Dan had no idea why he had accepted the offer to attend Willow Grove Academy, Britain's most prestigious and renowned private school. It was upon his parent's insistence really, because getting into such a high class school on a full scholarship was apparently a once in a lifetime opportunity.
So far the beginning of his first day had been intimidating and irksome. This was mostly based on the students that were attending here. They were all incredibly rich and posh, not to mention snobbish and narcissistic.
His uniform felt much too crisp and clean, and he couldn't help squirming uncomfortably every time a student laid eyes on him. So far nobody had gone out of their way to speak to him, but that was rather pleasing. If they found out he didn't have the same status as wealth as them then he'd probably be a social outcast. Better to be invisible then looked down upon.
It was in his second period where he made his first friend. The professor had nodded stiffly upon his entrance and directed him towards the back of the room next to a girl with long blonde curls and a warm smile.
"I'm Louise," She whispered as the professor had began talking in a tiresome drawl.
"Dan," He introduced himself, fiddling with his number 2 pencil awkwardly. So far he hadn't seen a single other person with a pencil, apparently expensive silver pens were all the rage. Louise seemed to notice and giggled.
"Want one of my pens? The professors really prefer ink to graphite, they might mark you down for that. They're all prats really."
Dan found himself returning her grin and accepting the offer. After the general awkward introduction, he found himself getting along well with the girl. She wasn't too nosy about his home life or status; she seemed more interested in chatting about the professors and latest gossip of the school, which Dan had a hard time keeping up with seeing as he'd only been here for two hours.
It turned out that they had third period arithmetic together as well. Dan was glad for that, because this school was four stories high and very spacious and large, he would have been lost for sure trying to find the class.
During the trek to arithmetic was when Dan first laid eyes on him, him being a boy with black hair, bright eyes, and the most handsome face Dan had ever seen. He was sitting on one of the large window sills of the second story with two other boys, seemingly laughing at a joke one of them had said.
"Hey Louise, who is he?" Dan had asked curiously, keeping his voice low.
"That would be Phil Lester," Louise informed him. "He's known by everybody here, he comes from a family of billionaires. His Dad is one of the biggest contributors to the school actually. I wouldn't get too involved with him Dan, despite how gorgeous he is, even if he does fancy boys."
Dan felt his heart drop in disappointment, not even bothering to cover up that he too preferred boys over girls. "Why?"
"He's the biggest most arrogant snob of the school, and that's saying something since we're all pretty snobbish. Trust me, he only talks to Chris and PJ, he doesn't waste his time with anybody else."
"Oh," Dan swallowed. Yeah, he had no chance whatsoever. If Phil didn't even talk to people who were actually rich like Louise, then he would probably avoid Dan like the plague. When Phil suddenly looked over and seemed to make eye contact, Dan flushed and diverted his eyes to the ground.
"Unless you're really from a family of billionaires?" Louise asked suddenly, and Dan instantly tensed up.
"Not billionaires, no."
Thankfully they had then arrived at their class so Louise didn't bug him about his background anymore, instead she introduced him to siblings Zoe and Joe Sugg. Their parents owned a huge makeup and fashion corporation that was worldwide, but neither teen seemed too conceited. Zoe and Louise were apparently best friends, so Dan was automatically accepted with their friendship.
Next period Dan had Advanced English Literature, but Louise had Home Economics, which was apparently the complete opposite direction of Dan's class.
"Just go one floor up and take a right. It'll be at the end of the hall."
Dan had to trust Louise's directions, wishing terribly that he had been given a less complicated map and schedule. Once the bell rang he stumbled through the hallway looking for a staircase that led to the next story. When he hurriedly rounded a corner, Dan crashed harshly into another student, falling backwards onto the floor and spilling his books.
"Watch where you're going!" A voice angrily snapped, and Dan flinched, too terrified to look up from the floor. The last thing he needed was to get on somebody's bad side his first day here.
"S-Sorry," He mumbled, face flushing bright red in embarrassment.
"Now now Chris, there's no need to be so rude." Another teen commented, and Dan found himself peeking up and then doing a double take.
