Drake Mauri Quellen's Story

Noctrem’s former headmaster was about as keen on early mornings as most of his students. Less so, perhaps. If he hadn’t been billeting himself at the same motel as the kids, there wouldn’t have been a shot in Hell of him getting aboard the coach bus he’d hired to transport them to Arcana. He’d probably have still been in his apartment, asleep, if that were the case. He would have liked to have slept through the entire day, if he could have. Maybe the entire year. Maybe the rest of his life. Cain, he reminded himself, We’ve been over this. What you’re describing is basically suicide.

He had been in rare form for the days leading up to the move. Yes, on a rational, adult level he understood that this was a good thing. That in the most technical sense, Leo was doing him a solid allowing his misfits and miscreants to take up semi-permanent (Oh Gods he hoped it was only semi-permanent) residence at his ostentatious school. Until Noctrem was rebuilt, it was a much better option than any of the others that they’d manage to come up with, even if it was slowly withering his soul away. He hated the idea of owing Leonardo Marinos anything other than a beatdown that was hundreds of years behind schedule. He was repulsed by not having utter control over the school, never mind his classroom.

He’d taken the front, rightmost seat of the bus. A pair of dark aviators hid his bloodshot eyes from the students as they clambered aboard, and he was sipping often from a metallic thermos of… let’s call it coffee. It was at least half coffee, so, that would work. His cheeks were lined with salt-and-pepper stubble, and his hair was getting long. Too long. He needed to get it cut, he noted, as he ran a hand through it. When the bus finally rolled to a stop in front of Arcana, he rose solemnly and turned to address his students.

The pause that he waited was significant enough that they might have been expecting some sort of big speech, if they weren’t all aware of his undying hatred for big speeches. Instead, he took a gulp from his “coffee” and, with his sunglasses still in place, nodded. ”Give ‘em Hell, kids. It’s your school now too.” He swung around and slunk off the bus, lighting a cigarette the instant he crossed the threshold. Many of the students would be able to get ahead of him, since he was walking slowly and chainsmoking. He left a breadcrumb trail of three crumpled cigarette butts to lead the slower ones to the entrance doors, having used the first to light the second and the second to light the third. Reeking of smoke, he made his way in, not bothering to remove his sunglasses once he was inside.

He saw a few kids already gathered around the list and ambled up himself, perverse curiosity drawing him to see what sort of arrangements Leo’s lackwits had made. When he laid eyes on it, he did finally remove his glasses, just to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. He let out a bark of laughter. ”Oh, this is fucking priceless.” His morning grumpiness and general surliness had been replaced by a Christmas morning grin. He dragged out his phone, stabbing his finger at the screen and starting a text message, only using one hand (which isn’t to say he was good at it- nope, it was laughably clumsy). He then used the option to attach a picture that Jade had shown him just after showing him how to download stupid games, and took several seconds to snap a photo that had the list legibly in frame. He hit send.

A second or so later, Leonardo Marinos would receive the following text message:

u r such a tool.
<Insert Picture of List Here>

Looking extremely self-satisfied, Cain stowed his phone, laughing again in his harsh, guttural way. He took another long gulp of his spiked coffee, not to give him strength this time, but in celebration. This, he decided, might actually be interesting. Give ‘em Hell indeed. Smirking, he sauntered off to find some breakfast.

---

”Wouldn’t it be like… totally awesome if we end up roommates? I mean, like, how cool would that be, haha?”

Colby grinned toothily over at Landon as they made their way down the hallway. The speedster brimmed over with excitement even on the most everyday sort of day, but this was something special. Something big. Nothing so big had happened since the Noctrem kids showed up in the first place after their school burned down. He’d always been an early riser (at least, if he hadn’t partied the night before), and was already bright-eyed and alert, ready to carpe the diem.

He’d turned up at his best buddies room as planned, dressed in a pair of clean jeans and a pristine white polo shirt, and simply let himself in. Modesty was fairly pointless between the two of them, so he’d dragged the covers off of Landon and chattered away a mile a minute while the other boy got ready. He’d speculated wildly about who they might have wound up rooming with. As far as they knew, Arcana students would be boarding together, and so he’d been crossing his fingers in hopes of landing Landon as his roomie. Easier quickies aside, he couldn’t imagine anyone else at the school he would rather have shared space with. They got along so well that there wouldn’t be any problems.

”I guess Izzy wouldn’t be so bad either,” he proclaimed with a wicked grin. Colby also harbored a secret, stupid little hope that, somehow, a clerical error or shortage of beds would result in him sharing a room with their headmaster. He’d related as much to Landon, in his room, and easily dodged the pillow that his friend had chucked at his face. ”I’d totally dig rooming with Izzy. Haha, Izzy is so cute.” Colby’s thoughts often tended to emerge from his mouth in a rapid stream-of-consciousness.

”I just hope it isn’t Jaysin. He’d probably like, pin me down and strangle me in my sleep.” Judging by the way Colby’s eyes glazed over, he was very likely imagining a few of Jaysin pinning him down and doing something else entirely. He shook his head, so quickly that it seemed a flesh-and-hair colored blur, then delved into his pocket for one of his high-protein breakfast bars. He usually put down about three of them every morning in addition to breakfast in order to keep his infernally fast metabolism sated. On his lazy days he ended up burning through 10,000 calories; most days, it was more in the vicinity of 15,000.

He bit into the bar, still walking along with Landon, who was no doubt fighting to get a word in edgewise, like always. Colby eyed Cain Montgomery suspiciously as the man headed past them, chewing his energy bar laboriously. When they were about thirty feet away, though, with Noctrem students flocking around the announcement, he grinned a chocolate stained smile at Landon and then… vanished. It seemed that way at least. If it weren’t for the gust that kicked up behind him, he might as well have. He was only gone for about two seconds. He blurred into the midst of the Noctrem kids, scanned the list until he found his name, frowned, took another bite of his breakfast bar, and then blurred back over to Landon to resume their walk at a more normal pace.

”Who the fuck is Drakethrean?” He asked, his brow knit up in not-at-all unfamiliar confusion. ”Did we get a new kid? I wonder if he’s hot, haha.” How the Hell was he supposed to remember a weird-ass name like that? He’d practically already forgotten it. He’d also forgotten, in typical self-absorbed fashion, to see who Landon was rooming with. Of course, he knew who Drake was. If the stupid paper had just said that, he would only have been confused by the fact that he was from Noctrem. Not recognizing his full name only compounded his lack of comprehension.

As he and Landon closed in on the group of students, he began looking for Sky. He finished unwrapping his energy bar and then ate it at super-speed, chewing and swallowing so quickly that the thing basically disappeared. He ran his tongue along his teeth in similar fashion to clean them off, then turned a bright smile on Landon. ”I’m not all like, chocolate mouth, right?” He glanced away, seeking out his best friend from Noctrem once more. His hair was very recognizable; the best hair in the school, really, so Colby looked for that. Colby had been jealous of Sky’s hair since day one. Even the most rigorous styling products didn’t hold up to moving at just shy of 400 M.P.H., so Colby was forced to wear his own hair short. Such a drag.

Sitting in the bus, Drake felt like he was about to burst and he had no idea why. Today, of all days he’d scurried off to sit by himself in the bus. He’d noticed a lot of the others; his sister and Erin for instance, probably both hung-over from drinking the alcohol most of them thought he didn’t know they’d snatched. Of course Cor knew he always kept tabs on his alcohol. Those were fucking expensive drops, and a lot of the chicks liked to mix it with soda. If you wanted to mix alcohol with soda, you should buy the cheap cat-piss and leave his 20-years whiskey alone. Of course he had trouble getting through to his sister who drank like there was no tomorrow. He doubted she even enjoyed the taste of it. Just, down it goes and yay, drunkness. He sank deeper into his seat, sighing at the softness. He didn’t really have reservations about stayed at Arcana, that was fine, really, except he felt like it meant they’d never have a Noctrem again. Probably not while he still studied, anyway. Then again, he had like half a year or something left and that was only because he’d chosen to stay longer. Ah, the joys of being 19.

As the bus pulled to a stop and the announcement rang out that they were there, followed to Cain making his own kind of ‘speech’, Drake smiled wryly. It was really more of an encouragement to wreak havoc on the school then a welcome. You had to love it. This was, at the very least, going to be entertaining. He couldn’t even imagine the shit that’d go down the first week. He smiled to himself, waiting until the worst throng of people had scurried out the vehicle until he hopped down the small stairs, landing on solid ground. Much better. Maybe his unease came from driving. He hated driving when he wasn’t behind the wheel himself. Which, yes, had made this last week hell for. Especially if he hadn’t had his coffee in the morning. He took his bag from the driver who was grumbling by now. Drake just grinned at him. “Hey, at least it’s the last time you have to drive these crazy fuckers.” And with that he made his way over to the Academy’s front doors, which was where he spotted Addie with her back to him. Perfect.

Drake quietly made his way over to the gorgeous brunette, silently putting down his bag to snake his arms around her. “Morning, gorgeous,” he whispered, chuckling. His lips were right by her ear, his warm breath on her skin. “Nervous?” He then added, his voice normal again as he straightened, still holding her, and snatched her cigarette to have a drag, letting the nicotine smooth out the last bits of unease from the drive. There, much better. He let the smoke slip out through his lips. “You drink my alcohol, I smoke you cigarettes.” He merely added as an explanation. Of course he would’ve snagged it anyway, but hey. He glanced inside the reception and raised an eyebrow when he saw his sister laughing. What the hell was so funny about roommates? He’d decided to wait until the worst of the crowd had had their look and then stalk in there like a boss, but now he found himself growing curious. He took another drag of Addie’s cigarette as he mulled it over. Should he give in to temptation or not. Nah… he was quite content here. Besides, he didn’t really give a shit who his roommate was going to be. Didn’t really pay it much mind. He’d see soon enough, anyways.

McKenna had woke up at four am and had taken a long walk through the woods. She resided outside the school, listening to nature as it awoke from its peaceful night slumber. But something else gets in the way of her enjoying natures sounds when she hears a bus screech and she sighs, the Noctrem students had arrived... A pit grew in McKenna's stomach and she began to feel extremely nervous. She didn't feel like being bullied, or pushed around... The Noctrem students scared her. Especially the girl students. They were like Mean Girls, on steroids... McKenna folds up her notebook, placing it in her bag and heading towards the cafeteria, she needed some food in her stomach. But something stopped her, the roommate listing. Some of the Noctrem, and also Arcana students had already begun to find their roommates, some pleased, others weren't.

"Do I dare look at it?" She asks herself, and bustles her way towards the front with Excuse me, Pardon me...

Her heart drops when she sees the name in bold print next to hers:

Room Five: McKenna Marinos and Jade Locke.

Oh dear... McKenna's eyes widen with terror and she backs up a bit, walking quickly to the cafeteria. Swinging open the cafeteria doors she begins to pile her plate with food -- for McKenna was a bit of a stress eater.

Four pancakes, three sausage links, a muffin, a bowl of fruit, and a cup of tea.

