Initiation

Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! Alfred pushed his legs to go even faster as he slid around the students cluttering the halls, all giving him blank stars. But Alfred absolutely refused to be late for his first college class. And science at that! He wouldn't miss it for the world or the universe with all it's stars (and there were a lot of them). At the exact second his phone buzzed to say 10:00am, he swept through the door and into room 136a.

Twenty-six pairs of eyes turned to stare at him. One of those pairs belonged to the professor—an older looking man with dark hair, facial scruff, and a frown. Someone in the corner whispered, 'Who's that kid?'

Before the professor could call order again, Alfred spotted an empty seat under the window. He made a bee line for it and sat, un-bothered, or rather thriving off the students' stares. He noticed a tall boy in the seat behind him who didn't laugh, but stared harder than the others. While Alfred's hair shone like gold, this boy's blonde looked pale and sandy, matching his jacket color. His eyes turned violet at the edges, their size making the color more obvious, and even though summer raged outside, he wore a threadbare scarf. Only then did Alfred notice the curious circle of empty seats around them. The poor boy smiled bright enough, but no one seemed willing to get near him. Did he not have many friends? Being the good guy he was, Alfred decided to be the first one. He turned and smiled with all his heart. "Hi!" he exclaimed, sticking his hand out to shake. "I'm Alfred!"

At least five eyes remained stuck on the pair under the window instead of the lecture their professor started. The tall boy stared at Alfred, then his eyes slid down to inspect his hand. He didn't smile anymore.

"You two in the corner, I will kick you out of the room if you keep talking. Good luck passing the test without my lecture," the professor snapped. Alfred winced big time. He forgot where he was and as usual, managed to make a fool out of himself from the start. Not that he cared. He was too cool not to laugh it off, but the look he saw on the other kid's face didn't match his conviction at all. He looked at Alfred like an insect and his hand as something disgusting that crossed into his territory. Not even something worth the effort of knocking away. Alfred realized it then—despite his smile, this guy had the coldest eyes he'd ever seen. The boy lifted his hands in defense.

"Professor don't look at me. This kid just started talking and I had nothing to do with it." He put on innocent, pleading eyes and a pout. Alfred twitched. The face looked so fake it pissed him off, but the professor accepted it without pause. What the hell? This guy was an asshole. No wonder he didn't have any friends! Alfred spun in his chair, pouting hard with his arms crossed.

"Very well, but don't think I won't make good on my threats if it happens again." With that, the professor continued his lesson and the students fell into silence. Alfred couldn't shake the feeling that someone watching him though, eyes never blinking. He suppressed a shiver. Since when did it get so cold?

xXx

Three weeks. Three weeks and every day without fail, Alfred felt cold eyes on him. No matter where in the room he sat, the boy named Ivan always stared at him. He tried sitting behind him until he realized Ivan always sat in the back left corner under an open window. Alfred never saw him staring. When he turned his head, Ivan always looked boredly at the front of the room, or he smiled, or anything else. But as soon as Alfred looked away again, the hairs on his back would start to tingle. Despite loving the History and Future of Space class, he ran out of it every day. Well, run would be the wrong word. People like Alfred didn't run, but he had lunch next and he always made it to the cafeteria lines before the crowds started. Never mind that room 136a sat in the farthest back of the hall. This Tuesday was like any other.

"Yo Kiku, you play that new game yet?!" Alfred exclaimed as he hurried across the tile floor to their usual table. The small Asian boy smiled and nodded, waiting for Alfred to get to a more appropriate distance before he dropped into his critique over the battle system. He wouldn't yell like his friend. Despite being different in many ways though, the two bonded since lunch the first day when Kiku spilled a stack of comic books in front of Alfred. All it too was 'ah…you're a transformers fan?' before they were chatting animately.

Just as Alfred rounded the last long table and was about to slide over to his seat, a leg shot out and he went flying over it. His burger, fry, and chicken nugget lunch sailed into the air and crashed down on top of Kiku, eliciting a squeak. Alfred recognized the giggle sounding behind him. Eyes narrowed, he pushed himself up from the hard floor. When he turned, he met Ivan's eye immediately with a glare. The bully himself sat there looking cool with his fork and knife like he didn't do a thing. Beyond the innocent face—cold eyes. Alfred stood to match off with him and Ivan never blinked his attention away.

"Are you trying to make friends again? Here, let me help," Alfred said with a tight-lipped grin. He reached over and grabbed Ivan's food tray. Without a word more, he dumped the contents over his head. "How does your food taste?" His eyes glared at the older boy even as he smiled. With his hair dripping gravy, Ivan smiled back. He lifted a finger to capture a drop then licked it away.

"Very good. I really appreciate your help, Alfred." The tone Ivan said his name with made him shiver. It didn't sound right, like he placed an extra special emphasis on the word. Alfred sneered just to hide his reaction. After flipping Ivan the third, he whirled away.

"Go die in hell!" The yell thrown over his shoulder, Alfred plopped down next to Kiku and threw back his head with one of his most irritating laughs. He wasn't about to let Ivan ruin his good mood, so he started picking up his lunch and eating it at the same time. Mouth full, he complained to his friend who, despite looking younger, was actually three years older and probably ten times smarter than him. Asians. "That guy is so insufferable. Next time I should just punch him." But Alfred was loath to do it. Despite Ivan grating on him every day, it felt wrong to hit him. Maybe if he were defending someone else, but for childish things like this? It would mean they got to him, which they didn't.

"Why don't you ignore him?" Kiku sighed. "You're only making things worse for yourself." He shook his head and picked at a plate full of limp fried rice and his sandwich. It always looked more appetizing in the serving dish than on his plate. He didn't understand how the other boy could gulp it all down like some kind of food vacuum.

Alfred huffed and made a ball out of half his roll before tossing it back onto his plate. "I can't ignore someone like that!"

Kiku blinked, his chocolaty eyes narrowing in concentration. Alfred didn't know why he looked at him like that, as if those words should actually warrant a pause. "…Why not?"

Laughing nervously, Alfred shrugged one shoulder. "How should I know?" He laughed again and popped a ketchup laden fry into his mouth. "Seriously, why are you looking at me like that? If I let that guy alone, there'd be no one to bully him back. It's not like I go out of my way to confront him. He always starts it!"

"I'm sure that's exactly it…" Kiku muttered with a sigh. Those two were quite stupid.

(Hey ya'll. I finally got tired of not posting anything new. I've got a serious backlog of finished things that need posting. I don't know why I split this into such tiny chapters, but the piece is already finished and I'll have the rest of the chapters up eventually. Hope you enjoy! :D )