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When Fallon learned that she had been accepted as a transfer student to Crystal Academy, the first person she thought of was Melinda. Despite everything that had happened with Barren Pines, Fallon clung to her brief memory of Melinda as proof that she had not been crazy. Fallon met Melinda while she was a Barren Pines student and Melinda attended Crystal. They talked about school. They talked about cooking. The school had been real. It had to have been. Melinda would remember, Fallon was sure of it.

But revealing herself to Melinda was a bit more problematic. Fallon could barely remember the last time they spoke. It flashed by her eyes in bits and pieces. Something happened, and Fallon tried to talk to Melinda about it on her cellphone. Each time she tried, she just... couldn't. The memories of her frustration were more vivid than the memories of the message she was trying to communicate itself, but either way, Fallon didn't think of it as a terribly good foot to get off on with a new friend. Did Melinda think she was some kind of psychopath?

The insecurity had kept Fallon from immediately seeking out Melinda, and through virtue of luck, they hadn't run into each other in the hallway. It had been several weeks now. Fallon couldn't put it off any longer. Earlier that week, she stole a glance at the roster and memorized Melinda's room number. If Melinda was going to end their friendship or avoid Fallon, then the girl would rather it happen with as few people looking as possible. How would the blond girl react to seeing Fallon after all of this time? Did she know that she was one of the people found in the organ ring? Did she, too, stare up at the abandoned insane asylum and wonder what happened to the school that used to sit there? The questions made Fallon's heart thrum in her chest as she walked down the hallway, pale blue skirt swishing around her hips.

The first time down the hallway, she walked right by Melinda's door losing her nerve, and because she did that once, her OCD commanded her to do it twice more before she could relax. On the third pass down the hallway, Fallon came to a stop outside of the door number she'd found on the dorm roster. Taking in a deep breath, Fallon steeled herself for a potential negative reaction and knocked on the door.

Knock-knock-knock!

When the door opened, Fallon rolled her shoulders backward, attempting to look somehow in charge of whatever situation might arise. That all went out the window when Melinda pulled her in for a hug. The tall teenager pitched forward, wrapping her arms around Melinda and smiling into her hair. "I'm okay," she said, though it was a little muffled. "I'm... sorry I didn't get the courage to come sooner." The part of Fallon that feared Melinda might be wary of her after the Barren Pines debacle disappeared in a flash.

It was like seeing Imogen all over again, but different. Whereas Imogen could understand precisely what Fallon had gone through, Melinda could only offer an outsider's view. It might not be as powerful as talking to Imogen, but it sure as hell made Fallon feel more normal. She wouldn't have to go over the details with Melinda. She could say whatever she was comfortable saying because Melinda had no way of correcting her.

Still caught in the embrace, Fallon let herself melt into it, just happy to see that Melinda was happy to see her. "I go here now," she said, laughing into the sheet of blond hair that her cheek rested against.

Fallon had no problem continuing the hug. She had liked Melinda from the moment she met her, and without saying so, she had given the girl mental permission to be physically affectionate with her. Others did not have this kind of privilege, especially misogynists like Lucas. It occurred to Fallon that he was dead, truly dead, and perhaps it was best not to think ill of him. She couldn't force herself to be sad, but she did feel a touch of pity for the boy who violated her personal space. To die so young was certainly terrible, even if Fallon was relieved that it had been him and not her.

"I don't have that phone anymore. I had to get a new number," she said, thinking of the simple purple sliding phone that was waiting on the dresser in her bedroom. "A new number, a new school -- yes, I am definitely here at Crystal to stay." As if to prove it, Fallon reached out and gently pinched Melinda, as she had promised.

Stepping out of the hug, Fallon followed Melinda into her bedroom, smile plastered all over her face. She managed to keep it up even when Melinda brought up the one thing she wasn't sure she could talk about. The last time she had tried, she had been thanked with terrible pain. Would that happen again? Or had she left that behind her at Barren Pines too? "I'm so sorry about that, Melinda. It was not polite at all to leave you hanging like that, or to make you worry," she began, each word ringing with genuine regret. "To be honest, I don't really remember what the call was about, or even what happened afterward. So much has happened since then, things I can't even begin to explain or understand. Friends have died. Classmates have died. But... I survived. Sometimes I can't even believe it." Fallon did remember why she called Melinda, even though the details were hazy. She simply had no desire to risk pain, or to linger on a terrible time in her life that had thankfully passed.

Fallon was more concerned with moving forward with her life, and in her friendship with Melinda.

Fallon followed Melinda to the bed and took a seat next to her. Just like that, they seemed to return to a state of normalcy. Fallon was alive. Melinda was not mad. Could it be that simple? Apparently not. When Melinda asked about Lucas, Fallon's face dropped. For one, she wasn't exactly pleased that Melinda might have been friends with Lucas, even less pleased to think that Melinda might have been one of his many female conquests. Fallon did not like the way that he treated women. She found it deplorable. Though she wasn't exactly dancing on his grave, Fallon felt no sadness over his death, only a fleeting sense of pity for him to have died so young.

How had it happened? Fallon had no idea. It was a memory that had been totally obliterated from her mind. If she knew that she had actually eaten him, this conversation would be way awkward. Super awkward, actually. Infinitely awkward. Good thing for that amnesia.