McKenna took her food outside and sat outside underneath a tree. She begins to eat and sighs, she pulls out the picture from the back of her notebook -- it was paper clipped to the very back page -- and unfolds it, the corners were slightly torn, the creases were worn in. She traced her mothers face with her finger, and then stared at the man, happily smiling, arms wrapped around her and she feels her smile fade a bit.

But she had almost no doubts in her mind that it was him... Her father... Maybe Aunt Lily had sent her here for that particular reason. She shakes her head, placing the picture down on her sketch pad and took a sip of her tea.

Maybe she should just keep this a secret for now... Everyone in Arcana was talking about it though, for the most part... Or at least had put some thought into it. She couldn't do that today though...Maybe later... Maybe never...

---

Addi was lost in thought when arms snaked around her waist and Drake's voice made its way to her conscious.

"Mornin' gorgeous," She heard him chuckle and she gives a small smirk, not even turning.

"Well, good morning to you, Drake."

"Nervous?" He asks, his warm breath dances across her neck and she got a little bit of chills, but she shook her head anyway.

Nervous? Of course she wasn't.... Okay, maybe a little. But the crush was juvenile. She knew he was just only curious, never consider dating her to say the least. She'd wanted Drake in her bed since sophomore year... Of course, her and Cor had already become close friends and had a few heavy petting scandals, so having heavy relations with both of the Quellen siblings might be a bit strange.

Without warning, Drake then snatched the cigarette from her, and took a long drag, claiming that since she drank his booze, he had the right to smoke her cigarettes. She chuckles softly, shaking her head, a few pieces of hair falling in her face. She plucks the cigarette from his hands as he took the second drag.

"Didn't mama ever tell you smoking was bad for your health?" She asks, her eyes floating to the side as she turns her head a slight bit towards his, a smirk flickers onto her lips. With a small wiggle of her hips she unlatches herself from Drake's grip and smiles at him with a small wink.

"I'll see ya around, Quellen." She grabs her luggage and flicks the butt of her cigarette then proceeds to walk inside to check the roommate schedule.

She clicks her tongue out of annoyance, "What is this bullshit?" She asks, "They're mixing us with those..." She shakes her head, not even finishing her sentence.

Ellie Carson.

The girl who could read minds. Fuck that... She lets out a sigh, she needed food, and coffee before she could possibly take on the day with all of Leo's brainwashed Goodies.

Life in a motel was not pleasant. It was quite far from it, especially when one was rooming by ones self and had no line of defense from a group of begrudging young women. Lulu Allen was a girl of few friends and many enemies, though she had never intended to wrong so many people. The blond woke to silence, the air thick and muggy as her room’s air conditioner had been broken intentionally the week they had moved in by Cor Quellen. She’d called it a welcoming gift, wandering off to room with her brother. Lulu had dealt with it. No matter how much the motel’s repairmen tried to fix it, the thing wouldn’t turn on. If it did, it blasted hot air, making her room even more unbearable. The heat had left her with little more option than to sleep in her underwear with a bucket of ice at close hand to try and cool off. On the hotter nights she’d gone without much sleep, taking to a routine she had long perfected at Noctrem. Mild insomnia would have her wander the school, make her way to the cafeteria’s kitchens where luck would have it that the chef du jour left her something edible. If things went right at Noctrem, Lulu would run into her former hallmate Drake. In the motel, however, the Quellen boy was rarely seen. If they were in class together, Lulu resigned to staying away from him and if anything doing all that she could to blend in and avoid the brewing fight that seemed to be coming.

It was a joy to know that the motel would no longer be their place of residence. Lulu’s face could not hide her relief as she hauled a black duffel bag on her shoulder to the bus line-up. She held a paper coffee cup in her hand and kept her head low, a dull thud prodding her temples. Having pushed her powers in the past two weeks – both in helping or harming those who cared to bug her on top of her lessons and private sessions – left her feeling hungover when she hadn’t had a drop to drink in weeks. Maybe I should, she thought lowly. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tucked her chin and watched as Cor stood near the front of the lineup to board a coach bus out. When they boarded, Lulu sat herself at the front across from Cain, pulling the hood of her black sweater over her hair and leaning her head into the window beside her, if only to drift the few minutes it took for them to arrive at Arcana. The routine was near perfected at that point. If she sat at the front, no shit would happen. Her eyes danced over Cain’s slumped figure. She didn’t need to ask about the disposable cup in his hands. She knew it was his morning concoction and she wished she could steal it for herself before she moved, closed her eyes, and kept her backpack close to her. Six weeks of little to no sleep had her struggling to stay awake.

Cain’s booming voice had her startle and wake up. "Give ‘em Hell, kids. It’s your school now too!” he cheered, his voice raspy and yet authoritative. She’d always liked it. Lulu smiled weakly at her mentor before standing and hauling herself out the steps to the curb. The school was impressive, the white marble practically sparkling for their arrival. Lulu moved to collect her bag before something happened to it, standing out of the way from Cor and Erin who moved closely together. Keeping her eyes on the ground she nearly ran into Drake as he paused to take a cigarette from Addison. Lulu watched as he leaned into the brunette’s ear, whispering sweet words before standing tall and proud while she processed his comments. When he stepped back her shoulder knocked into his and Lulu allowed herself to slid sideways, her feet arranging themselves to catch her. Swinging her bag around to her other shoulder, Lulu flushed and kept walking. It wasn’t until she was in the main foyer that she turned to look over her shoulder at him. Shaking her head at the display, she focused on in the billboard listing roommates. Her eyes scanned the list behind the shoulders of a few others. Lulu didn’t care to notice who they were, only to note where she was headed.

Room Fifteen: Alli Jackson and Luly Allen

What smile she possessed disappeared. They couldn’t even manage to spell her name right. Lulu frowned and clenched her teeth, shaking her head and turning away. It seemed like a joke, especially with how often people belittled her since arriving and her name had shown up on all the class lists as Talulah.

Being at Arcana had been a hard sell to her parents. When the fire had happened, Lulu had been immediately confronted by her mother who would rather she attend a public school in Washington over attend the ‘goody-goody’ school. It has taken a week of arguing before she’d finally won them over, telling her parents both that she wanted to stay and that Cain was still working with her and they were making progress. Of course, now she had to prove that she was making progress which meant pushing herself on little to no sleep and thus feeling as she did then – ready to throw up in a bucket, curl up in a ball, and pray she could find some peace.

As she prepared to turn away from the listing, Lulu turned back to look at it again. She spotted Drake’s name close to the top of the list, his room far beyond hers. Disappointment laced her features momentarily before she moved, hauling her bag and removing her cell phone from her bag to fire a message off to the one person who may be excited that she was finally there.

Jack, looks like we’re here to stay. Room 15 for me. Where are you? - Lulu <3

Kali Rickerson

Kali woke up to her alarm blaring at 6:15 am so she had enough time to take a run, she got dressed in one of her white t-shirts and a pair of black jogging shorts. She went downstairs and outside, it was still early so she didn’t meet anyone on her way out. She stretched for a few minutes before she started her light jog around the school. She was near the end of making it around the building once, her breathing was a bit heavy but she needed to go at least once more around the school, it was what she did every morning so she would stay in shape.

When she was coming to the front of the school she slowed down to a light jog as she saw the Noctrem students coming off the bus. She kept on going until she saw Drake, her thoughts started going as she thought of Drake, with his dark hair…hot body, she let out a sigh. As she got lost in thought she lost her balance tripping right behind Drake “shit” she said out loud, quickly got up and ran off before anyone could say anything to her. Once she made it around to the other side of the building she stopped taking a few breaths “Damnit Kali get it together, you can’t keep doing that whenever you are near him” she thought to herself then looked down to her knees, which now where bleeding. She brushed her knees off and took a few breaths before she continued on jogging though a little bit slower because the fall to the knees.

She knew the roommate list was up but she wasn’t too interested in it, she knew she would meet whoever her roommate was soon enough. She really didn’t have anything against the Noctrem students, yeah some of them can be assholes but she just ignores it. She doesn’t waist her breath on the ones that don’t pay attention to her. She was wondering who her friends got for roommates though, she was hoping one of them would be her roommate but knowing her luck it probably wasn’t going to happen. She just hoped it was someone that like to have a good time, and not always drinking.

She jogged to the back of the school, stopping for a few minutes to catch her breath, she looked around and saw someone sitting by a tree. She jogged a little closer and saw that it was Kenna. She ran quicker over to the girl and smiled “Hey Kenna” she said as she got closer but then noticed the girl looking at what seemed to be a picture. “Oh do you want to be alone? I just saw you over here alone…and wanted to say hi. Oh do you know who you roommate is yet?” she asked deciding to sit down, if Kenna did decided to be alone she would get up and leave. She understood how sometimes there is times that you just wanted to be alone to think. She looked down at her knees, seeing the scrapes she brushed them again with her hands trying to get the blood off them.

Working on Jade now.

Leo couldn't stop himself from smiling as the beautiful woman next to him rose up from underneath the duvet, baring her naked body to him without a care. "Good morning." He spoke, letting himself being pushed back down onto the bed, Amy leaning over the top of him. He couldn't say that he disliked the view in front of him, and for a brief moment, the male felt himself being taken back to the night before, where the woman had been practically in this position, her breasts bare and bouncing, the first time they had made love... He was however quickly brought back into the present, when the stunning woman spoke to him, asking him about sleep. "Not true. I slept a little last night, just... not as much as I probably should have." He smiled gently, bringing up his left hand to delicately brush away a strand of hair that was falling in front of her face. He had never been so happy before, never been in a position like this where he had cared about someone so much that he let them sleep next to him in his bed. Amy was the first woman that he had loved in two and a half thousand years, and he couldn't be happier about that fact.

He let his hand cup her cheek softly as she kissed him, smiling against her lips. Every little touch between them sparked electricity into the males hands, his lips, his heart. However, then, he watched her smile disappear, and he instantly knew that something was wrong. Something that she was going to tell him, and something that he was not going to like. Leo shifted slightly in the bed, raising himself up so that his head was resting against the headboard, her lips working on his jaw. He, however, didn't enjoy it as much as he should have. Instead, he was a little worried as to what Amy was going to say, and he could see that same feeling mimicked in her own eyes.

Yup, he didn't like what she had to say at all. The male closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath as she began to speak about their relationship again. She just didn't understand; she didn't get his need to abide by all rules, and especially his own. How would he look in front of Cain, in front of everyone, when they found out that he was breaking his own rules. Leo shook his head, moving out of his position from underneath her, exiting the bed. "Really Amy?" He asked her, an exasperated tone taking over his voice. "You want to do this right now? After an amazing night, and before one of the most stressful days of my life in millenniums? Really?" He took up his mobile phone from the side, angrily pressing in the buttons, his fingers missing the keys every now and again. He really wasn't the most techno-savvy person in the world, and it took him a moment to find the send button, sending his text back to Cain.

You sir, are a grammatically challenged braggard. Yes, I know about the mistake, and I don't like it any more than you do.

