Chapter One

I walk calmly through the courtyard of Kadic Junior High Boarding School, eyes taking in the scenery around me. Students are walking around me, some in cliques, others on their own, or in pairs. A few glance at me, but I ignore them. I'm dressed mostly in black – my pants, shoes, shirt, even my hair – with the exception of a little silver from a chain on my hip. My hair is styled in one-inch spikes sticking out of my head, and I carry a backpack on my shoulder, and a suitcase in my hand.

"Excuse me," I stop a small group of guys. "Can you point me to the principal's office?"

I gets some directions, and nod my thanks. On my way I notice a group heading in the opposite direction. It's a group of three, one girl, two boys. The girl walks in the front, a boy on either side trailing after her with the look of obedient puppies. The boy on her right wears a green sweater-vest, has parted hair, and glasses. The other boy is blond, a bit taller than the other boy, and has a clueless look on his face.

The girl is wearing mostly pink - a headband in her black hair, a shirt with a flower over her heart, and a skirt – but wears a pair of black legging under her skirt. She appears to be talking imperiously to the boys from over her shoulder, so much so she doesn't notice that she's on a collision-course with a boy carrying an absurdly tall stack of books.

Suddenly the new boy trips, and the girl turns just in time to she the books coming down on top of her. The other boys flinch away, not wanting to share her fate. I drop my bags, and dart over. Fortunately I'm close enough to catch her just before her head hits the ground. With one arm wrapped around her shoulders, I brace myself with my other, and shield her with my back as the books come down on top of me.

"That," I say helping her back to her feet, and rubbing the back of my head. "Could have hurt." She blinks at me a few times, and I nod a greeting. I bend down, and start helping the unfortunate boy pick up his books.

The girl grins, and puts her hands on her hips, "Well, thanks for the help. And as for you..." She scowls at the other boy, "Next time watch where you're going!" She turns away in a huff, and storms off, her boys close behind.

The other boy sighs, and spots my bags a few feet away, "So you're a new border?"

"Afraid so," I smile at him. "I'm Shay, and you?"

"Xander," he offers me a sad kind of smile in return. "And that was Sissi just now. She's the principal's daughter, and so she practically owns the school. Or she acts like she does, anyhow"

I stand, holding half of his books, "Well, thanks for the warning, but I don't believe in judging people just based on what I'm told."

Xander stands, holding the other half, "Nice philosophy, maybe more people should try it out sometime."

"Are you headed to the principal's office by any chance?" I ask him.

"Yeah," he says. "His secretary asked me to bring her these."

"Nice, I'll help." I balance my share of books in one hand, and use my other to collect my bags. We carry the book to the office where I set my share of books down in one of the chairs, and approach the secretary's desk.

"Excuse me, I'm here to enroll?" she looks up at me, and smiles.

"Of course, go right on in!" I nod to her, and knock on the door before entering.

The principal looks up from his paperwork, "Ah, you must be our newest student, please have a seat. As I sit down he shuffles through some papers until he picks up what I'm assuming is my student transcript.

"Now then, Mr. …" The Principal frowns, and raises an eyebrow at my name. "Mr. Shadus Eramthgin?"

I can't help but grin, "Yes sir, that's my real name, but you can just call me Shay if that helps."

"Thank you," his eyes go over my transcript again. "It says here that your nationality is American, is that correct?"

"Yes sir."

"... And where are your parents?"

"They have a condition, sir, Polymorphic Light Eruption. If they go out into the sunlight it makes their skin blister."

The principal winces, "Ah, I'm sorry..."

"It's okay," I shrug. "It hereditary, but somehow it skipped my generation."

"I see... Well everything certainly seems to be in order, Mr. Shay. Classes are almost over for the day, so why don't I get Jim to show you to your room?"

After a quick phone call, an overweight man in what appears to be a track uniform appears.

"Hi," he says in a loud, bassy voice. "I'm Jim Morales, please follow me."

I follow Jim down to the dorms where he explains the rules of the school and implies consistently that there are severe consequences for breaking these rules. Honestly he's starting to grate on my nerves, but I don't want my first impression here to be a poor one.

"And this is your room," he opens a door, and I blink. The room is filled with two beds, and three tables. The tables are covered with different kinds of machinery, some of which I can identify, but mostly I can't. On the opposite side of the room from the door is a computer under the window.

"Your roommate is Jeremie Belpois, our school's finest brainiac. As I understand it he's a little touchy about his machines, just a heads up. Enjoy your stay, and remember that I'm watching you..." he says that last part like it's supposed to scare me.

"Of course," I say. "That's your job isn't it?"

