"– and I'm still a part of this group, right, but I might as well not be, for all anyone cares," Jack is saying. He and Niki are doing homework together in the library, in the place they all used to think of as "our spot" and now think of as "Wilbur's spot." Jack doesn't like it here, but Niki still comes here every time, the way sea turtles come to nest even where their beaches have been paved over. And he doesn't want Niki to be by herself. She listens to him. "It's like they expect us to just stick around, even though no one else in this group has ever done anything for me."

"Yes!" says Niki. "Yes, exactly. They just ignore us, and we still follow them around, because we want to feel like we're a part of it, we're like little puppies! But they are never going to acknowledge us, we're just people they can take something from."

"I think the only time Alex ever asked my opinion on something was during the, the stupid election, and he was just doing it to make a point to Wilbur." Jack fishes in his pockets for a pencil, annoyed. He doesn't have any stuff -– he'd ask Niki, but neither does she.

Wilbur. Niki grimaces and tightens her hands in the fraying hem of her shirt. It's his, one of the last things they found in his room after he...after. It's big enough to wear over whatever else she's wearing, and she's cold all the time now, so she wears it everywhere. She has that, and she has a little piece of scrap metal Wilbur gave her in their first few days together. She should cut up the shirt to make rags, and she should use the metal for a knife or something, but she won't. She can't. 

And she hates him. For making her unable to let go of these things.

"They just use us," she says, voice thin and hard. "And they don't care about us at all."

"It's not like we have much choice," Jack says reluctantly. He's found his pencil, worn down almost to the end, and is flipping it back and forth between his fingers. "Where else would we go? I'm of one of the last group members left and you've been here since the beginning, and no one even cares. But we have no chance on our own."

"Maybe not," says Niki, with equal reluctance. "But...maybe we can think of something. The study group is over, the study group is done. There has to be other alliances we can make, right? We've been overlooked, here, for far too long."

Jack perks up a little. "If we can find someone who doesn't treat us like shit...I mean, I tell great jokes and that just gets overlooked, so."

Niki giggles. "It's time we got you some bitches, Jack."

"YES!" Jack cheers and claps loud enough that some enclavers a few tables away glance at him. "If it was for bitches, it was all worth it. Speaking of bitches, did you...that sounds absolutely awful, I'm sorry." (Niki laughs.) "You were seeing that girl from the New York enclave, right? The one with all the curls? We could talk to her."

Niki can't help how her mouth thins a little. "Cara? I...yes, we went on some dates together." And little else. Niki should have known no one would have time for her, least of all an enclaver, but Cara was pretty and kind to her and after Wilbur...after Wilbur, Niki wanted to think about anything else. So she let herself hope a little. 

There's another piece of metal Niki really should use for something else. Cara made it into a ring for her. It's too precious to wear; she leaves it in her room to keep it safe, with Wilbur's.

"We could talk to her, I think," she says, a little delayed. "I just don't want to be here anymore. I am tired of, of getting pushed around by people who call themselves leaders, who don't have any authority."

Jack frowns. "You're talking about Schlatt, right? Not Toby. I mean, I guess Toby's the leader, but he's a pushover, he has no real power. Look what happened with Clay and Tommy."

Niki scoffs. "Tommy. He's someone else who, who thinks he can just do whatever he wants, and not have any consequences!"

"I guess so." Jack goes to tuck his pencil behind his ear and realizes it's too short. Stymied, he goes back to flipping it in his fingers. "I think the stunt with George was stupid, too. But I don't know, maybe he's changed since he got kicked out? I think Clay's been keeping a pretty close eye on him."

He stares at the homework he's ostensibly doing, lets his eyes diverge so it turns into meaningless smears. What Niki said still itches under the anger. He and Tommy and Toby knew each other as kids. They were friends outside the Scholomance. Why can't they still be friends here? (Why is he getting left behind?) "Look, I know the study group is terrible, but Toby is okay. He at least tries to include me but he's...hard to talk to, since Tommy. And I heard Tommy is all depressed and shit. I think I wanna go check on him, at least so I can tell Toby he's okay."

Niki smooths down the hem of Wilbur's shirt, instead of fretting at the place where it's coming apart like she had been. "I understand. Maybe he is better?" Maybe people can change, even in this terrible place. Maybe.

They do at least a little more homework, and then it's time for classes; Jack's going to see if Tommy's at shop later. When they part ways, Niki manages a smile. "We'll definitely talk again soon. Take care, Jack."

"You too, Niki. Take care."

The next Niki hears, Jack is dead.