Leo put his phone down on the side, and moved over to the main telephone in his room, the one that if when he pressed in a number of buttons, he was able to speak over the tannoys around the school. [u]"All students, please note that there is an assembly being held at ten o'clock in the main hall. Non-attendance will result in an immediate detention, and a loss of free periods."[/s] Then, he slammed the phone back down into it's holder, turning back to face Amy. "Look, we've got to get ready. We'll talk about this later." He sighed, before making his way into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

---

[font=georgia]Erin had woken up with a bright smile on her face, unlike most of the other Noctrem students that morning. She was happy that they were leaving that god-damned motel, and moving into the Arcana Academy, a place they had been going to study for the past month or so anyway. She had no feelings about the "life long battle" or whatever that was supposed to be going on between the two academies, she didn't care about it at all. In fact, she had no qualms with any of the Arcana kids, minus ones that had offended her since her schooling life there had begun - she disliked more of the Noctrem students than those from Arcana. There was one thing on the girl's mind that morning, one thing that had the smile stuck on her face for all the world to see - and that was Keirol Rancora. The one boy who had ever wriggled his way into her heart, settling himself there for the rest of time.

As she stood there, looking into the mirror, the girl took in her appearance. The one thing that caught her eye however, was the glistening sword necklace around her neck - the one that Keirol had given her a few days prior. Her hand came up to aimlessly play with the pendant, turning it around in her fingers. The smile on her face was that of a girl in love, her eyes glazing over slightly as she went back in time to that moment on the hill. A sigh escaped her lips as she day-dreamed, still turning the locket over in her fingers. Then, a banging on her door broke her out of the trance, the girl snapping her head up quickly.

The quick movement had jolted Erin out of her daze, and into the reality of pain. Her head was throbbing as she walked towards the door, rubbing at her temple softly to try and rid herself of the drink-induced headache. Of course, Cor had been the one who had gotten her drunk, the one who had literally forced her to down her brother's bottle of vodka, despite the fact she despised the drink. She took in a few deep breaths before opening the door, before the whirlwind began. Cor had been there to shift her into gear, and within in the minute, the two girls were downstairs, shoving their bags into the bus and sitting down next to each other.

The bus journey to Arcana Academy had been another blur for Erin, letting her head loll softly on top of Cor's, slipping in and out of sleep. The headache was progressively getting worse, and somewhere deep down, she felt like slapping her best friend for forcing her to letting her drink so much. Soon, the bus was pulling to a stop, and the two girls were exiting, hand in hand, being one of the first to collect their bags. No-one really messed with Cor, and Erin was guilty due to association. She chuckled at the sarcasm in Cor's voice as they walked into the school, taking in a deep breath. She moved away from her blonde best friend, her eyes glancing over at the crowds of people beginning to swarm the reception. She was hoping to see Keirol, to pick him out of the crowd, but he didn't seem to be there. She spotted the speedy guy coming in to check the board, Colby, she believed his name was, and she witnessed the sickening sitaution between Drake and Addison. The girl physically grimaced as she looked upon the scene, before Cor's voice again hit her ears. Addi deserves so much better. She thought to herself, before turning around to see what had gotten her friend so het up.

There was a defnite reason, all right. As Erin's eyes scanned the list of roommates in front of her, her expression turned quizical, before turning angry. She wasn't "angry angry", but she was definitely irritated. "What the fuck?" She repeated Cor's words, her mouth hanging open slightly as she realized that the two schools had been mixed. "We're not rooming together? Well, this just turns everything on it's fucking head, doesn't it?" She sighed loudly. When she found her name, and saw that she was rooming with Loralei Evans, the gypsy girl, she shrugged. "I don't mind. It's better than say... rooming with darling little Lulu or sickly sweet Ashleigh." Erin forced a laugh, but it soon turned to a real one when she saw who Jay was rooming with. "Oh, c'mon, it's not that bad." She put her arm around her friend's shoulders, sarcasm lacing every word that escaped her lips. "Come on, they may even... become friends?" Then, the girl burst out laughing, turning to apologize to her friend "Oh, I'm sorry Cor. That's just... oh, that's going to make your life fun." She grinned.

"So," Erin spoke, the grin once again evident on her face, turning to face Cor, "what shall we do until this stupid assembly?"

---

Tears fell softly onto the bed as Jackson stood there, holding his precious baby daughter in his hands. She was the most beautiful thing that he had ever seen, the one thing that shined so brightly in his life. Holly Millicent Murphy, a little girl with a head of soft brunette locks, and the most beautiful blue eyes in the entirety of the world, inherited from her mother. Jack slowly looked up, looking over at his girlfriend, smiling with largest smile ever at her. She looked so weak, so tired, but so beautiful. He moved over to sit next to her, holding Holly in one arm, and wrapping his other around Beth. The two of them looked down at the life they had created, their smiles never falling from their faces.

However, the scene soon changed. The room turned dark, and Jackson snapped his head up, the smile falling from his face, wondering what was going on. He wasn't in the hospital any more, he was in Beth's bedroom, still in that same position, his arm wrapped around Beth, however, Holly was in her arms this time. Tears were falling down his face, but he couldn't move his lips to ask her what was wrong. He knew something bad was going to happen, something terrible, but he just couldn't think as to what it could be. Then, his daughter stopped moving. She turned a horrible shade of grey, loosing all colour in her skin, but Jackson couldn't move. All he could hear was Beth screaming, tears falling down his own face landing on his daughter's pale face. They were then in a car, him holding Holly. She was cold, and she wasn't moving; all Jack wanted to do was to touch his daughter properly, to hold her close, hug her and kiss her, but he just couldn't move. He couldn't do anything as they arrived at the hospital, and Holly was taken out of his arms. The same word was then repeated over and over again, resounding in the male's ears.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead!

Jack's eyes snapped open, and he flung up in his bed. His breath was hard and ragged, his heart pounding at a thousand miles an hour. He hadn't had a dream about Holly and Beth for a number of months, and it took him a moment to realize why his past was coming back to haunt him once again. Beth Phillips was now a student here, or had been for the past month - and he hadn't noticed. He had only wondered about her being a student at Arcana when he had heard her name floating around in the corridors. He couldn't believe that she was here, coming back into his life, in such a place as his school. It wasn't as if he didn't want her here... well, that might not be in the case. He didn't want his ex girlfriend, and the mother of his dead child here... but there was absolutely nothing that he could do about it, was there?

He spent a maximum of ten minutes in the shower, letting the warm water wash away all of the sweat and worries from his dream. It didn't take him long to get dressed or ready either, wearing this plain, yet smart outfit, smelling like his favourite cologne, his hair styled in his usual damp mess. He wasn't much of a conformer, but he had decided to go down to the reception hall anyways this morning, to look at the roommate list that had been posted up. Just after he had left his room, he received a text. Pulling out his iPhone, Jack checked his messages, smiling as he saw Lulu's name appearing. The male made his way down to the reception hall, instantly spotting the blonde that had been his best friend through the hardest times in his life.

Instead of going to check his new roommate, he made a beeline for Lulu, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind, a bright smile on his face as he pressed his lips to her hair, a soft, friendly peck. "I'm here." He grinned, moving so that he was now standing in front of her, pulling her into a proper hug this time[u]. "It's great to see you again, Lu."

When Erin made a comment about the rooms being mixed, Cor smiled wryly, “damn right it does,” she noted, shaking her head. She raised an eyebrow when Erin merely shrugged at rooming with Lora. “Fuck that,” she said, rolling her eyes, “she’s a little Marinos-puppet and you know it.” In truth, maybe she hated Lora primarily because she’d spotted Jay’s clone practically following her around at times, and she didn’t like how his attention was wandering so much. It wasn’t just gypsy girl, it was others too. Even Addie, Jade and Bells. Her friends. And she’d damn well noted some looks back. It bothered her more than anything, but as long as it was no more than looking, she could deal. Sort of. What she couldn’t take, was his relationship with Freya. Friends? Fine. Kissing? Not so fine, and then he had the nerve to ask her to fucking trust him. She hadn’t had a chance to talk it over with him much yesterday, because he’d distracted her with sex… a lot. She’d skipped English as usual and met up with Jay, but this time it had been more than a quick fuck somewhere.

This time she’d finally been in his room. He’d told her how much he loved her, how much he wanted her. Told her she was the only one he wanted an he’d made love to her in a bed for the first time in over two years. Then they’d left the grounds for lunch and, well… the day had passed with just the two of them, wrapped up in each other. He still wanted her to drop her fuck-buddies, but she wasn’t giving him anything serious until she knew she could trust him. Back at Arcana, Jay had only had eyes for her. He’d never even looking at others with want like he did now. Now, however, he was still with his girlfriend while fucking Cor and flirting with others. ”What can I do to prove that you can trust me, Cor?” he’d asked as she was on his lap yesterday, but she hadn’t answered him. Today she was cursing herself, thinking she should have told him to prove that he could be with her alone. No sideways glances. She knew he wasn’t the Jay she’d dated, but she hated that this particular side of him had changed because she still loved him.

She shook out of her metaphorically Jay-induced coma when she saw who he was rooming with and made a comment. It was just too hilarious. Bells chose that moment to stop by and Cor grinned at her, “oh, you know… rooms.” She said in reply to her friend’s words. Then turned to look at Erin again. Her comments made Cor laugh and she shook her head, “sure, and then the moon fell from the sky and they lived happily ever after,” she finished the ‘story’ her friend was weaving. She smiled wryly shaking her head when Erin apologized. “Oh, fuck this. They’re going to kill each other.” That when Sky’s comment reached and she whirled around with a mischievous smile on her lips. “Have a look,” she told him, still laughing, and she only laughed harder at his reaction, Spanish mixing with his words. “Oh, baby, it’s not that bad. Erin was just telling me how you two might bond over this.” At the comment, she only laughed harder. Sky added a “whatever” and walked away. She called out, “don’t forget to give him a big hug, love!” She smirked.

Then Leo’s voice rang out over speakers, and Cor rolled her eyes. As if you’re going to do anything if I don’t show, you fucking pussy, she thought to herself, smirking visibly. Pussy, oh, wasn’t that ironic. She blinked a couple of times when Erin spoke, then shrugged, grinning. “You know, I think we need a guide. I don’t want to carry these suitcases around all day, and I don’t suppose Kei’s up as he’s not getting a roommate, sooo… walk with me? I’ll just bet you Jay the Jerk isn’t up yet either, but he’s going to be. On that note, I have a shitload of info for you.” She said as she began walking, knowing that Erin would tag along. “Remember how I texted you that I wasn’t riding the bus with you guys? And I wasn’t home until 8:30 pm and all? Well, I was with him.” She couldn’t keep the happiness out of her voice. Jay made her heart beat faster. He was the only guy who had and would ever have power over her.

Cor headed for the second floor, riding the elevator with Erin, “it was a fucking weird day, if you ask me,” she said, shaking her head at the memories, “mostly because it wasn’t just sex.” She glanced at her friend, smiling wryly, “yeah, I know… it’s pretty crazy.” She laughed a little. She and Jay had been strictly “fuck and leave” until yesterday, and she hadn’t had a chance to be alone with Erin really until now so she hadn’t relayed any of the new information. “He’s such a fucking asshole, and I don’t trust him for shit… but he’s still got me.” She turned her eyes skyward. “And I have no clue in hell how I feel about it.” With that, the ping of the elevator signaled that they could exit on the second floor, so Cor hurried out, looking around her. These halls would be swarming with people in a little bit and she didn’t want to risk anyone hearing her talk about having feelings for a guy. Jay was a weakness.