"As a matter of fact it is... but I'd rather not talk about it." With that he walks off, leaving me in the room alone. I can't tell which bed is supposed to be mine, neither one looks like it's used that often. I decide to take a chance, and I put my stuff on the bed to my right. Afterward I lock the door with the key that Jim gave me, and head down to dinner.

I come up about a half-hour later, and find the door cracked. I walk in to find a blond-haired boy with glasses sitting in his swivel-chair. He turns when I open the door.

"Hi," I say. "I'm Shay, your new roommate."

"Oh, hello," Jeremie stands, and shakes my hand. "It's nice to meet you. Jim told me that I was going to get a roommate, but he didn't say when."

I smile, and jerk a thumb at my bags, "I hope that wasn't your bed, was it?"

"Oh, no," he says waving a hand. "You picked the right one." He sits back down at his computer, and starts typing away, "I hope you don't mind, but I'm kinda busy, so I don't have much time for chit-chat."

"That's fine," I say, and unzip my bags. I put my clothes away in drawers under my bed, and pull out a pair of Tonfas. Jeremie glances over his shoulder at the sound of the wood knocking together.

"Hey, what are those?"

"Tonfas," I explain. "They were made way-back-when mostly as a disarming weapon, like the Nun-chuck. Practicing with these is my second hobby, aside from Skating."

"You should meet some of my friends. Odd, and Ulrich would love to meet you."

"That sounds good, thanks." I glance at the clock, it's still a few hours from lights-out. "I'm going to go skate around, get to know the place. Be back in a few." Jeremie nods, and I head out with my Roller-Blades.

I take a deep breath of the cold night air, barely needing to move my legs as I glide across the ground. I found my way to the track, and started sprint-skating as fast as I can. I wish for a moment for a stop-watch, that way I could time my run, but sadly I don't even have a watch.

"Eramthgin!"

I hit the breaks hard, and turn to see Jim standing there. He has his arms crossed, and his foot tapping. I roll over to him, and he frowns.

"I gotta say, I'm disappointed in you, Shay." His face takes on a look of surprise, "You never told me that you were such an athlete!" I give him a confused look, and he laughs.

"One of my many jobs on this campus is being the Gym Teacher, and I gotta say you've got some skill." He shows me a stop-watch, my time was seven seconds to go around the entire track.

"Now, we don't have any skate-racing here, but I can't help but wonder what you could do in track running. Lights out is in a half-hour, so I'd be heading back to your room if I were you. I think I'll talk to the principal tomorrow though, see if he'll approve of some extra practice time. How's that sound?"

I think about it, I've never taken part in a sports team before, so the idea intrigues me. But on the other hand I just got here, so I don't know what might come up.

"I'll think about it, okay?"

"Sure thing, but head on to bed now. We don't want you getting into trouble before you've even had your first class!"

I nod to Jim with a smile, and roll away.

Looks like life is looking up at the moment, I think as I climb into bed later. Jeremie is still typing away at his computer as I drift into unconsciousness.

My phone vibrate in my pocket at five in the morning. I sit up, and hit the snooze on its alarm. I glance over to see Jeremie asleep at his desk. That explains why his bed looks underused, because it is underused. Quietly I begin my morning exercise routine, and practice with my Tonfas a bit. At five-thirty I head for the showers. Classes don't start until eight, but I like getting an early start in the mornings. I come back in about an hour to find Jeremie still asleep. After I'm dressed I shake his shoulder a bit.

"Jeremie, I think it's time to wake up."

"Huh, what?" He glances at his clock, and rubs his eyes. "Thanks, Shay. It's been a while since I had a decent morning."

"You must be busy a lot," I say, pulling a book out of my stuff. "What were you working on anyways, if you don't mind me asking?

"I was making a program, I doubt you would understand."

I raise an eyebrow, and amused smile on my face, "Careful, Jer, someone could take that as an insult."

"Huh? Oh, sorry!"

"Don't be," I say with a laugh. "You're right, I can't understand programing at all. Just be a bit more mindful of your words, that's all."

Jeremie nods, and heads out to the bathroom. I take fifteen minutes to read, and then I head down to breakfast. About five minutes after I've sat down with my tray, Jeremie waves at me, inviting me to join him at his table. I pick up my tray, and walk over to join him, and his friends.

"Guys, I'd like you to meet my new roommate, Shay." I nod to them.

"Nice to meet you," a girl next to Jeremie says. She has pink hair, and a purple hoodie, and pink boots. "I'm Aelita, Aelita Stones."

"I'm Yumi Ishiyama," say the other girl in the group. She has short, black hair, and is dressed in all black.

"Hey, I'm Ulrich Stern," Ulrich had short, brown hair, and something in his eyes strikes me as odd.

