
'He's really weird,' you think to yourself, but then you think, 'Hey, who am I to judge.' "So, you think I'm weird don't you, sitting out here talking to myself. Well your right. I am. I'm a complete freak. And nobody gets me. They all were sick of my whining to and about myself, so they sent me here. So what do you think? I hear you have good insights on people."
He squints his eyes at you, "I'd say you've seen way too many psychologists and therapists and that you've thought this out way too much and because of that you're either way ahead or way behind the rest of us."
"Not really what I was going for, but probably true," you look at him closer. He doesn't seem so bad. He could even be a kindred spirit. "So tell me something. Keep my spastic mind occupied."
"Like what?"
"Like what's the whole deal with Juliette, Scott, and Shelby?"
"Oh the love triangle. Hmm. That's an old story. Scott used to go out with Juliette, but they got in a fight because there's kind of this thing going on between Juliette and Auggie. And Shelby just straight out wants Scott. Or did anyway. Now she's kinda pissed at him actually. He's just not a reliable guy. That's all I know about it. People don't clue me in on much. I'm like the outcast of the outcasts. The only time they call on me is when they need drug advice. You're not an addict though are you?"

"Nope, that's one of the few things I can say I am not."

Another shadow creeps up from behind and you hear the unmistakable voice of Daisy. "Oh dear I do hope I'm not interrupting anything. Okay, I take it back. I was hoping to catch someone in the act. But now that I see its you Ezra I know its safe to say I'm not."
"Well sadly it is true. I'm sure such an honorable lady as this wouldn't be caught doing such barbaric things up against a wall anyway," he looks at you strangely, "But now I must bid you both farewell. For the hour has come for slumber."
He walks off to the boys dorm and you kind of check him out as best you can. Hes not too bad, just a little strange. You wonder why he's such an outcast and instantly turn to Daisy to find the answer.
"I don't know he just is. He acts awkwardly. And I mean its not like this is normal-ville or anything, but he's still just his own breed you know. Ah, you'll figure it out once you've been around him longer. Come on, back to the dorms before Juliette gets worried and goes to get Peter for a search of the grounds," she laughs and so do you. You almost felt like you were beginning to fit in here, but it couldn't be that easy. It never had been before.