Soon, they reached the door Cor knew belonged to Jay (at least she’d found that out yesterday), and she knocked, pondering if she should just barge in there, but she didn’t really want Erin possibly seeing Jay naked, which was so fucking ridiculous. “Baby?” She called merely, knowing he’d recognize her voice.

---

Drake turned his head when someone bumped into him, smiling when he noticed Lulu. However, the smile turned into a slight frown as she scurried off without a word in his direction. It was so weird. Ever since Noctrem had burned down, he and Lulu had been sliding further and further apart, like something was causing a distance now that they were no longer able to have their nightly talks. He missed them a little, honestly. He missed Lulu’s company when he couldn’t sleep in the night. The way she’d poke her head out and tell him to go back to his room with a glass of milk. Really, it had become more of a greeting than a wish on her part after a little while; after he’d refused enough times. Of course, he couldn’t just refuse either, so he’d begun asking her to join him, and she had. The evening ritual had gone on for whoever knew how long before Noctrem burned. Now he was more or less alone in the night. He didn’t much mind solitary, really, but he’d rather have her company than not.

Thinking about it, maybe she was avoiding him because of the girls; his sister mostly, probably. Cor was a force to be reckoned with; Drake knew that better than anyone, and if accompanied by her bitch squad, as he liked to call them – in his mind, she was even worse. Back-up was not something one should issue to psychopaths. Not much long after, he heard a ”shit” from behind and glanced over to see Kali. He grinned but she too was running off before he got a chance to say anything. He was starting to feel like he smelled or something, what with everyone fleeing his presence. Geez. Or maybe it was just sort of amusing. Okay, it was very amusing. Mostly because he knew why. How could he take it personally? Everyone knew he was great, and he was positive he’d used cologne this morning, anyway. He was drawn back into reality when Addie shook her head and he grinned. “Of course you are,” he said. “You’d be in there looking at roommates if you didn’t have to calm your nerves with a smoke.” He teased. Of course he couldn’t be sure, but he thought Addie might’ve misunderstood his question. Oh well.

When Addie commented on him smoking, Drake laughed. “My ‘mama’ practically tossed them at me. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she wanted me to die sooner.” Of course no one at the Academy actually knew how strained his relationship with his parents was, but he’d never felt the need to tell them either, so it wasn’t public knowledge. He knew Cor wasn’t going to tell people. Not because she respected his right to tell that stuff himself. Oh no, Cor just liked it better when people considered him more of a mystery. At least he thought that was why. What the hell did he know? His sister was a fucking mess. Image was one thing, among many, he’d never really cared about, as oppose to his blonde baby sis. His eyes took a round of the area he was in and spotted Erin looking at him and Addie, making a face. He chuckled, winking at her. It was completely ridiculous, really. She fucked him more often than most of the girls he had ‘intimate relations’ with, yet she didn’t think he was good enough for any of her friends. Good thing he wasn’t really interested in dating any of them. He just liked sex, and flirting. But most of all he liked the company of women. What was so wrong about that? He didn’t need to have sex with them to like talking to them, or just looking at them, really.

Drake let go of Addie when he felt her wiggling out of his embrace, shot her a wry smile in reply to her ‘goodbye’, and watched her ass as she walked inside. He wasn’t a pervert as such. He just recognized good craftsmanship, really, and her parents had done wonderfully, he had to admit. Kudos to them. Then he smiled to himself and picked up his big duffel bag, mulling over his options now. He could go check out the list of roommates, annoy his sister a little and maybe find something (or someone) interesting to do, but eh… he wasn’t much in the mood. He did want to lose the bag though, so he supposed he’d have to go inside sooner or later. His eyes ran over the people already there. Maybe he could locate Lulu and get her alone. He was sick of his sister scaring people off. Or maybe just sick of her scaring Lulu specifically away. Of course Lulu only had herself to blame for Cor’s open hostility towards her, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t hang out? Since when did Cor have anything to say about the people he associated with? In reality, he liked being around people she didn’t like, just to tic her off.

Then again, he didn’t want to get Lulu into more trouble. Very few people were as targeted by Cor as Lulu. Actually, he was fairly certain Lulu was the only girl hated by every single one of Cor’s bitches. That was a first, and he couldn’t help being a little impressed with her. Not a lot of girls had the guts to. He shook his head, scratching the back of his neck. Why did he even give a shit? That’s when he spotted Lora and noted that his sister and Erin had skipped off to wherever. Destination decided. Drake made his way inside, easily slipping through the crowd despite his size and his bag. He paused by the list of rooms and raised an eyebrow. Noctrem/Arcana rooming? His face lit into an amused, mischievous grin, his mood improving immediately. Well this changed the game entirely – and made it all the more entertaining. He chuckled to himself when he saw that he’d be living with Colby, but the laugh died down when he noticed they’d used his full name. Seriously? He was pretty sure he hadn’t told anyone at Arcana his full name. Ah, bugger. He hated his name. Shaking off the slight irritation, Drake moved through the next line of people and headed for Lora.

He made his way over just as Leo’s announcement rang out – which he more or less ignored – , and wrapped her in a tight hug, grinning down at her. “Did you grow taller since yesterday?” He teased her. It had become a joke since she’d grown so much since he’d last befriended her in Harrogate, a couple of months before his going to Noctrem, and since they’d started going to school at Arcana, they’d more or less re-established that friendship. With a fuck-load of attraction on top of it. For once, however, Drake was fighting his womanizing tendencies. Lora was one girl who was going to stay just a friend. He’d decided that much. No fucking this up. Excuse the pun.

* Amy will be added in a bit. =D

Jessica was glad that Morgan had returned the hug; they had only known each other for a month, but Morgan was friendly to her and she seemed like a good laugh, even if she was from Arcana. Jess suspected she was going to get on very well with the Noctrem lot simply because she enjoyed a good party.

She was also glad that Morgan was almost as excited as she was about them becoming room mates. She didn't seem the slightest bit nervous, which was a good thing. A pang of worry hit Jess as Morgan led them to her room What if I'm mean to her when I'm angry? Jess decided she'd try not to be, at all costs. Even if it meant going to find Drake or one of the wind merchants around here. She couldn't hurt the friends she'd made here. At least not intentionally.

Morgan's room had the distinct 'lived in' feel that made Jess smile. She was glad that Morgan wasn't an OCD type. That would have driven her insane. 'I believe we're going to get along just fine dear.' She told her new roomie, as she plonked her stuff down on th- her bed. The room itself was plain but also quite light and airy. To match the students Jess thought comically, smiling at the thought. She was awestruck by the idea she now had a double bed o herself. It was almost a god send after spending so long in that crappy motel.

She saw Morgan smile at her phone as it buzzed with a message, and send a reply back. Jess wondered briefly who it was from. A crush perhaps? But she didn't dwell on it too long. Morgan would tell her in time, she assumed as she began to unpack her things.
Her attention was immediately brought crashing back down to earth when Morgan starting asking about her crushes, and was sat there expectantly waiting for an answer, promising gossip from Ali if she told her. The look of shock that had just entered the young woman face quickly turned into a small smile of disbelief.

'Oh Mo, can I call you that?' She asked quizzically before continuing ' You're so eager for information!' She sighed in mock exasperation before smiling again. 'I wouldn't say I have crushes, just... people I'm really close to.' She smiled wickedly as she put her socks in one of the draws and looked back at Mo. She studied the girl for a second. Her smile was there and she seemed eager... but there was something in her eyes that didn't seem quite right...she didn't seem totally happy.

Mr Marino's voice came over the speakers, making Jess jump out of her skin a little. Apparently there was going to be an assembly. Well that was going to go extremely well. Jess sighed exasperately 'Marino's really does think this is going to work, huh?' She stated to her room mate whilst hanging her clothes up in the closet next to her bed, 'Silly man.' She added.

Jess's mind wandered to Mckenna, her best friend. She hadn't seen her in the reception hall on the arrival. Jess was pretty sure that she would have known about it if Mckenna was around. She'd have been defiantly wrestled to the floor by now. She quickly whipped out her phone, holding it in one hand whilst absent mindedly holiding her tooth brush in other and sent her a quick text.

Hey smellybum! Was pretty disappointed that I didn't get glomped on my way into the school! :p Hope you're okay! Assembly's at ten, I'll see you there? Jess xx

Smiling at the thought of getting a reply from her best friend; Jess headed for the bathroom to put her tooth brush down.



Ashy waited expectantly in the reception area for Freya to arrive. She didn't have anything bad to say about the pairing she decided, Freya was nice enough and Ashy could have done a whole lot worse.

Finally, Freya's blonde hair bobbed over the crowd. Ashy stood back. She decided that she would wait for Freya to come to her, so as to seem too eager to the girl from Noctrem. She saw that Freya was on her phone, Properly making arrangements Ashy thought to herself. She wasn't surprised. The Noctrem lot where known partiers and it wouldn't be a total shock if they wreaked some havoc on the first night that they stayed here.

Ashy smiled as Freya told her it was good to see her. The girl had a way with conversation, Ashy had to give her that.
'it's good to see you too fre-' She started before Scott appeared out of nowhere and kissed Freya square on the lips. Well this was awkward. Ashy scanned the room to see who else had arrived. Is he here yet? She thought to herself, thinking about Ben. The only guy in the entire world that she was happy to listen to for hours and hours on end. She enjoyed his singing and she most certainly enjoyed his quirky side. She gave a small smile at the thought.

Ashy's train of thought was quickly interrupted by Scott breaking his kiss from Freya and addressing the two of them. 'Erm... see you later Scott' She said quietly, shuffling her feet awkwardly and feeling significantly like a third wheel. Suddenly, Ashy felt arms being snaked around her and heard Zac's excited voice coming from behind her. She turned around to face him, a mock disgruntled look on her face.

'You know it's very rude to butt into a conversation' She said, smiling at him before turning back to Freya. 'Zac, you remember Freya? we're roomates now' She told one the other closest guys her life, before he quickly told her he had to go and rushed off. Leaving Ashy smiling stupidly after him, he made her laugh in a way only a few people had, it was quite refreshing.

She turned back to Freya 'Sorry about him, he's a lunatic... especially when he's with me' She said shyly, before continuing, 'So um, assembly's soon, did you want to show to your room now or later?'

Noctrem’s ex-headmaster was still looking delightedly smug when his phone vibrated. He finished off the last of his Irish coffee as he pulled the device from his pocket and toggled to his messages. Reading Leo’s reply, he snorted and began composing as he walked toward the cafeteria.

It’s “braggart”, you anachronistic ponce.

He slid his phone away, suspecting there would be no further texts from their illustrious headmaster that morning. He was frankly amazed that Leo had given him his phone number in the first place. It took all the fun out of getting his hands on it unconventionally and then prank-calling him, sadly.

