WARNING: This fic is rated T for teens and contains "some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes." Please be advised that there is a possibility this may be bumped up to an M rating down the road.
Carswell Thorne leaned against one of the large carved stone pillars lining the arcade next to the school's courtyard. Sunglasses lowered, he eyed the students walking by. More accurately, he eyed the female students walking by and appreciated their short pleated skirts and knee socks. He definitely missed that, being at an all-boys boarding school for the past two years. He was finally back in his element and he couldn't wait to pick up where he left off.
His shoulder jerked forward as someone gave him a playful yet firm punch in the arm. Thorne looked over to see his best friend Kai Prince, grinning at him.
"Surveying the student body, I see."
Thorne shrugged as he positioned his Ray Bans back on his face. "Some of the students' bodies at least."
Kai rolled his eyes at Thorne. "Come on. You're going to be late on your first day of school."
Now it was Thorne's turn to roll his eyes. Being late for class was never a concern of his and now that it was his senior year and he had no intentions of going to college he didn't see why he should start worrying about such trivial things. Besides, it was his father's fault that Thorne was starting two weeks after the official beginning of the school year. He figured there was already a precedent set. Still, he followed as Kai made his way to their lockers.
Kai led Thorne pass the large carved wood doors into the school's main corridor, stopping in front of a bank of royal blue lockers. He handed Thorne a slip of paper with a combination and pointed to the locker right next to his. Thorne took the paper and smirked. Leave it to Kai to make sure they had neighboring lockers. He wondered how many of Kai's infamous Prince-smirks he had to dole out onto the admin assistant in the registrar's office to pull that off.
Since Thorne didn't have any books or even a backpack, he slipped the paper into his pocket and leaned against the lockers, resuming his assessment of the female population. Kai shook his head.
"Why do I even bother?"
Thorne chuckled.
"Are you even planning on going to class this year?"
"Of course. The Captain said I could only come back if I went to all of my classes and didn't flunk out. Honestly, I think he just wanted me to come back because we have a legacy to uphold. I figured I'm golden as long as I don't get expelled … again."
This time Kai chuckled. "Easier said than done."
Thorne looked at him out of the corner of his eye, but he secretly admitted to himself that Kai was right. He really was going to have to try to not get expelled this time. He ran his hand through his hair in an act of nonchalance and let out a low whistle as a pair of girls walked by. They looked at him appreciatively. He watched them as they made their way down the hall grinning to himself, but the smile quickly faded when he saw who was making their way towards him.
"Psycho queen coming right at us," he murmured to Kai.
Kai looked over his shoulder and bristled. He stuffed the rest of his books hastily into his bag, slammed his locker shut, and joined Thorne in leaning against his own locker.
A tall girl with long wavy auburn hair and flawless skin came to a stop in front of them, her entourage following close behind.
"Carswell," she purred, "I'm so glad to see you're back." She reached over to lay a hand on his bicep.
Thorne was glad his sunglasses were concealing his rolling eyes. "Levana."
Levana Blackburn smiled at Thorne as she dipped her charcoal eyes, making sure to show off her long lashes in a flutter before darting a quick glance over to Kai. Thorne looked past Levana and standing behind her right shoulder, exactly where he expected her to be, stood a tall girl with olive skin and jet-black hair—her steely grey eyes almost as sharp and severe as the cut of her long bob and bangs—Sybil Mira. Standing just as straight but not nearly as rigid as Sybil was Aimery Park. His dark skin almost glowed in the warm morning sun streaming in from the corridor windows. Unlike Sybil who always had a scowl on her face, Aimery was smirking. Thorne couldn't help but picture a mischievous cat with a canary in its claws.
Before Thorne could turn his eyes back on Levana, he spotted someone unfamiliar—a petite blonde girl with a heart-shaped face and long wavy hair that was pulled into a ridiculously long side braid. The girl had a light blue ribbon tied to the tail end of her braid, and a tiny silver crescent moon hair pin tucked into the curls at her temple. Thorne eyed her curiously. If she wasn't standing so close to Aimery, Thorne would not have thought she was part of Levana's clique. She looked almost too innocent to be hanging out with Levana and Thorne wondered if maybe she was a foreign exchange student who didn't know any better.
At that moment the bell rang, and Thorne was never so relieved to go to class.
"I'll see you around, Carswell." Levana cooed, finally taking her hand off his arm.
"Sure, Levana." Thorne said as casually as he could muster.
Levana didn't say a single word to Kai before she made her way down the hall with her party in tow.
"Aces, I did not miss her," Thorne muttered.
Kai chuckled, hiking his backpack up his shoulder. "Welcome back to Artemisia Academy."
Thorne laughed and watched as an attractive girl walked by, doing nothing to conceal the fact that she was checking him out.
