A/N: This update is technically still on Friday, since there's just under an hour of the day left. I literally have only just finished this chapter because I've been so busy this week. I wrote most of this on the train, so I hope it's okay.
I'm not sure, but I think it might be a little shorter than the others. I might come back later to sort that out. Or, knowing me, I'll just leave it.
Another point, there's a character in one of the previous chapters who I named Tania. I realised recently how similar that name is to Tina, so I changed it. Tania is now Kya, and I have changed that in the previous chapters now too.
I think that's it for this author's note now (it's so much longer than I intended it to be, I'm sorry) so enjoy the chapter, and don't forget to vote if you did c:
Not Luke, Ezra or Conor cared about being discreet when getting back into Dalacine the next day. In fact, they had just said "screw it" and walked in through the main entrance.
"Where the hell have you lot been?" The receptionist, Jess, exclaimed.
They all looked ridiculous with yesterday's clothes on, creased and possibly stained, and tired faces. Somehow, Ezra noticed, Conor almost looked more comfortable - in a messy, homeless drug addict kind of way - with his hair even further over his eyes than usual.
"Out," Conor grinned, leaning on the desk. It may have looked casual, but it was more out of exhaustion, since he hadn't slept in days.
Jess rolled her eyes. "I'm not even going to ask how you got out."
"Oh, it's easy. You get really into your solitaire games sometimes." It wasn't even surprising how easily the lie slipped from Conor's mouth. He made it sound completely natural. Luke knew that if he hadn't been there when they slid down the side of the building, he would have believed Conor too.
Jess turned slightly pink before telling them to go where they were supposed to be before she reported them. Conor laughed because even Jess knew that reporting them would do nothing to prevent it happening again. No one at Dalacine really cared whether the patients got out. The only time they'd really try to prevent it is if someone threatened it with legal matters.
It was funny to watch each other try to drag themselves up the stairs, clinging onto the banister in an attempt to stay upright. They ended in a sort of group hug, laughing and cheering as they finally got to the top. They seemed drunk, but they were really just exhausted.
Ezra didn't even wait to get to her room before pretty much collapsing in the corridor. She leaned against the wall, deciding that she could just sleep there.
"Ra Ra," Luke laughed, "You can't just sleep in the hallway."
Ezra didn't reply.
"Okay, she's either asleep or ignoring you," Conor grinned.
"She wouldn't ignore me," Luke joked, "She loves me too much to do that."
They both burst out laughing as Ezra held up her middle finger at Luke.
"Rude," Luke said, nudging her with his foot playfully.
Ezra winked.
Once they'd all managed to pool together some energy to move again, it was easy to get into Ezra's room. Conor didn't really know why Luke and Ezra were that tired since they weren't the ones who has been kept awake the whole night (plus a few nights before that), but he didn't really feel like questioning it.
The truth was that Luke was the only one out of the three who had actually got any sleep, and even then he'd only managed to catch a few hours. Ezra had been pretending to sleep because she didn't want to draw any attention to the fact that she couldn't sleep anywhere that wasn't her own bed. It had taken her weeks just to get used to nights at Dalacine, so she could only hope that sleeping on Jake's living room floor was not going to be a regular thing.