He headed into the cafeteria fully intending to breeze in and out before there was a chance of his getting caught up in any trifling conversations. He grabbed a large blueberry muffin, an orange, and after surveying his options for a few more seconds, several pieces of bacon wrapped in some napkins. He wasn’t staying in the large eating area; that would have been like an invitation for people to intrude on his rare good mood and ruin it with their tedious comings and goings. Juggling the food items that he’d selected so far a bit, he managed to twist the top of his travel mug off. He refilled it, leaving about two ounces unaccounted for, and didn’t bother adding cream or sugar.

The orange went into one of his pockets, along with the bacon. The muffin seemed like it might explode into crumbs with the slightest provocation, so he wasn’t taking any chances. He beat a hasty retreat, quick-stepping out of the caf and then turning to head toward the classroom he made use of for Power Control. He was still very sore that Leo hadn’t managed to provide him with his own office, and as such was completely boycotting the “teacher’s workroom”, which might as well have had cubicles and Scott Adams cartoons to complete its utter lack of charm.

If he passed by any students on his escape, he had a perfectly crafted scowl at the ready for derailing any attempts at socialization. He needed solitude, so that he could think. The implications of the students being mixed were staggering. He had to wonder if Leo really had known about the list. If he had, why hadn’t he done anything to change it? It would have taken Cain all of ten seconds to correct the error. Did the immortal actually want the kids mixed? He had to, at least subconsciously. Otherwise he would have been unable to rationalize leaving it as it was. He apparently had time to exchange snarky texts, so he obviously had time to hand-write out a bunch of pairs of brats.

He shifted his coffee into the crook of his arm and fumbled in his non-food-carrying pocket for his keys. He kept the classroom locked for a variety of reasons, not least of which was the bottle of Maker’s Mark that he kept in his desk. He wouldn’t have put it past the little bastards to steal it, but really, half of them could have gotten into a locked room and a locked desk anyway. Oh well. As long as it was still there, he wouldn’t have to launch an inquisition.

He kept the lights off, preferring dimness, and used his hidden bottle of booze to top off his coffee before securing it in the drawer once more. He laid out his breakfast on the large desk, unwrapping the bacon and chewing on a piece as he pulled open yet another drawer. This one contained weeks and weeks worth of trash tabloid and celebrity magazines, and after rifling through them, he selected a copy of Life & Style.

Leaning back in his seat, he kicked his feet up on the desk. His pant legs rode up a little bit, exposing the clunky looking monitoring device that was affixed with some sort of space-age strapping to his left ankle. Eyeing the blinking green light on it crossly, he shifted so that his food was in reach and flipped open to a random page in the trashy magazine. He’d alternate between bits of this or that and sips of coffee, saving the messy orange for last, and read about Katy Perry and John Mayer. An announcement from Leo about an assembly intruded on his not-so-guilty pleasure, and he sighed, eyeing the clock on the wall.

---

He’s not new, just drop the ‘ethrean’.

Landon’s explanation helped not at all. It really only made matters worse. The exact spelling of the name he’d seen next to his had already slipped away from him, and he had to wonder, briefly, if Landon had gone nerd on him and started speaking in some kind of weird Middle Earth language. Drop the ethrean, drop the ethrean. He repeated the phrase over and over in his mind.

The riddle went unsolved. Landon had taken it upon himself to fix up Colby’s lips, wiping at the corner of the speedster’s mouth with a saliva-wet thumb. Colby didn’t mind at all. Landon’s saliva was very familiar to him, and he secretly enjoyed the way his ex-boyfriend/bestie was always looking out for him, motherly or otherwise. He wound up blinking when Landon just wandered off toward the list. Only then did it occur to him that he could have checked to see who was rooming with Lando, or Sky. Oh well, he’d figure it out eventually. Landon’s just abandoning him didn’t bother him; he’d actually been doing that more and more lately, but nothing had changed when they did hang out, so he wasn’t worried. Whenever he asked Landon where he’d gone off to, the response was always running, which… whatever, really. Just because he didn’t have any secrets didn’t mean his friends weren’t entitled to them.

Speaking of Sky, there he was. He was looking for… oh, him! Their eyes would wind up meeting, and there was another blast of displaced air as he sped on over to the shorter boy, wearing a big dopey grin as he came to a halt. He held his hands out, a silent offer to help the pyrokinetic sex-pot with his luggage. About, oh, a second or so later he just dove into conversation.

”Did you see who you’re staying with yet? I’m so totally bummed it’s not me, but like, at least we’re in the same place now, haha. I think my roommate is like, an elf or something. Drakka-whatever. Seriously, it’s like… something out of the Lord of the Rings, haha.” It should be noted that Colby didn’t really have an “inside voice”, and that Drake might very well have heard Redline’s assessment of his name if he happened to be passing by or within, say, twenty feet? Sky would, of course, have difficulty getting even a syllable in until Colby was finished. ”Hopefully neither of us get stuck with prudes. Drake-whatever- OH! DRAKE! Wait. He’s from Noctrem. Why am I roomed with someone from Noctrem? Ugh, his sister is such a bitch-skank. Well, he’s hot at least.” He started looking around for the shadow-manipulator. ”I bet-“

Sky would never find out what Colby would have bet. The announcement came over the loudspeaker. Mr. Marinos’ voice never failed to captivate Colby, and he fell silent (which almost never happened) to listen to the message. News of a mandatory assembly completely disrupted his frenetic train of thought. His idol and crush sounded pissed. Maybe the roommate thing was some kind of mistake, and they’d straighten it out at the assembly? That gave him a little hope for scoring a more preferred roomie, but when his mind went back to the living arrangements, he renewed his verbal assault on Sky.

”We should get you settled in and stuff, haha. Maybe there’ll be time to head back to my room.” His eyebrows waggled; Sky probably already knew what heading to Colby’s room meant, but the eyebrow waggling would erase any doubts. His gaze panned over the students who were buzzing around the roommate list and he spotted Landon again, standing all by himself, like he was waiting for a bus or something. ”Dude!” he called, but then stopped. What if Sky and Landon were roommates? He was somewhat aware of some hints of jealousy, mostly from Sky, regarding the two of them. For some reason, he got a really weird, bad feeling in his chest when he considered the two of them sharing living arrangements. They were both so different, but he cared about each of them way more than he was capable of expressing with his limited vocabulary and discomfort when it came to emotions.

It would all work out, he decided. It always did. They were both just friends anyway. Nothing to worry about, right? Besides, Sky had no right to be jealous. He was having sex with like, one out of every five girls in the school, it seemed like. Colby’s nose scrunched up as he thought of that. He’d grossed himself out. Shaking his head, he realized he’d kind of just been standing there not saying anything and blinked, trying to catch up with whatever Sky had started saying to him.

---

He heard quick-moving footsteps behind him and tensed; it was only Zac, false alarm. He arched a skeptical eyebrow at the other boy when he laughed and made light of the enormous duffel bag. It really was heavy. The strap of it was cutting very painfully into his shoulder, and he had brief thoughts of tossing it to him. The duffel, nearly as tall as he was and packed with everything that Theo owned, probably would have slammed Zac into the wall. That urge passed pretty quickly; instead he just shrugged, and nodded once they reached their room.

Of course, upon entering, he realized that it was actually Zac’s room. He was just a going to be taking up the extra bed. His eyes fell on the stand of drums and some arcane muscle in his left cheek, an inch or so below his eye, began to twitch. Perhaps Zac was not the best roommate after all. There were very few things that Theo could tolerate less than amateur musicians, and his understanding of that particular subculture was that drummers were the worst of the lot. His lips pressed together into an extremely thin smile as his eyes neatly quartered off the room, inspecting every inch of it. The muscle-spasm stopped a few seconds after it started, when the announcement about the assembly came on and he dutifully listened to it. He respected Marinos, the teacher, not the girl, and was curious enough about what the convocation would entail that his facial tic died away. When it was over and Zac said his piece, Theo said a single word: ”Thanks”.

He’d let Zac decide what precisely he was thanking him for. It could ostensibly be showing him to the room (which he could have found on his own). Or it could have been accepting him into the room (which he actually had no choice about). It could even have been for clearance to do what he wanted (Zac would not have liked what he wanted to do very much at all). Theo wasn’t really thanking him for anything. He was possessed of no gratitude whatsoever, at least in his current situation, but it seemed like the socially appropriate thing to say. He liked Zac well enough, but that had been when they’d only shared a few classes. Being thrust into living together would no doubt change things, but it would be better if they could get along. It wouldn’t be easy, but Theo actually did want them to have an amicable relationship, if only because anything else would probably have involved even more effort on his part.

”See you later,” he added as an afterthought when Zac took off to eat. He would, after all. It was inevitable. He’d see this boy every single day for the rest of his time at Arcana. He definitely needed to work a little harder at not disliking him as much as the drums made him want to.

He heaved his duffel onto the newer looking of the two beds, which he presumed was his. He’d contemplated heaving it into the drum kit instead, but… that would have been very noisy and troublesome, however satisfying. Rubbing at his shoulder, he moved to close and lock the door, and then settled his backpack down on the desk that was opposite his bed. He returned to the duffel bag and fought to unzip it. He’d brought all his cunning and organizational skills to bear on fitting every single article of clothing, book, and other miscellaneous item that he owned into the thing, and it was just a solid, tubular mass after being hung off his shoulder for the walk. He tugged and jerked until he’d finally managed to get the duffel open. He proceeded to somewhat solemnly pull out the neatly folded shirts, pants, and shorts, spreading them out in tidy piles on the mattress in order to decide how best to store them. Some wound up in drawers, others on hangers. It didn’t take very long, mostly because he’d managed to maintain some semblance of order with his insanely methodical packing process.

Socks and boxers wound up in his top drawer, the former balled into pairs and the latter neatly folded in half. Unlike many teenage boys, Theo did not own a single pair of comically printed underwear. His were all solid colors and extremely unflattering. He only had two extra pairs of shoes, some rundown sneakers and a pair of nice shoes that Scott had bought him for his last birthday that he’d never actually had occasion to wear. Those went on the floor of the closet.

Next came electronics. He settled his laptop on the desk and plugged in his power strip, then went about connecting a few wires. Beside that was the most expensive thing he’d ever actually bought himself: a 22 inch flat screen monitor, which he used for watching movies. He connected the single cable that would allow the video feed to transmit to the larger, high definition screen, and then set up the pair of decent-but-unremarkable speakers he’d obtained for the same purpose. Last of all were his clunky, noise-cancelling headphones. He was going to really value that descriptor by the end of the week, he realized.

He booted up the computer, his fingers flashing over the keys with terrifying speed to check his email and start up a few torrents. Hatchet 2, The Cabin in the Woods[i], and [i]Martha Marcy May Marlene. He liked having options, and by the end of the day, he suspected he’d very much need to unwind with some horror. His thoughts strayed briefly to Jade, to Drake, to Jaysin. Maybe if he was feeling sociable he’d see if one or more of them wanted to join him. Or maybe he could bond with Zac over a scary movie. They could argue about the schlockiness of Hatchet 2 easily enough, or the meta-horror-comedy elements of The Cabin in the Woods. Maybe that would be the key to their successful cohabitation: arguing. He did enjoy taking Zac on in Philosophy.