Phil Lester was standing above him flanked by his two friends, one of them being Chris, whom Dan had unfortunately crashed into. He found himself feeling petrified on the spot, looking up with wide, fearful eyes. Of course he would run into the most popular and judgemental people of the school.
"You're not hurt, are you?" Phil spoke again, holding out a hand as an invitation to help him up. He didn't really sound mean at all, more concerned than anything.
"I'm fine," Dan finally garbled out when he realized he wouldn't do himself any justice if he just kept staring like a freak. "Er, I'm sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going, of course that's no excuse or anything, but I really didn't mean to-"
"Calm down, it happens," Phil stopped his embarrassing ramble, reaching down to grab Dan's hand and pull him up since the other still hadn't moved. "I saw you this morning. You're new, aren't you?"
"New? Oh, um, yeah...yes I'm new." Dan wanted nothing more than to run home and hide under his bedcovers. He couldn't even handle talking to average class people, let alone incredibly loaded and scary students from stupid rich academies. There was also that fact that Phil's hand felt nice against his own, cool and smooth skinned. He was disappointed when Phil let go.
"It wasn't that hard to figure out, there's only around two hundred people attending Willow Grove," The other boy who wasn't Chris said. If Dan remembered what Louise had said earlier correctly, he must have been PJ.
"What's your name?" Phil asked, seemingly studying his face closely.
"Dan Howell," Dan told them rather awkwardly. He still couldn't believe this this handsome rich kid was going out of his way to have a conversation with him. Dan briefly glanced at his soft lips and imagined kissing them, but quickly flushed and shook the thought out of his head.
"Howell, that doesn't sound familiar. What does your dad do for work?" Chris, who had seemingly forgiven him, asked curiously.
This was where Dan had made his biggest mistake. Since they day he was born his parents had taught him that honesty was the best policy. Unfortunately Dan was self conscious enough as it was, and now that he was actually talking to a group of rich boys who were actually interested in speaking with him, so things got difficult.
That was why he'd told the most bullshit lie he'd ever had the privilege of coming up with.
"He does serious business over in...India. Yeah, he does a lot of important stuff over there."
The only tiny truth about that statement was that he'd been on family holiday in India with his parents last year, a trip that they'd been saving money up and planning for quite awhile. No, in reality his Dad was an overworked and underpaid office worker and his mum was a doctor's office secretary. They lived comfortably, but certainly not anything compared to the students at this school.
"International affairs, huh?" PJ whistled. "I've never been to India before."
"Heh...yeah" Dan knew he'd just dug himself into some deep shit. He laughed nervously and waited for them to call him out on his fib and start beating him up or something.
"Are you enjoying your time at Willow Grove so far?" Chris asked, his tone now completely friendly.
Dan blinked owlishly; had they really believed his stupid lie? A part of him felt accomplished and clever, although his inner conscience burned with shame. He needed to get away from this trio as soon as possible, because there was no way he'd be able to keep lying to their faces.
"Yes, it's a lovely school. I was actually looking for the Advanced English Literature classroom, could you maybe tell me how to get there?"
"I have Advanced Lit too, I'll take you there," Phil volunteered quickly. Dan felt a mixture of happiness and panic.
"Right, well me and Peej better get to History class. Have fun you two!" Chris sang the last sentence, grabbing PJ by the arm and dragging him in the opposite direction. Dan and Phil were both quiet for a moment, before Dan remembered his books on the ground and bent down to pick them up.
"I'm surprised really," Phil murmured as he joined Dan in collecting the books. "You didn't even ask any of us about our wealth or status. That's usually the first thing people do here."
"Is it?" Dan asked, trying not to sound sarcastic. Stupid arrogant rich kids…
"Yeah. Have you even been to school before?" Phil asked, an eyebrow raised.
Well of course Dan had been to school, but in public school introductions were a lot different. Of course if Dan mentioned that he'd been to a public school that would be a dead giveaway. His mind quickly searched for a reasonable excuse for his reserved politeness, which was apparently something that children at this school lacked.
