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  Septembris 1

  Homeroom is immediately a blur.

  When first walking i feels as if a thousand eyes have suddenly focused on me. Silently, boys of every nature cease their versation to analyze "the newer."

  Overwhelmed with fear, I watch them watch me, possibly finding every feminine bone in my body, and stand at the door like a deer caught in headlights. The teacher walks up to the entrand has to practically drag me to the front.

  After a quick look at my face he judges that he isn't going to get a respo of me, so he decides to do my introdu himself.

  "Everyone, wele to your third year at St. Reginald's Academy! This is Damien D'Alembert. You might nnize him from your earlier years, but that's because he's a raudent from Valorian Academy. Treat him well," My homeroom teacher finishes with a bright smile.

  The eyes finally relent after their curiosity is satiated and everyone goes back to their chatter. The cold chills slowly leave my skin and I quietly go up the steps to the back of the . It had beehan an hour since school had begun a I felt so incredibly in over my head.

  What's the punishment for dressing up as your deceased brother, faking admission into an all-male school, and disgrag your family? Surely, a price I 't bear.

  In the back row, I sit in silewiddle my fingers, and avoid eye tact with anyone who tries to make it. Taking deep breaths calm my body despite the anxious thoughts swarming my mind.

  Csses begin tomorrow so we are expected to sit and socialize for five hours before lunch. A fate that I never realized was torturous in real life when seeming so easy in novels.

  Every attempt made by a boy to break the ice with me is met with a dead stare until they finally feel intimidated enough to give up. But eventually new people stop filing into the and the time for lunch finally approaches. As the bell's chimes tear through the ughter, to me it feels as if the end of homeroom couldn't have e any sooner.

  Leaving the dreaded room in the crowd, I finally find myself with a moment to breathe from my worries. At the very least, I'd be able to feel slightly more fortable if I saw someone I k lunch. Lucas could fit that bill even though I had only met him this m.

  Something about him was somewhat calming.

  Yet as I follow the crowd and approach the lun I learn that finding Lucas isn't going to be as easy a task as I had first assumed.

  I step into the cafeteria and it feels as if every siudent at the school has been gathered into one spot. There are blurs of boys all in the same uniform chattering and ughing without trol.

  I stand before the heavy double doors in shod the statistics start to fly through my mind.

  'Hoeople attend St. Reginald's Academy? Two thousa hundred, I believe. Evenly split which means that there are about seven hundred boys per grade level...'

  But even then, St. Reginald's has a student popution that is siderably less than most public schools. Those schools could sometimes sport a popution of over ten thousand with a property only half the size of this academy. But, you never really know hoeople two thousa hundred are until you're sitting in a room with all of them.

  I immediately uand that finding Lucas in this mess is a pipe dream and wandering the bustling cafeteria aimlessly in an attempt to find him will only exacerbate my ao unimaginable highs.

  Instead of going through that torture, I decide that I'll set up shop at the least-poputed table I find. Gingerly stepping around the room, I s the area with fervor. But it only takes a moment of searg to find one loable in a dark er that's tucked away from the serving area.

  With a breath of relief I trot up to the table, sit doce my satchel down. With a fident smile, I stand up to grab food, but ing back with a tray of stewed vegetables in my hands, I g my chosen table to find that my satchel has disappeared. In fact, the deserted table has been repced with something far worse. And as dread causes my lip to tremble, I now know why this table seemed so empty.

  It wasn't anyone's for the taking.

  Standing before me now is a man so tall he casts a shadow over me. My eyes lock with his, but despite the fear, my habits 't help but begin to dissect everything about him.

  Number o's easy to tell that he is substantially taller than Lucas, maybe 6'5? His head dons fiery red hair that's midnight bck at the roots. Underh his bushy eyebrows are ebony eyes so dark that I could see my own refle in his gre. To top it off, he boasts a heavy-weight body; his frame is pletely built with muscles from top to bottom so much so that his uniform seems to be struggling to hold his frame. Shirt fred, cuffs rolled up, and bzer popped; I felt bad for the cotton pnts that died in order to tain him.

  This man is frightening to others, very much so. I tell by the tension in the air. The intimidating aura he gives off as he scowls at me is so great that people turn to stare.

  But as I finish my examination, the fear I felt at the start begins to melt away by the pound. And very quickly to me, he suddenly seems like a normal man albeit rge.