Once his downloads were underway he finished up. There were his school books and supplies, which found their ways to shelves or drawers respectively. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, the book he was slowly working his way through when he didn’t just feel like dreaming, ended up on his night stand, along with his very basic alarm clock and the charger for his phone. He plugged both in, checked his phone in order to set the blinking red 12:00 12:00 12:00 of the alarm clock to the current time. After that, there was nothing more to do than roll up the empty duffel bag and stow it in the closet.

He didn’t have any truly personal effects. Some of the content of his laptop’s hardrive might qualify, but that was as close as he came. No posters, no knick-knacks or tchotchkes, no photographs framed or otherwise. If it weren’t for his desk and school books, Zac might have wandered in later and thought Theo had decided to move into a broom closet instead. There was absolutely nothing he owned that would give any insight into who he was save for the single pair of shoes that he’d probably never wear. Even then, the meaning behind them would probably be lost on anyone who thought to question their existence. Everything else was utilitarian in nature, things that he used every day.

Unpacking hadn’t taken him very long at all. He hazarded a glance toward the locked door of the room. Did he want to go get breakfast too? Trying to recall the last time he’d eaten proved as useless as ever. His naps and dreaming made time blur together, and so he resorted to patting his flat stomach to see how angry it seemed with him. Mildly, it turned out. He forged a quick plan: light breakfast, running, a quick shower, and then the assembly. He pulled open the drawer he’d assigned his athletic wear too and briskly changed into a pair of meshy black shorts and a white tanktop, which he pulled his t-shirt back over. He trod to the closet, switching out his school sneakers for his running sneakers, and stooped to lace them up tight. He gave one last look around the room, then headed out.

Sighing, he unlocked the door and made his way into the hall, then toward the cafeteria.

Kali Rickerson

Kali sat there, smiling when Kenna said she could stay. She fiddled with her hair as she sat there and noticed Kenna shudder when the girl answered her question about the roommates "Dear, God. When I found out my who my roommate was I almost passed out with fear. It's Jade, y'know Jade Locke? How bout you?"

Kali shook her head “Yeah I know who Jade is….if she causes problems you can always come chill in my room. Oh and guess what I just did…I pretty much tripped and face planted right by Drake when I was running…I don’t know what it is about him that gets to me” she sighed a little then continued to answer Kenna’s question “I don’t know who my roommate is, I just hope its no one that is a party animal..but most of them are. But eh I will have to check who it is soon, I have to take a shower soon I just got done my run and I am sort of sweaty” she laughed and leaned back against her arms on the grass. She loved it outside and wished she could be outside all the time.

"Hey are you, okay?" Kali looked up when she heard Lil’s voice and smiled to her “Hey Lil hows it going?” she then looked to Kenna when the girl started talking again.
"We're just talking about our roommates. I can't believe they're mixing us in with the Noctrem students... That's going to be a devastating disaster and a half... I like using my room to study, not to be a empty trash can for beer bottles and other things. I just would hate to see the poor chick rooming with that Cor girl... Goodness..."

Kali still couldn’t believe the mix up of noctrem and Arcana students..where they wanting this to turn into world war three? “Lets just say this year is going to be interesting…and I have a feeling we are going to see more fights here then we ever had here. I don’t mind the Noctrem students…yeah they are bitchy and party animals but all we can really do is go with the flow. And for the bitch squad I just stay out of their path. This is how things are going to be now. We just let them do their thing and we do ours. Anyways….” she then noticed Kenna get a text and that reminded her she still needed to find L and Eden. While Kenna was texting she decided to quickly send both of them a text.

Pulling out her phone she quickly typed out a text to L:

L! Wake up! Where are ya girl! N and A students are rooming together.

After she sent that text she quickly wrote another though this time to Eden:

Hey you. Where are you? Are you awake?

After she was done texting her two friends she looked up to Kenna and saw the thoughtful look in her face “what are you thinking Kenna?” and just as she asked she heard the girl answer her "Maybe we could talk to Mr. Marinos about the rooming arrangements, ya? He'll understand all the issues that goes along with us rooming with the Noctrem students... Right?"

“Erm maybe though not so sure…I mean this is Mr. Marinos where talking about…he musta did this for a reason or something. What that reason is I don’t freaken have a clue…but it better be a good one.”

To say that she wasAn arm was thrown across her shoulder and Addi smirks when she hears her best friend's -- Jade-- voice.

"Hey there sexy... We ready to raise a little hell?"

Addi lets out a bark of a laugh, "Hey baby," She winks, wrapping her free arm around Jade's waist and she takes a long drag of her cigarette, offering it to Jade, as she exhales slowly, "And a little!? Shit, it will be raining fire soon, Hell won't even begin to cover what we're doing this goddamn school."

Addi liked Jade, she could joke around and have fun with her. They had become good friends ever since they both made it onto campus. Jade and Addison were like a package deal for the most part, you could always bet one was close to the other. Cain learned to live with that after a bit, if Addi got sent to the office, Jade would come too. And vise versa. They practically were conjoined by the hip. For the most part. Though, they never roomed together, they would probably kill each other if they did that. For as much as Addison loved Jade, sometimes best friends needed to be smacked around a bit too.

"Wasn't it your idea to drink our weight's worth in alcohol last night? If so, I'm shunning you."

Addi turned her, blinking, giving the epitome of an innocent face, lips pursed into a perfect, soft 'O' and eyes blinking, "What? Me, drink? Jade, how could you think I would do such a thing? Alcohol kills your liver, sweetie and intervenes with thinking clearly."

Her innocent face fades and smirks a bit. Of course, it was Cor's idea to steal Drake's booze and drink the shit out of themselves. Addi just kind of agreed and went along with it. Luckily, Addison didn't get hangovers like she used to, she'd learned to cope, by drinking more in the morning. It normally made her feel better. You could say Addison was relevant to a functioning addict. She could down a bottle of vodka and still be able to have a decent head on her shoulders, even if black out drunk.

"So...should we head in through the gates of hell now? Or...wait it out and push off our impending, completely undeserved punishment until later?"

A devilish smirk flashes across Addi's face and she places a bag of weed in Jade's hand, "I was thinking of jammin' on a Jerry before we head to the assembly. Take a walk, smoke a J, come back for the assembly blazed up... Make things a bit more interesting... Hmm?" She raises an eyebrow towards Jade with a smirk. Jade was her smoking buddy for the most part, and they always had the best weed in the school. Sometimes even Cain would take some for himself.

Which was funny, in a way, the guy was a teenager wearing his forties badly. Addison smirks, flicking the ashes of her cigarette and giving Jade's waist a bit of a squeeze.

"Should we go find the girls?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

Cor smirked when Jay called out from his room. He was probably in the shower, the idiot. She glanced at Erin and was just about to say something when she caught sight of a guy heading their way, looking at them like they were somewhere they weren’t supposed to be. She recognized him as someone Jay hung around with a lot, but she couldn’t remember ever being told his name. So when he greeted her with hers, she raised both eyebrows, looking him over thoughtfully. He was a handsome one – actually, he was hot as hell. It seemed she wasn’t the only one who had a knack for making hot friends. She gestured towards her best friend. “That’s Erin. Who the hell are you?” Her voice held a harsh edge. She didn’t like it when people knew her without her knowing them. There was something creepy about it, and she honestly couldn’t say she was a fan. She felt like he was holding the cards and she despised it, especially as he then invited them into Jay’s room. Who the fuck was this guy?

She moved to lean against the doorframe casually, watching the guy with an assessing, cold look in her eyes. It was pretty much how she regarded any new person she met, and probably why she had so few friends. Or maybe that was because she disliked more people than she liked, but hey, now that she thought of it, maybe it was because she was such a bitch to people. Hm, yeah, the latter was probably the major reason here, and she couldn’t honestly say that she gave much of a shit. If they couldn’t handle the flames, they simply shouldn’t start the fire. Or… wait, was that not more appropriate for Sky? Probably. She mulled it over. Why hadn’t she ever thought of this before? One could say that Cor’s thoughts weren’t really on Killian, even though her eyes looked like she was staring him down intently. She didn’t really care. As long as he wasn’t going to get in the way, he could do whatever the hell he wanted.

When he commented on her and Jay, however, Cor was brought back down to earth and she frowned, narrowing her eyes at the guy in front of her. “Does he now?” she said thoughtfully and a bit coldly, obviously not taking it in a very positive fashion. Apparently he was closer to Jay than she’d thought which merely made her wonder why she hadn’t been introduced to him yet. Obviously it was also bullshit. The only one Jay was going steady with was his girlfriend, Kate, and though Cor hated that fact, she dealt with it… for the time being. She was starting to feel herself giving in, though, because letting go and opening herself up to Jay completely would maybe result in his eyes staying on her. The way he looked everywhere else was worrying her. She knew she held his heart, just like he held hers, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t fuck around like she did. He’d told her he was doing it to make her jealous, but could she really trust that? She didn’t feel like she could trust him, and she’d told him that. Everything was just such a fucking mess.

Her eyes soon fell on Jay exiting his bathroom, fortunately dressed, as he told her to ignore Killian. She smirked at him. “’The Bastard’”, she began, “isn’t easy to ignore when he talks about things he shouldn’t know shit about.” She raised an eyebrow at him, but grinned when he greeted her with a kiss. The proximity made it possible for her to make out what was written on his forehead, and she couldn’t help laughing, “morning, ‘pussy’,” she teased him, letting her fingers dance over the word. “Hey, I’m glad you didn’t come down,” she then added, a naughty glint in her eyes, “gave me an excuse to come up here instead.” With that she snaked her arms around his neck. Hey, if he was going to kiss her in front of the others, she sure as hell wasn’t going to hide anything either. She started laughing again when he asked about roommates, “oh, love, you are not going to be happy.” She told him, still laughing a little as she spoke. She then cast him a mischievous smirk after calming down a little. “They’re mixing us. Arcanas with Noctrems. I’m with Lauryn, Erin’s with Loralei, and you…”

She paused, pursing her lips in thought as she looked up at him. She couldn’t help it. Drawing it out made it so much better, “you are going to need to reign in your temper in a second...” She leaned up to let her mouth dance over his neck and ear, nibbling and placing tiny kisses to get him in a good mood before she whispered in his ear, amusement in her voice, “you get to room with Sky.”

---

Drake laughed at Lora’s comment about him shrinking and shook his head at her. “Maybe we should start measuring height every day, just to be sure and all.” He countered playfully, “I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t start shrinking just yet.” He chuckled, pulling her closer. He couldn’t help it; she felt good in his arms and her body was a perfect fit for his. So, he liked his girls petite, was there anything wrong with that? He just wanted to whisk her away and do naughty things to her. The thing was, Drake could see the thoughts mirrored in her eyes, which made it even harder to resist. But… he had to. He’d promised himself that nothing of the sort would go down between them, so nothing would, and that was that. Besides… Erin did have a point, he was no good for any girl. Of course, if you wanted pleasure in the bedroom, he’d never had any complaints, but if things went beyond that, he was probably the coldest bastard you’d ever meet. He didn’t turn the girls who fell for him down. He played with them, and he didn’t give two fucks. They were entertainment to him, and nothing more. Sure, they didn’t know that, but whatever.