"It feels like I never even left."
Thorne smirked as he stood in front of the class, waiting for the teacher to introduce him. He wasn't sure if Kingsley Thorne had this in mind when he waited until the last minute to tell his son he could return to his former school, but Thorne didn't mind benefitting from it either way.
"Class, this is Carswell Thorne," Mrs. Kamin announced.
Thorne's eyes swept over the students as the look of realization dawned on their faces. He chuckled. "You can just call me Thorne," he said taking his time as he made his way to the back of the classroom where there was inevitably an empty seat.
He leaned back in his chair, legs stretching out into the aisle, feet crossed at the ankles, making a big show of stretching his hands and bending them back so they rested against the back of his head, arms jutting outward. He simply grinned as he heard the whispers ripple through the classroom.
The Carswell Thorne? The one the library is named after? That was his grandfather. Didn't he get expelled? I heard he was sent to England. I heard he joined the army. No, that was just military school. What is he doing back?
By the time the lunch bell rang, the whole school was buzzing about the return of Carswell Thorne, the bad boy who had gotten expelled from school in his sophomore year, no one really knowing the reason why, and was shipped off to some boarding school no one had heard of. Some of the stories that caught Thorne's attention were simply outlandish and couldn't be further from the truth, but he loved each and every one of them.
Thorne caught up with Kai in the courtyard where most of the students gathered during their forty-five minute lunch break. He snatched the apple off Kai's tray and bit into it.
"Well, if it isn't the infamous Carswell Thorne. Did you really kidnap Kufra High's mascot and set it loose in their school?" Kai feigned awe.
Thorne nearly choked on the apple. "A tiger?! Why would I set a tiger loose? That's just ridiculous!"
"That's one of the tamer stories. Did you or did you not win a night with a high-end escort while playing in an underground Royals tournament in Rio?"
Thorne threw his head back in genuine laughter at that one. "It was a princess and we were in Sao Paolo." He smirked.
Thorne stood at the front of his last class, waiting for the teacher to introduce him although he knew it wasn't necessary. He scanned the room, his heart dropping for the first time all day. The only empty seat was front and center and coincidentally, right next to the blonde girl from that morning—Levana's newest lackey.
"Class," their English teacher, Mr. Bromstad, called out. "This is Carswell Thorne."
He grinned, trying to hide his irritation. "Just Thorne, thanks."
He slipped into the empty seat, not being able to recall the last time, if ever, he sat in the front row. It made him uncharacteristically uncomfortable and he didn't like it one bit. Maybe he'd talk to one of the back row kids into trading seats with him. He also wasn't above paying someone, or even resorting to blackmail if it came down to it.
He shifted in his seat as Mr. Bromstad stood just a few feet in front of him, gesticulating wildly as he went on and on about how Hamlet's inaction lead to his ultimate demise. Thorne fidgeted in his seat thinking about how he should be writing all of this down or something, when a piece of paper and pen landed on the desk in front of him.
He looked over at Levana's lackey—he should really find out what her name was—but she didn't even look up from her note-taking. Thorne picked up the pen and noticed a tiny silver crescent moon sticker taped to the pen's cap. He spent the rest of the period actually taking notes, not realizing how often his thumb absentmindedly ran across the little silver moon.
When the bell rang, Thorne made to lean over to return the pen, but someone blocked his way. He found himself staring at the tan midriff of a girl. That wasn't standard regulation for the school's mandatory uniform, but he appreciated her personal style. He drew his eyes upwards and flashed his one-sided grin at a girl with thick black hair pulled into a bun and warm hazel eyes. She lay a hand on the crook of Thorne's elbow.
"Hi Thorne, I don't know if you remember me … Jina."
Thorne flashed his grin again. "Of course I remember you Jina," he lied. "What can I do for you?"
"Since you're back, I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime."
Thorne eyed her up and down, eyes resting just a moment on her midriff and pouty lips. "Sure, sugar."
Jina looked pleased, but then expectant—probably waiting for him to give her his number.
"Why don't you give me your number and I'll call you."
Jina's eyes flashed briefly with disappointment, but she grabbed the pen and paper that was sitting on Thorne's desk and wrote her information down, larger than Thorne thought was necessary. She made her way out the mostly empty classroom.
"Wait, Jina," Thorne said.
She turned around, eyes shining. "Yes?"
Thorne pointed at her hand. "Can I have my pen back?"
Jina looked down at her hand, noticing the crescent moon sticker and forced a smile. "Of course." She sauntered back to him and lay the pen gently on the desk before leaving.
Thorne pocketed the pen and his sheet of notes and jogged out of the classroom, wondering if it was too late to catch up with Kai.
AN: Thanks as always to my beta lettered. Thanks for reading. Comments and likes are always appreciated.