But not right now when I had a summary of the first two chapters of Wuthering Heights to finish and two pages of Spanish vocabulary to memorize. By leaving, I knew I was giving him some kind of satisfaction, but I didn’t care. Focusing on schoolwork was hard enough for me as it was, and I knew I wouldn’t get anything done with him in the room.

So I got up and gathered my things, only stopping in the doorway once more to say, with as much authority as I could muster, “When I come back, your things had better be on your side of the room or I swear I’ll burn them.”

The only answer I got was a loud burp. Clutching my books so tightly my knuckles turned white, I slammed the door shut behind me. The looney-in-the-attic idea was honestly starting to appeal to me. That way, I would at least have my own bloody space.

With only an hour and a half before curfew, there weren’t many quiet places around here to work; the common room for boys and girls was crowded in the evenings, and the Great Hall was being cleaned after dinner. There was the library, but Miss Pepperman would be there, and I didn’t want to do my English Lit homework around her, knowing that she’d probably offer help and it’d be awkward.

I ended up strolling around the castle for a bit to see if I could find a room where I’d be undisturbed. The entrance hall was as eerily silent as it had been when Evelyn and I had first arrived, my steps echoing from the walls as I walked towards the door that led to the west wing.

The corridor behind it was darker than the entrance hall, with pictures of the school’s former headmasters on the walls and myriad doors on each side. The eyes of the grainy black-and-white photos followed me as I hesitantly neared the first door to my right. I didn’t know what was more of a surprise: that it opened when I pushed against it, or that the room behind it was a huge auditorium.

Entering felt a little bit like I was doing something forbidden, but the ceiling lights were on, so I figured it was okay to be in there. My steps were muffled by the thick red carpet that matched the velvet of the seats that went all the way to the back of the room. At the front, there was an empty stage, only some of it visible as the curtain was drawn.

Whistling quietly to myself, I climbed up to one of the highest rows and slumped into one of the comfortable seats. I decided that I liked this room. No Gabe and no trash lying around, and instead of stinking like decay, this room only smelled faintly like dust. In the long-awaited silence, I opened my Spanish book and muttered the vocabulary out loud, but I hadn’t even finished the first half of the page when the door suddenly flew open with a loud bang.