"So what room are you in? I'm in nine. Rooming with...Erin Hawthorne? I think that’s her name. I only just glanced at the list. The crowd was sort of suffocating me." Lora then said, and Drake grinned down at her. “Erin?” he chuckled, “that’s Cor’s best friend, so you’re probably going to have to get used to her presence soon.” Then, thinking a little, Drake’s smile grew, “she’s cool, though you probably shouldn’t piss her off. She’s a bit of a wild one.” Then he finally let go of her – mostly because he wanted to do so much more to her body than hug it, and he wasn’t going to, so letting go was the best option. “I’m with the speedster in room 2.” He then told her, his voice more or less indifferent. He didn’t really care. Colby was an alright guy. A little too out there sometimes, but hey, he was sure the guy wasn’t as bad as some of the others and the sexuality bit didn’t bother him either. He’d grown pretty used to that stuff after rooming with Theo’s ex Scott. He’d known about their relationship pretty much from the get-go. It was hard hiding things from your roommate. Especially if your roommate was as perceptive as Drake.

At her next words, Drake looked her over, smiling wryly before glancing at the clock on the wall. “Well, you could always show me where room 2 is,” he told her, smiling down at her before picking his huge duffel bag up from where he’d dropped it to hug Lora, “I’m getting sick of carrying this monster around,” added as an explanation, referring to his bag. “Then we can always sneak off,” he said with a playful glint in his eyes, “we still have a couple of hours until the assembly starts. I guess we’ll have to go to that. I’m not too keen on getting more detentions right now.” He flashed her a crooked grin. “I think I’ve had plenty lately.” He began walking towards the stairs, knowing that Lora would keep up, “if I didn’t know better, I’d say our headmaster doesn’t like me.” Then he chuckled. He was perfectly aware that Leonardo Marinos was far from his biggest fan. Probably because Drake spent a lot of time trying to get inside the guy’s head. He was making progress if he said so himself, especially since he’d noticed a change in the guy about a week ago. The same kind of change he’d noticed in the school nurse. And Drake, well… he didn’t believe in coincidences.

Colby had accepted the honor or carrying the Party Box quite willingly, wrapping his arms around it. The sound of thick glass bottles knocking against one another made him curious, and he reminded himself to be careful while carrying it (and then promptly forgot).

He remained in his own little world of what he might have been able to identify as low-level anxiety if he bothered to identify any of the negative emotions that he occasionally came across. Anger was the most frequent visitor, especially with the Noctrem kids sharing the school with them for the last month. Even then, it wasn’t all that frequent. Sadness was almost unknown to him. He just didn’t see the point of it. Every day was filled with a hundred reasons to be glad he was alive. There were other more tricky ones that he couldn’t even supply names for that came and went, but none of them mattered. Neither did his misgivings relating to Sky and Landon.

He tuned back into the conversation and blinked. ”Oh, yeah, I was just thinking about something.” He looked at Sky quizzically. ”Isn’t it a little early for Asian take-out, dude? I mean like, I’m pretty hungry, but are there even any Chinese places open in this timezone yet? Haha. Man. I’m like, starving.” Just like that, Colby had forgotten his proposition… or really, Sky had screwed himself out of the quickie by comparing Eden to food. If there was anything that Colby enjoyed more than sex and attention, it was definitely food.

”Wait wait wait.” Another snippet of Sky’s voice caught up with him. ”Did you say you’re rooming with Jay?” Concern softened Colby’s features, and then he realized that the last twinges of worry about Landon and Sky being put in the same room were gone. He knew that the self-replicator hated Sky, though he wasn’t exactly clear on why. Somebody might have told him, once, but if they had his mind had already lost hold of the information. He opened his mouth to say something, but that was when Landon decided to come over, and Colby was distracted yet again.

”Yes, I figured it out.” And then, uncertainly: ”It’s Drake, right?” Reminded of his roommate’s identity, he glanced around, trying to find him. Ah, there he was, with Lor. And Lor totally looked to be in a good mood. He almost headed over to the pair to greet his new roommate and give the girl a big old hug, but then he remembered that he was talking to Sky and Landon. Oops. ”Isn’t… Ad-Alert like, some spyware program? Wait wait, no, Eriol. Eriol.” He tapped his foot so fast that it sounded like an outboard motor. It helped him think. ”Oh, he’s that weird kid who likes to pull pranks. Haha, better be careful.” His nose wrinkled slightly. ”So not cute. I don’t know. Maybe he’s your type though.” Colby shrugged.

He grinned at Landon, though, one of his bigger and goofier grins. ”Dude, we were just talking about food, haha!” Well. Not really. But he thought they were. ”Great minds, right? But… oh, Sky is in with Jaysin, like… okay. I have a plan!” He announced this exuberantly. ”Let’s get Sky settled in, like, all three of us, in case Jay’s still in there. Then we can get some breakfast. I hope they have French toast today. I am craving French toast like you would not believe. Sound good?” His head whipped back and forth, looking first to Sky, then to Landon, and then back to Sky.

Amy hated throwing up. It was the most disgusting, repulsive thing ever, and she couldn’t even breathe as the little bit she’d had to eat the day before kept forcing its way up and into the toilet she was bent over, blocking out airways. Soon, she could feel Leo’s hand gently gathering her hair, his other hand caressing her back and she felt herself growing thankful once more that this man loved her, even as she sat there, fighting to breathe while the lumpy, yellow substance forced its way up. Maybe this was a delayed allergic reaction to the red wine from last night? She was grasping at straws though, because she knew her body would’ve reacted sooner if that had been the case. The thing was, however, that others possibilities didn’t fit with this random pattern either. Tears began streaming from her eyes in frustration at her inability to breathe. When it finally stopped, Amy fell down onto her bum, heaving for air as she took some toilet paper and wiped her mouth, throwing it into the toilet afterwards.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Leo moving from her, filling a glass with water and she closed her eyes, trying to calm her body from the shock it had just experienced. Normally if a student had come to her with similar issues, she would’ve asked about sex, protection and the likes, because it would be one of the first signs of pregnancy. But with her, that simply couldn’t be the case. She’d only had sex last night, and before that, she hadn’t had sex in something like half a year or so. Besides, she was on the pill, not that it was a certain guarantee of anything, but still. The mere fact that she sexually couldn’t be suffering from morning sickness already, completely erased that possibility, so what was it? Then she heard Leo’s voice and her eyes fluttered open to see him. She smiled weakly at him as she took the glass, shaking a little. She would calm down in a bit, but right now her body was still adjusting. “Thanks,” she said hoarsely before taking a big gulp of the water, closing her eyes as it soothed her aching throat and made her breathing much smoother.

Her eyes followed him as he poked his head out the bathroom door and she wondered who was knocking. Probably either Vince or Keirol. If it was important, Leo would merely take care of it. She wasn’t helpless after all. She could handle herself and she didn’t want him forsaking his Academy merely because she couldn’t keep her dinner down for some odd reason. Her ears perked when she heard Vince’s voice, wondering what he wanted. She frowned slightly as she thought it over. He’d probably felt the emotional explosion between her and Leo. She sighed, shaking her head a little. She’d have to talk to him about that. What if they’d still been arguing? All in all, she didn’t want Vince coming by every time Leo and she had a blow-out, because she knew there would be more to come. Fine that he hadn’t tuned it out; he couldn’t help his powers any more than she or Leo could theirs, but he didn’t have to act on it. She knew he’d be understanding enough and respect her wishes on this. She couldn’t remember Vince ever being difficult in that department, which was why she loved him. As a friend, of course. Never more.

She smiled softly when Leo returned to her and she took another sip of the water, looking up at him through a veil of dark, thick eye lashes. “It’s fine,” she said, still smiling that soft smile of hers, “I’m fine. Really… I don’t know what just happened.” Truthfully, she did feel much better already, even though she had a terrible taste in her mouth, and probably even worse breath. Yuck. “Just need to brush my teeth.” She struggled to her feet again, quickly regaining her balance as she stood and went to the sink. She felt weak. Not only tired, but weak. Was she coming down with something? That was weird. She was literally never ill. Ever. Her magic provided some kind of shield, she supposed, supporting her immune defenses. She shook her head a little, trying to calm it as she took her toothbrush, adding toothpaste before she began brushing her teeth, getting rid of the vile remnants of her dinner. She’d actually puked in front of Leo. That when it hit her. This was downright embarrassing. What came next? Peeing with the door open? Gods. She shivered at the thought. What was he thinking? She glanced at him with toothbrush in her mouth, gauging his reaction for the first time since her ghastly display.

---

Drake laughed at Lor’s comment. Ah, this girl. He loved how she always played right along with his bullshitting. Not a lot of people had the wits to. Granted, he was good so it was understandable, but he always like a good game with an opponent who actually proved a challenge. “We could,” he said thoughtfully, grinning down at her. “But I think it would qualify as damaging school property so Scary Marinos might give us a talking to.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her and chuckled. He knew how close Lora felt to Leonardo Marinos, which was funny because the guy hated Drake. In truth, maybe that made Lora all the more appealing. It was just entertaining. In reality, Marinos had a stick lodged up his ass and Drake couldn’t help wonder what would happen if someone pulled it out. Ah hell, he had so many tongues up there it probably wouldn’t make much of a difference. Thinking of that, wasn’t Colby one of them? The thought made Drake smile. Maybe rooming with Colbs might end up pretty entertaining after all. As it was, however, he was considering how they’d swing things because the way he saw it, they were both pretty sexual guys. In different ways. Very different ways, thank you.

Drake snorted in amusement at Lora comparing gypsies to Erin, “no, I mean… that’s her power. Erin goes all Hulk when she’s pissed, and she’s got a bit of a temper.” He smiled secretively at how much that benefited him in reality. Then he laughed a little. “So yeah, I don’t think you can quite compare it, sweetheart.” Soon, she was commenting on his roommate and Drake smiled casually. “Nah, I’m good, really. It’s fine.” He didn’t mention how he was starting to consider the entertaining aspects of rooming with Colby. Honestly Drake rarely voiced his actual thoughts. He never lied either; he just withheld certain information he didn’t see fit to share. Not that people noticed. They were too caught up in his smiles and the fact that he always seemed so carefree and casual in everything he did. So they didn’t even notice. The same way they very rarely noticed that he didn’t actually give a shit about them.

He could easily narrow down the people he himself considered friends to one degree or another; Cor, Lora, Lulu, Jackson. Now, why was his sister on the list? Well, he sometimes disliked his sister to an extreme degree, but he knew she cared about him, just like he did her. They never showed it, but they did. Jackson had a stick up his ass, but Drake considered him a friend nonetheless. Maybe because Jackson was the kind of guy Drake knew he would be able to count on in a sticky situation and honestly they’d grown to become pretty good friends this last month. Lulu spoke for herself; she was Lulu, and the same could be said for Lora who he’d known for years. So yeah, considering how many people thought themselves his friends, he didn’t really return the feeling a lot. Of course, Jaysin would’ve probably been on the list years back, but then he’d fucked Cor completely up by leaving and ignoring her existence, and now things were just fucking bungled. Theo’s ex, Scott would’ve been included too, but he was dead, so… yeah.