"And I'm Odd Della-Robia, nice to meetcha!" Odd gives me a wink, and a thumbs up. "Odd" is certainly a word I would use to describe him. He's dressed in different shades of purple, and his hair is standing almost straight up, like someone had attacked him with a turbo powered hair-dryer.

I set my tray down next to Odd, "So you're the Odd, and Ulrich Jeremie was telling me about."

"Oh really, and what did he say?" Ulrich raises an eyebrow at Jeremie.

"No doubt bragging about having such a genius such as myself as his friend, right?" Odd give me a crooked grin.

"He thought you might find it interesting that I practice with Tonfas, and Roller-Blade." I start again on my oatmeal.

"Huh, didn't see that coming," Odd looks at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"Okay, that is pretty cool," Yumi looks impressed. "Assuming it's even true, that is."

"What's a Tonfa?" Aelita looks lost.

"I'll show you after school, okay?"

"Sounds great," Ulrich smiles at me, and then frowns when he looks over my shoulder. I turn in my seat to see Sissi standing behind me.

"Hello again," she gives me a sweet smile, and the boys that were with her yesterday look uncomfortable. "I don't think I properly introduced myself yesterday, I'm Elizabeth Delmas, but everyone just calls me Sissi."

"Really, because last I checked I called you a pain in the neck," Sissi glares at Odd while he chuckles at his own joke. I give him a disapproving glance before turning back to Sissi.

"It's nice to meet you, Sissi. I'm Shay, and I hope you weren't hurt yesterday?"

"Thanks to you, no I wasn't thanks again." She glances around at the others at the table. "Um, can I talk to you alone, I'm not really liked by this bunch."

"I wonder why," Yumi is giving Sissi a hard look. Sissi glances in her direction, and then gives me an innocent look.

"I don't see why not, but can I finish my breakfast first?"

She smiles at me, "Sure thing, I'll be waiting outside." She walks off, her two fan-boys in close pursuit.

"Hey, Ulrich, you're in luck," Odd elbows him lightly. "looks like Sissi's moving on from you to our new pal, huh?"

"If that's the case, I feel sorry for you already, Shay," Ulrich shakes his head sadly before returning to his yogurt.

"It seems you all have a history with her," I note.

"You have no idea," Aelita pinches the bridge of her nose. "I like to think that she's a good person deep down, but for us she's a never-ending headache." I raise my eyebrows at this, I had taken Aelita to be a really compassionate girl, but with her talking like this... Either it's true, or I had misjudged them both.

I finish my oatmeal, and head out to meet Sissi. She's standing at the corner of the cafeteria, talking to her friends. I walk towards them, and the one with glasses points at me. Sissi turns around, and smiles at me. She gestures for me to follow her, and we go around the corner to the narrow walkway between the cafeteria, and a greenhouse.

"Well, Shay, I just wanted to say thanks again... and to warn you."

I raise an eyebrow, and cross my arms, "Warn me? About what?"

"About them," she leans closer conspiratorially. "I've had my eye on those guys for a while, and I'm telling you there's something fishy about them. Sometimes, for no reason at all, they just disappear to who knows where, and show up again later like nothing happened."

"You keeping an eye on them wouldn't have anything to do with your infatuation with Ulrich Stern, would it?"

Her eyebrow twitches in surprise, but she goes on, "Of course it does, I'm really worried about about him, Shay. If something happens to them, then something happens to Ulrich! What if it's illegal, then he could be arrested, or worse imprisoned! Anyhow, you seem like a nice guy, so I'm telling you straight-up, you should stay away from them."

"Easier said then done, Sissi. You see, I'm Jeremie's roommate, so keeping distance is going to be hard. Besides, they don't seem like bad people to me."

"I'm not saying they are," Sissi puts a hand on my arm. "But we all know that sometimes good people do really bad things." She's quiet for a minute while she stares down at the ground. When she looks up at me again her eyes are brimming with tears. "Just promise me that if you catch wind of anything, that you'll help me stop them. I don't want to see any of them get in trouble, or possibly worse..."

I stare at her for a moment, my older brother taught me enough psychology that I can spot a lie a mile away, and I can tell that she's only telling me half the truth. Yes, she sincerely care for Ulrich, but she could care less about the others.

"Okay," I say, giving her a smile. "Since I can't keep my distance without them knowing how closely you're watching them, I'll keep my eyes out." I put a hand on her shoulder, "I promise."

She grabs me into a hug, which actually takes me by surprise, "Thank you, Shay, thank you so much!"

I pat her back awkwardly, and the bell rings. She hops back, and the three of them take off for the classroom. I walk back around the building just as Jeremie, and the others are coming out of the cafeteria.

"So," Odd puts his hands on his hips. "What do you think about Sissi now?"

"I think she should take up a career in acting, she'd make a killing."

We all laugh as we make our way to first period.