  When I was a child, I used to be afraid of everything... mice, bugs, birds. But as I grew under Father's watchful eye and discipline, soon I learhat most phobias were ungrouhe mouse was just livi looking for food, shelter, and water as was I. It would soon bee a meal for something else.

  Ah... is the great equalizer.

  After one particur day I saw a mouse in a er scurrying away, and I wasn't scared anymore. What use is fear when we're all living until we die anyway?

  Today, the only two things I fear most in the world is my sex being revealed which would ruin Father's name, and the celr.

  I stare unwaveringly at the brute in front of me.

  "Hello, sir. May I please have my bag back?" I ask, quietly.

  First, he stares at me dumbfouhen, his face turns red as he erupts with ughter.

  "Are you for real? 'Sir?' Do you not know who I am?"

  We begin attrag more eyes as he raises his voice.

  "Should I?" I reply, curiously.

  The lun goes silent as gasps involuntarily escape from various mouths. His eyes narrow at me.

  But before he gives his answer, we're suddenly interrupted by Lucas, "Hey, hey, hey, Leive Damien a break. He's new here."

  "We don't have anyone 'new.' That's not a thing." Lerowls. "Unless he's a freshman, then this child is disrespeg me."

  "He ted te," Lucas admits.

  "Oh..." Leonard says as he bends down to my eye-level. An aggressive hand is pced on top of my head and he squeezes it firmly, "so he failed the first time he took the exam? He's a reject, huh?" He ughs. "How much money did Daddy have to shell out to get you in here?"

  I avert my eyes.

  "I'll see you around, reject, but if you care about not having your face smeared across the pavement, keep your nose down."

  The brute named Leonard sits down at the secluded table with his friends.

  Lucas exasperatedly drags me away as he looks back multiple times to make sure that Leonard doesn't ge his mind and kill us while our backs are turned, "You're a handful! You know that, Damien? A real handful!"

  "I apologize..." I say, feeling embarrassed for having brought Lucas out of his way.

  Irritated, he turns around and rubs his head before looking at me sympathetically and sighing.

  "No, apologizing... Yood, Damien."

  Taking my lunch from the table and my satchel from the floor, Lucas leads me to his own table where he seats me dowo him with the rest of his friends.

  "I guess this orientation is going to take lohan a day. From now on you're with me until you're fully settled in, Damien," Lucas smiles.

  I cede with a short smile back.

  'I wasn't in any danger... It's not logical for Leonard to attack me or he risks being kicked out of school. So why did Lucas feel the o step in?"

  I watch Lucas i with his friends with a bright grin on his face.

  'But I guess having a person to rely on wouldn't be a bad thing this early on. He'll grow tired of me soon enough, so there's o fret."

  The other boys seem drawn to his energy. Apparently, Lucas is the captain of St. Reginald's baseball team although he's only a junior. Quietly him once again, I determihat he makes food captain. His physique is definitely one of a toned, seasoned, athlete and the way he moves exudes a type of fidehat 't be imitated.

  "Luke, roommate assigs just came out!" A friend of his calls out, waving his pager in the air.

  He gnces over to his own with his mouth full, "Oh nice! I got Cyrus and Dorian again!"

  The other men roll their eyes.

  "I feel like you're the only person who's kept their freshman roommates for three years straight. That's insanely lucky."

  Lucas taps his nose knowingly, "I guess it's just meant to be. I'm going to nationals with those fools this year."

  The table begins to chuckle.

  I stare at the boy's pager curiously as the boy awkwardly backs up.

  "Luke... what's his problem?"

  Lucas g me, signaling with a smile for me to speak.

  "Dorms?" I question.

  His eyes light up. "Oh, that's what you want to know! So basically, there are four dorm areas ohird and fourth floors. North, South, West, a. East are for the freshma are for the sophomores. North for the juniors and South for the seniors, but the seniors take up the entire fourth floie's believes in 'diverse experiences' so typically every year you get a random roll on who your roommates will be. Luckily, I've gotten the same two people for three years straight now."

  His friends roll his eyes at that to which he snarkily mocks their whining.

  "We got our room numbers a week ago, but notices just came out on the names of our roommates this year. After lunch, everyone's going to move their things in."

  "I'm telling you, Damien. Lucas has an iing retionship with Old Man Ambrose," The boy says as he juts his thumb out at Lucas.