When Lora commented on him being Lazy, Drake merely smirked at her. “You say that like it’s something new,” he countered. Of course, Drake wasn’t usually lazy. Not really. He was the kind of guy who’d get up at 5 am in the morning just to get a good work-out before school, and he wasn’t being lazy right now either. He just frankly wanted to get the whole room-introduction thing over with so he could move on with his life. With her next comment, Drake laughed, ruffling up her hair just to show how easily he could reach. “What kind of gypsy are you, forgetting your magnifying glass? Really, Lor. What would your mother say?” He said playfully, feigning outrage at the fact, before grinning down at her. “Besides, I thought we’d already settled that you need to stop dreaming about being taller than me.”

“Strict?” Drake repeated her words about Leo thoughtfully, almost tasting the word before laughing. “That’s an understatement. He’s such a rule-rider, it’s almost embarrassing. He’s going to have his work cut out for him now that all these idiots from Noctrem are moving in, though. My sister and her bitches are going to be hell to deal with while they get settled in, for instance. Now, they’ll need to establish their little social order for real, and it’s going to cause trouble because those chicks want to be on top.” He shook his head, smiling wryly before giving her a half-concerned look, “better stay out of their way for the next couple of weeks, love.” It was a rare show of affection from Drake. Mostly because it was genuine; not faked in any way. He actually was worried about Lor now that she was staying with Erin, and he knew Cor didn’t like his little gypsy friend. Never had. He didn’t want her getting hit in the crossfire, so to speak. Not that he didn’t know she could handle herself, but compared to some of these girls, Lora’s control of her magic was shady at best.

Jade cracked up at her mock of innocence, " "Sweetie, your liver died a long time ago. And I dont think mine ever really existed to be honest. And you and I both know we barely ever think clearly."

Jade was most certainly right on that one and Addi couldn't help but chuckle and she pulled out some rolling paper, but then Scott's voice rang out behind her.

“City Girl!”

Addi smirked a bit, popping her hip out to the side as she turns towards Scott, "Hey, baby." She said, a smirk flashing across her face. She watched his body as he made his way over, he had been working out, she could tell. He stood besides her, and they make eye contact for a moment, but she broke it away when he asked what they were up to. Oh, Scott. What an interesting little character he was. She couldn't really tell if he was simply a make-out/fuck-buddy, or something else. He seemed to really be into Freya, so she wasn't going to intrude on that. But Addi was looking for something a bit deeper, why? She had no fucking idea, but she was. The one guy she was really after was Jay...But, he was somewhat distant...Whatever.

Not like it mattered, she had the whole year to fuck around. And she was young, with her best friend by her side she could do anything. Maybe she'd get Drake in bed one of these days. He did seem like a sensational fuck...

Her train of thought went off a bit and she shook herself back into reality. She couldn't believe how ridiculously fixated on sex she was at the moment, but then again, she found it slightly justifiable, considering she hadn't had it in over...What was it now, three months?

Fuck, had it really been that long? Ugh. She let out a noticeable sigh, which could have been easily mistaken for boredom. Addison wasn't really one for wearing her heart on her sleeve, and Jade was the only one who could read her like an open book. Sometimes it scared her how much Jade actually knew about her....

Bringing herself back to the present, she caught what Jade was informing Scott on.

"We're just going to...have some fun before this assembly shit. Cor went...in that general direction, I think. I'm pretty sure I passed her when I was walking over here." -- Addison raised an eyebrow, knowing something vividly terrifying was going to escape Jade's lips, "And yes, I'm rooming with little miss McKenna. The bitch won't know what hit her. Or...she might, because it will definitely be something big and hard. Maybe a chair."

A devious grin flashed across Jade's face, and Addison nodded with approval, "Aw, I've taught you so well." She cooed, pinching Jade's cheeks jokingly.

Before Jade could make a move to kill her, she swung her arm around Scott and Jade's waist, "Well, we've got the goods, and a whole lot of area to hide, lets blaze up, my little darlings." She says with a laugh, "Jade, you have your flask on hand from last night, right?"

He thought about putting in his earbuds and playing some music. The room he shared with Zac was one of the last dormitories, and that meant he’d have to pass almost every single room on his way to the cafeteria. Having his earbuds in wouldn’t preclude anyone trying to converse with him entirely. He’d learned that the hard way. It would help, maybe. A slight frown tugged at his lips as he wondered why he was feeling so misanthropic today. Well, moreso than usual, anyway. Even he had to admit that the impulse to wreck Zac’s drums and how terse he’d been were somewhat over the top. Was it just the move? He’d gotten used to having his own motel room and the freedom that it entailed. Or was it something more, something that he wasn’t fully conscious of?

Speaking of Zac, he spotted the boy heading in the opposite direction of him. Feeling ever-so-guilty for how he’d behaved before, Theo lifted a hand in greeting and managed to reorder his thoughtfully frowning lips into a smile. When he heard the sound of Zac on his drums soon thereafter, he found himself very glad that he’d decided to eat rather than read or catch a nap. Ear plugs, he decided. That would be his concession, his act of kindness. He’d just invest in some ear plugs, and Zac could practice with a brass band for all he cared.

As he passed Room Sixteen, he heard Jaysin’s voice, and slowed down just slightly. There were other people in the room- Erin and the strange boy from Arcana, Keirol. He heard the voice of Corentine Quellen afterward and abruptly picked his pace back up. His dislike of Cor outstripped his fondness for Jaysin by whole orders of magnitudes. He didn’t feel like enduring her presence, and the room already seemed quite crowded anyway.

He kept walking. Spotting Amber heading into her room, he tensed slightly, and then let out a captive breath when she just slipped in without seeing him. He’d been avoiding her for… well, a while now. When she saw him, her eyes tended to spark with interest, and her body language suggested that she was going to approach and engage, and he really didn’t want to allow that to happen. He had a sneaking suspicion about what she wanted, and he had far too many secrets to be comfortable letting that girl get close.

He tensed yet again when, closer to the atrium where the list had been posted, he spotted Colby, Landon, and Sky. Just walking by the three of them made him feel very much like he imagined fairly attractive women felt when they walked past a construction site. He was waiting for a cat-call, a proposition, some comment on his arms or his shirt or whatever detail of his appearance that they might bring up today. He wasn’t being entirely fair. Sky wasn’t nearly so bad as Landon, and Landon wasn’t anywhere near as aggravating as the speedster. He nodded awkwardly at the trio. Well, mostly at Landon. Landon, who’d managed to stumble onto one of his secrets. He’d sworn he wouldn’t say anything, wouldn’t mention it. Theo believed that he’d stay quiet, but he worried about the price. He knew the other boy was interested in him, probably even more so after their encounter the week before. How long would it be before it occurred to Landon that his knowledge would give him leverage over the object of his affection?

Perhaps there was an upshot to having a memory-meddler as a roommate. He’d have to broach the subject with Zac cagily. He might have been from Arcana, but he had no qualms misusing his powers for the sake of schoolwork. Getting him to purge Landon’s mind of what he’d learned… well, he’d have to think about it. That would only mean he was indebted to Zac instead of Landon. He might be better off with the latter.

He glanced around at those still near the list, hoping to spot one of the few faces he considered actually friendly. Someone he wouldn’t mind talking to. His mind was busier than usual. That tended to indicate that he needed to get something out of his system. Oh well. Seeing no one promising, he soldiered on to the cafeteria. Maybe there would be someone there. Or maybe he’d just have to wait for his run to blow off steam.

Theo often forgot to eat, but when he did eat, he did it right. He got himself a tray and upon it gathered the following: one bowl of whole-grain cereal with two percent milk, two scrambled eggs and two thick slices of ham, a glass of orange juice, wheat toast, and a small pre-packaged fruit and yogurt and granola bowl that actually looked really good. Carrying his food to a vacant table, he sat down and got to work, eating little bits of this and that, diminishing each aspect of his meal proportionately, except for the yogurt medley, which he saved for lonesome last.

After a minute or two of persisting solitude, he slipped his earbuds in and started some music. Move Along by the All-American Rejects started up from his randomized playlist.

---

Colby grinned when Sky cracked his knuckles; it was a very different grin from the goofy standard he made of his mouth most of the time. It wasn’t so much the way his lips were curved that was different, but the competitive cast to his eyes. One might almost think that he wanted Jaysin to start something with Sky when he was there. He blinked when Sky seemingly held off on saying something when Landon arrived, but that was quickly forgotten because… Landon arrived, and the conversation sped on.

He burst into laughter when his buddy mentioned a sock-on-the-doorknob code for him and Drake. Was it really that funny? Probably not to most people. To Colby it was though. Putting a sock on a doorknob made him think of putting a condom on a carrot, like people did in sex-ed classes, and for some reason, thinking about that never failed to make him guffaw. ”Haha, totally,” he said once he’d calmed down. ”I’m going to have to buy a ton of socks, haha.” Apparently it didn’t occur to him to designate a single sock for that purpose.

He listened to the other two, nodding along as Sky put in his two cents on Eriol and Landon agreed to help back Sky up if need be. Maybe he’d been worried about nothing before. Sky and Landon were getting along just fine. Really, Landon was being his usually awesome self and joining the cavalry. He decided that things were totally copacetic (this was the most sophisticated word in Colby’s vocabulary, though the precise connotation escaped him) and moved on, flourishing another grin. ”Jaysin is a total babe though. Haha, he’s going to like, be sooooooo obsessed with you not seeing him naked.” He turned his grin on Sky as he said it. ”It’s kind of hilarious how mad he gets when I hit on him. It’s like, ‘dude, chill out, it doesn’t make you gay if a gay guy hits on you,’ right? He should be, like, flattered, haha.”

He started off behind Landon, still carrying the Party Box. ”So what do you guys think the assembly is about?” That actually hadn’t slipped through the holes in his mental colander. ”Sounds like it’s a pretty big deal, right? Maybe us being put with Noctrem kids was like, some computer mix-up or whatever, and we’re gonna get our real room assignments, haha.” He blinked, and then gave Sky a nudge with his arm. ”No offense dude, haha. I just wish you were with me. That would have been so awesome.” His eyes glazed a bit, and he imagined what it would have been like had he and Sky been put together. Awesome was certainly one way to put it. The other ways to put it warrant censorship.

He gave Theo McCaffrey a once over as the moody boy passed them, then looked over to Landon a few seconds later. ”Didn’t he like, totally shoot you down too? Soooooo glad I didn’t get stuck with him. I think I might have like, died of frustration or whatever, haha. Hopefully whoever he’s with can like, cheer him up some.” He looked over at Sky then, whipping his head quickly. ”Was he like, ever happy? Or did he always look like he was having a mug shot taken, haha?”

Stupid post.