Todd had never considered himself a jealous person. Sure, he'd been overshadowed by his older brother his entire life, but he never felt particularly envious—at least not for long. Yeah, there was a whole lot of pressure, but he wasn't really interested in becoming Welton alumni. He didn't want it.

But with Guest—oh, how he wanted Guest. Envy had become a regular occurrence for him: an annoying stirring in his gut and an irrational buzzing in his brain. He couldn't stand watching Guest talk to the other boys. Charlie was far more charming than he would ever be, Neil seemed to be effortlessly funny and upbeat. Todd couldn't do that. He couldn't make Guest laugh or smile or—

That brings him to now. The two of them were in their shared dorm, Todd sat criss cross, scribbling in his book while Guest sat next to him—he couldn't help but be grateful that Guest was his roommate and not somebody else's— Guest was talking to him about his day, offhandedly mentioning something funny that Knox had said earlier. For some Godforsaken reason, this was Todd's final straw.

"Can you just shut up already?" He snaps, scribbling angrily in his notebook.

"I-I don't care about what Knox said, or–or whatever. You're talking to me right now, not him."