Thirteen Weeks

The day was bright and warm as it always was during that time of the year. Underneath a cloudless sky the city buzzed with the animated sound of lunch, as its inhabitants took a break from their busy lives to regain some much-needed fuel. Sitting outdoors at one of the city's many cafés, Minako Aino looked up from a letter she'd been reading and gave her lunch-date a look of total disbelief.

"Rei, this is the worst idea you've ever had."

"It's brilliant and you know it," Rei smirked, pointing a fork-full of lettuce at her friend before eloquently eating it.

"You'll never get away with this," Mina hummed in a tone of caution and amusement.

"That baby says I already have."

"This letter gives you the opportunity to prove you can but I'm warning you - you won't and you can't!"

"Gee, thanks Lady Mina," Rei huffed, "Ever generous with your dispersal of confidence."

"I'm just trying to protect you – college isn't a joke Rei. If they catch you… I mean who knows what kind of repercussions this can have."

"What makes you think I'm doing this as a joke?"

Mina sighed and looked at her friend with genuine concern. She didn't know why this surprised her – Rei's life pretty much translated to a never-ending quest for trouble. For as long as she had known her, Rei had always come up with outlandish ways to get heself into some kind of a dilemma, but this was taking it too far.

"I know that if you had your own Wikipedia page it would list 'boy-crazy' as one of your endearing traits, but think about your future Rei. Is it really worth putting that at risk just to be able to say you pulled off this stunt?"

"Hey!" Rei exclaimed, snatching the letter off her friend, "I'm not doing this just so I can package the experience and turn it into a badge that I can pin on my girl-scout blazer of Life. That university thinks they're so elite, so exclusive. They get every possible award in state, and their graduates automatically get put on a pedestal that's impossible to surpass."

"Well it's a good school."

"So why is it only for guys with daddies that have deep pockets?"

"I don't know, because that's their heritage and the way the founder wanted it! What's your damage Heather? 99.9% of universities are coed which means most if not all of the best ones are. Why do you have to go on this vigilante mission to bring Lawrence down?"

"Because it's not right Mina."

Minako's shoulders slumped in defeat, knowing that there was only going to be one winner of this argument. Rei began a tirade that outlined how she didn't think it was right to have an institution such as a university still be exclusive to males in an age that prided itself in sexual equality. She pointed out that every story ever published about Lawrence University was one commissioned by the school. She maintained that just because so many sons of important people went to Lawrence, the university thought it had the right to deprive the public the opportunity to make an objective judgment about them.

"Nobody really know what goes on there," Rei continued, "If their teaching practices are as amazing as they report, or even if their students are as perfect and flawless as they look in the papers! It's about time we got a real, unbiased look into that place. Could you imagine what it could do for my career if I was the first writer to publish a story about Lawrence that's untouched by the wrinkled conservative hand of its faculty?"

"If you're out to get them it's still biased Rei! And what makes you think you'll find a goldmine of scandal in there? I hear it's a really good university."

"So is Harvard. I have a friend who graduated from there. He now trades his toilet-wine for cigarettes and bitches – in jail."

"You don't have a friend who went to Harvard!" Minako laughed.

"Well no, but if I did I imagine he would smoke weed everyday before inevitably falling into a life of crime. My point is that even great universities have a herd of black sheep – understandably they just like to keep 'em in the barn."

"And you're going to find Lawrence's?"

"And set them free," Rei affirmed, "A university of just guys? It's bound to be a less of a herd and more of a colony."

Minako took a sip from her soda and looked at Rei's plan under a new light. She could see how it could work, and it made more sense that Rei was doing this to feed her journalistic aspirations, rather than just for a good perve. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that the plan was flawed. Something was bound to go wrong somewhere, and knowing Rei, it would go wrong in a huge, spectacular way.

"Okay," Minako said, taking the letter back from Rei, "So you've been accepted into Lawrence University Raymond Hino. Congratulations. What happens if you get sprung at the very end? They're not going to give you a degree. All those years would've just been a waste!"

"I'm not doing it for a degree I'm doing it for a story."

"So, technically you're not actually going to college? Does your Dad know this?"

"Tone down the social stigma Mina," Rei said poshly, rolling her eyes, "You don't need a degree to have a good career. Anyways Dad doesn't give a shit."

"Because he doesn't know does he?"

"He thinks I'm going to Sarah Lawrence," Rei giggled, "Even transferred money into my bank account because he thinks I'm living on-campus."

"You're living on-campus?!"

"Got a better way to get dirt?"

"Will you have a roommate?"

"Yeah, some dude."

"Um," Minako drawled, "How do you think you're going to get away with this? You're a girl remember? If you're living there – heck, even if you're not – someone, most likely 'some dude' is bound to figure it out."

"Details shcmetails Mina," Rei scoffed, waving a hand dismissively.

"The devil is in the details Rei! And to think for a second I actually thought this could work."

"It will work. Trust me. I'm Asian. A lot of Asian guys look like girls you know."

"I cannot believe you just went there," Minako gaped.

"Hey, you know it, I know it but the difference is that I'm allowed to say it. Like I said, I'm Asian. That takes care of the lack of boobs and the feminine looks. All I have to do is hide my hair under a hat, change my voice, dress like grub, act like a buffoon, and adopt a disgusting sense – or better still have no sense of hygiene at all, and presto – Raymond Hino, international boy-student from Japan."

Minako smiled in amazement, shaking her head, still not believing what her friend was about to get herself into. Raymond Hino from Japan? Raymond wasn't even a Japanese name! However, the feeling of total dread Minako had when she first read "Raymond's" acceptance letter was now mixed with anticipation and excitement. She wanted Rei to get her story, and knew that no matter what Rei would succeed at being a good journalist. Her inquisitive nature and unwavering convictions guaranteed that. And Mina didn't doubt that doing a covert story on one of the country's most enigmatic universities was a damn well good idea, but she knew all too well that it was Rei's fiery ways and ambitious take on life that often landed her in hot water.

As the blonde beauty watched her friend finish what was left of her lunch, she knew that there was no way she could talk Rei out of it. She knew that Makoto had probably already tried. There was nothing left for them to do but ensure that Rei got into the least amount of trouble as possible, and achieving that was probably even harder than successfully passing off as a guy for a semester.

"You and Mako should help me move into the dorm," Rei suggested as the Mina motioned for the bill.

"Of course we will! Wait, are we allowed to go in there?"

"I should hope so. I'll just say you guys are family or something. I'm adopted."

"You really haven't thought this out very well have you?"

"Mina, stop worrying. I know what I'm doing."

Minako was unconvinced.

"Do you at least know who your roommate's going to be?" she asked, "I mean does 'some dude' actually have a name?"

"Yeah, they didn't give me much information though – not even his full name," Rei shrugged as Minako examined the bill the waiter had brought over, "J. D. Orsino."

"J. D. Orsino? Sounds kinda snooty."

"Totally. D probably stands for 'Duke' or some shit. Apparently he's a senior and plays for the lacrosse team. I have this horrible sense of dread that if he had a Wikipedia page, 'being a dick' will be only one of the many in his catalog of insufferable attributes."

"Well, maybe he won't be that bad. Lawrence men are pretty hot."

"Let's hope so," Rei sighed as the two got up to leave, "I have a feeling that if anyone's gonna make me regret this, it's the guy I'm gonna be living with for the next thirteen weeks."

End of Chapter One

Author's Note: Thanks for reading; sorry it turned out to be mostly dialogue. As you may or may not have picked up, the plot of this story is loosely based on Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night". Anyways, let me know if it's worth continuing :)