At first, Fallon didn't say anything. Then she lifted her hand and rested it gently on Melinda's back. "No, Melinda. He didn't make it." Her voice was a hushed whisper, but she sat still. If Melinda wanted a hug, she could give it. If Melinda wanted to talk, she could do that too. Most of the students at Barren Pines were assumed to be dead by those who knew them. Most had died. Fallon was one of the lucky ones, and Lucas was not. It was a sad fact of life, but one that Fallon could not linger on. She was alive, and she was breathing. That was all she needed right then.

Fallon didn't like to see Melinda upset, but there was no way she could muster up a positive comment about Lucas without being painfully insincere. Yeah, he had really great hair. He was only kind of an incredible douche bag most of the time. He only tried to sleep with 3/4 of the girls at Barren Pines, not all of them. Instead, she just patted Melinda on the back and said, "I'm sorry, Mel." Regardless of her feelings toward Lucas, Fallon cared about how Melinda felt, and given his death, it seemed a bit rude to go on about how much she disliked him when he still had a pulse.

When Melinda offered to change the subject, Fallon happily went along with it. "It's wonderful here, it really is. They don't have a program tailored to my culinary arts, but my mother has been speaking to the administration about allowing me to design my own curriculum. I think I might take some dance classes too. It has been ages since I stood in a ballet studio. I have a feeling many of the girls here would leave me in the dust with their technique and their grace though." And it was true. Fallon had taken five years of ballet as a kid, but there was no way she could have ever gotten into Crystal Academy by merit of her dancing. There were girls at this school who slept in toe shoes. No, she would take dance lessons for fun, but focus her studies on academics and cooking (mostly cooking).

It was nice to see Melinda relax and so Fallon did too, though she managed a structure to her posture. She wasn't one to slouch. "I'm picking up on things quickly, I think," she mused, nodding along. From what she remembered, Melinda was here for music, and though Fallon liked it, she had absolutely no skill in it aside from being able to keep time very well. Karaoke was all well and good, but when it came down to it, Fallon had a case of the chorus girl voice -- kind of airy, mostly on the right note, but all-around forgettable. There was no way they would be sharing any music lessons together, that was for sure.

Rubbing at her elbow, Fallon turned her head to see Melinda better. She looked okay, like she was going to be okay with Lucas's death. Every so often, Fallon checked her for signs of despondency, just to be safe. "I didn't start classes right away. I've lived here almost two weeks, but I haven't been assigned classes. My parents had to go back to France so Crystal Academy made an exception to let me move in before I was formally enrolled." She didn't say so, but her parents' money had quite a bit to do with that exception. "They had me take some tests to decide what level of difficulty I could handle. There is some confusion over the Barren Pines situation, and I'm not sure they think I've been in school at all this year. The aptitude test results should be in by now. I think I'm set to start classes on Monday." Starting classes was something Fallon looked forward to, actually. She wasn't the most scholastic girl in the world, but it was just another way to put distance between herself and Barren Pines.

"And you don't need to worry about my schedule. I can always make time to see you," she said and smiled. "God, it is just so great to see you! How have you been all this time? Any exciting news for me?" They had talked about Fallon. She was ready to focus on Melinda and not worry about her own complicated situation.

Fallon didn't really celebrate Christmas, but she missed Chanukah that year. It made her sad, but she had survived something horrible in its place. No way would she regret that. "Did you go visit your family, or did they come to Crystal?" she asked, assuming the former. Fallon tried to picture Melinda's family. Did they all have the same golden hair? Or was Melinda the odd one in the bunch? Fallon resembled her mother, but most people said she looked like her father. Probably because they had the most similar skin tones. People can be colorblind like that.

Classes, wow. It was still strange to think about going back to a normal like as a schoolgirl. Fallon was both relieved and despondent. Was it really so great to be normal? Certainly better than being a freak, but there was something so typical about it, so boring. The thought made Fallon want to run off and join a traveling circus as the chef. Too bad she was incapable of being that spontaneous. "Are you good at math? If you are, I hope we have that class together," she said at last, laughing like math was the most of her worries, like she hadn't been part of some kind of botched science experiment, like she didn't wake up in the middle of the night from terrible dreams she couldn't explain. Melinda had a secret, but Fallon had some of her own.

She, too, smiled and said nothing of it. Why ruin a perfectly normal conversation? "I'll let you know when I get my schedule. I assume it will be sometime today or tomorrow." A stray hand picked a piece of lint off the skirt of her uniform. That was another bonus to Crystal: the uniforms. A soft periwinkle was much better than the atrocious red plaid. Plaid. Ugh. Not really Fallon's style.

Fallon reached for the photo, fingers brushing over the frame. They looked so deliriously happy. It made her smile too. In her family, there were similar photos, but those were from years ago. Fallon loved her parents, and they loved her too. But she was independent, always had been. Their relationship was on of respect and trust, not overwhelming acts of affection. "You look so much like your father," she said, tracing her finger below his face in the image. "Same eyes." She turned to Melinda and smiled, then glanced back to the photo.

After a moment, she handed it back. "My parents were here for three weeks. One of those weeks, I was in the hospital though. They brought in a little electric menorah and let me open all my Chanukah presents at once. I'd missed the actual holiday, but they knew it meant a lot me," Fallon explained. She didn't know how familiar Melinda was with Judaism, but most people knew about the menorah and the gifts spread out over multiple days. She could remember how her mother's hands trembled as she handed her bandaged child the first gift, her French accent wavering over the words she couldn't say. Fallon closed her hands over her mother's, sharing her strength. Her mother wasn't as strong as she was, but Fallon loved her anyway.