  Lucas puhe boy's arm as he rolls his eyes and the eable erupts in ughter.

  I watch the warm se lightly. It's a pleasant dispy to see, but my eyes feel heavy and my body gets tired as time passes. Pushing the vegetables around my pte with my fork I start to dream of my bed in a way I never had before. Although it has only been a few hours sihe day began, the sweet release of sleep only seems to be getting more and more entig.

  But talking with Lucas' friend group goes by fast and as soon as lunch is over I'm led back to the Northern Quadrant of the dorms.

  "Are you sure you don't need help?" he asks once again.

  I shake my head.

  "Hm... remember, I'm at 302, okay?" Lucas repeats once more before he's about to walk off.

  I nod.

  With a short wave he leaves and I'm left in front of my dorm room alone. Room 315. The people I will be living with are behind these doors and they will be the most important people to vihat I am Damien.

  Taking in a sharp breath, I tuck my worries away and walk in. As I open the door my eyes are met with two familiar faces. Or at the very least, familiar hairstyles.

  It was the blonde boy and the silver-haired boy that had nearly run me over earlier when I was with Lucas. They seem tnize me too and both of them train their eyes on me.

  "So you're the third, huh?" the blonde speaks monotonously.

  I nod and frantically think baother's instrus on what to say wheing new people.

  "H-hello. My name is Damien D'Alembert. It's a pleasure to meet you. What is your na-" "D'Alembert?"

  I get cut off in the middle of my sentence by the pale, silver-haired boy. He approaches me, staring me up and down and I feel like a bug under a microscope. Did he see something in me? Was my cover blown?

  "That is insane..." he approaches hanging on my shoulder with a smirk.

  "Don't ynize me, Damien? It's Finn," The silver-haired boy ughs tapping my cheek with his finger.

  My hands begin to dampen once again. As I had feared... here I am running into one of Damien's thousands of friends.

  "...Hello, Finn. It's good to see you...?" I mumble hoping my tone didn't give away my fusion.

  "Ah, two years you already fot your bestest friend, huh? How was Valorian Academy? Must have sucked knowing that I got intie's instead of you?"

  He pushes me, stig out his tongue and suddenly it clicks.

  Finn... Finn was Damien's rival ba sedary school. He was the sed-best student under Damien and graduated as salutatorian. From the eating er, I remember hearing Damien grumble about Finn's near obsession with trying to overe him all the time.

  "Ah..." I mumble. "Hello, Finn."

  His cold blue eyes stare back at me for a sed longer before he breaks eye tact.

  "I guess two years apart has ged you, Damien...." Finn whines before draping himself over me. "Did you gh reverse puberty? How did you get shorter?"

  I don't reply as he talks, but instead focus my eyes on the blonde.

  The boy isn't too tall, only a few inches above me, but his face is uional. It almost has a mencholy feel to it as greeare silently at his pager.

  Peripherally notig my gaze, his eyes flicker up. I look to the side, but I feel his burning eyes b a hole into my head before I finally sense him turning away.

  Finn and switches the subjeto him, "That's Sebastian! He's a little quiet, but don't mind him. He's actually the best run-away buddy for pranks. We just put superglue on the seats at the leftmost table of the lun and stole some of the good chocote cake that they were saving for the new freshman. You should've seen those freshies' pants rip wheood up! It was gold, Damien!"

  My mind fshes back to when they ran past me and the blonde named Sebastian fshed a "sorry" sign.

  I hear him grumble under his breath at Finn's passive story retelling a, I still notice bright jade eyes flickeriween his pager and me. Before Finn tihere's suddenly a loud crash outside seemingly a few doors down.

  "Aaaaand that's the other shoe dropping. Hey, hey, hey, Damien, that sounds like Old Man Ambrose is looking for me. I gotta dash, see you both ter tonight!" Finn says as he bolts out of the room.

  Looking out the window, I see the Septembris sun has finally fis rounds before beginning to set.

  I did it... I survived.... And finally I find myself with a moment to breathe.

  Colpsing on my bunk I y eyes a out a sigh of relief as my body sinks into the soft mattress.

  "Hey," a voies snappi of my rest.

  I gnce over to see Sebastian staring at me.

  "Yes?" I mumble.

  He watches me closely.

  "Aren't you a girl?"