"My parents preferred to homeschool me. You know, with a tutor and stuff."
He definitely wasn't expecting Phil's next reaction. "Oh god, that explains everything! So many parents think it's a good idea to keep their kids shielded from the world, but it never turns out good. They become feeble and helpless when it comes time for real human interaction."
Well, Dan certainly didn't agree on the feeble and helpless part, but he had to admit that he had always been a sucker when it came to human interaction.
Perhaps Phil thought he had offended Dan, because he then said, "Of course you'll probably be really great academically in all your classes, tutors always get you way ahead. I had a tutor until I was ten, but Father finally realized how shy I was around people. School's helped a lot with that."
"That's- That's good," Dan responded, because he really wasn't quite sure what to say.
"This must all be really intimidating. Don't worry though, I'll help you adjust."
Dan almost choked. Was Phil actually offering friendship to him?
Phil grabbed his shoulder and steered him around. "Come on, class is this way. You were headed in the wrong direction."
The other students around them seemed to be gawking, so Louise had obviously been telling the truth when she'd mentioned that Phil didn't really acknowledge anyone aside from Chris and PJ. Phil didn't seem to notice as he led Dan into his third period of the day.
Throughout the day Dan became mentally exhausted. It turned out that he also had fifth period Chemistry with Phil as well, and after that he'd been invited to join him, Chris, and PJ for lunch. The food there was expensive and first class, and it also happened to be the only thing that wasn't covered in his scholarship.
"You're not eating?" PJ asked in surprise when Dan had avoided entering the line for food.
"No, I'm not very hungry today…"
Of course Dan's mum had packed him a bag lunch, probably a delicious peanut butter and nutella sandwich, some crisps, and an encouraging little note, but such a pathetic meal would give away his secret instantly.
He noticed Louise gawking at him from across the room with her mouth wide open as he joined Phil and his friends at a reserved table in the back of the elegant dining hall. Oh dear, he would have a lot of explaining to do tomorrow.
"So Dan, what exactly does your dad do in India?" PJ inquired politely.
Dan resisted gulping. "O-Oh, he mostly runs a lot of businesses over there."
"I bet he makes a lot of money, huh?" Chris asked.
"Yeah," Dan mumbled, eyes going downcast. A hand suddenly rested comfortingly on his arm.
"Wealth is nothing to be ashamed of Dan," Phil soothed him. "But if I were you, I would just stick with us three. A lot of the bigots here are going to try and befriend you based on your status of money. Chris, PJ, and I all come from well established backgrounds, so we've been victim of this before. That's why we really prefer to keep to ourselves…"
It all made sense now! These three didn't look down on others like Louise and so many others in the school believed them to to; they were only protecting themselves from getting hurt. Dan suddenly began to feel much warmer towards them. At the same time he felt nauseated because he was lying to them about himself, albeit for a much different reason than most.
"Yeah Dan, don't worry, there's no need to get upset," Chris, who read Dan's somber expression wrong, consoled him.
After lunch there was only one period left, which was art class. Thankfully Dan didn't know anybody in this class, so he was able to drop his facade and become immersed in the task of using watercolors to create scenery. He was left to a table alone since the other students eyed him warily, probably because rumor got around that he was in Phil's group now.
Suddenly as the end of the day neared, Dan realized that he didn't want to be caught walking home. His neighborhood was only fifteen minutes away by foot, but if anyone from around here caught him in much a modern town, he'd be dead meat. Instead once the bell rang he hid in the bathroom for almost half an hour as he waited for the students to clear out. While waiting, he pulled out his crumbled lunch bag and ate his sandwich. Sure enough, there was a note from his mother.
'Good luck today sweetheart, I know you'll do wonderfully! xoxo -Mum'
Dan sighed, crumpling the note and stuffing it into the closest rubbish bin. He checked that there were no students around before exiting the bathroom and leaving the school as fast as possible, slipping out one of the back doors to be extra cautious.
His first day was finally over, but he had gotten himself tangled into a terrible web.