My alarm blared right in my timpani, making my head feel as if ten tiny roadworkers were jackhammering into my skull. Every scale on my body screamed at me to stay in bed, to take the day off... It was only the first day, what would I miss really?
Knock knock! "Pajux!" Mom's voice sang from the other side of my bedroom door. "Time to get up, sweetheart." Well, there goes that idea.
Somehow, I managed to pull myself from my stony grey sheets and stretch, making little groaning sounds as my muscles and bones released and clicked back into place. The dull silver of my new bedroom, which honestly looked exactly like my one back in Riften, reflected the bright orangish, yellow light that streamed inside my window. Damn, it's six thirty in the morning, I thought to myself, why is it so bright? Not even Riften's midday sun shone as hard as this!
South Cyrodiil's warm temperature was pretty nice, but I still had to sleep with my window open. A lifetime in Skyrim's bitter cold winds and snows had taught me to sleep with all the blankets pulled up to my neck, but doing that down here would cook me alive. That day, my first day at a new school, was a lot cooler than it had been when we first moved down, two weeks before. Back then, the heat was so bad that my scales started cracking like bacon in a frying pan. But, that sticky summer seemed to be giving way to fall now.
From my closet, I carefully selected an outfit that would impress but not make me stand out too much. A simple ensemble of scale-tight blue denim jeans, one of my favourite band T-shirts, this one of Dead Dremora. A facial wipe made its way across my face, cleaning away any dirt and sleep, as I sprayed deodorant across my torso. As ready to face that day as I'd ever be.
"Asshole!" A voice similar to mine called out from behind the door. "I was first for the bathroom!"
"Yeah," I called back. "Life's a bitch, huh."
The other voice growled a little, before I heard its owner stomp back to his bedroom. Such a loving relationship I had with my brother. Dem, my identical twin in every physical way, but my polar opposite everywhere else, was fuming in his room, while I brushed my teeth and washed up.
"Every morning," Mom sighed exhaustedly as I entered the kitchen. She was right, of course. A part of our daily routine: get up, dress, nearly come to blows over the bathroom, have breakfast. The circle of life.
I sat myself down at the table, breathing in the delicious scent of pancakes and perfectly browned toast. My mother, a tall and plump Argonian woman with green-coloured scales and yellow feathers on her head, which she tied back with a blue bandana, stood in front of the stove, frying up some bacon and eggs for Dem. The soft pancakes melted in my mouth, topped with sweet syrup, as I tucked into my vegetarian breakfast.
"You're such a wad," Dem told me when he came downstairs, his scales the same shade of green as Mom and mine, dressed in baggy jeans and a hoodie. Why was he wearing a hoodie? It was like eighty degrees.
"And you're a tool, but I'm not complaining." I took another forkful of my pancakes, not-so-slyly flipping him off with my middle finger. Dem and I liked to tease each other, but we both knew we'd do anything for each other. We'd bitch about it before, but we would do it.
"I swear to Sithis," Mom said, putting Dem's plate in front of him, "the pair of you are going to put me in an institution."
"We live to torture you," I replied.
"Is that so wrong?" Dem finished. Completing each other's sentences was a weird twin thing that we did and it freaked everyone out, ever since we were little hatchlings. People used to say how weird it was that we were so different, but so similar.
"Are you both ready for school?" She asked us, sitting down to her own cup of coffee and toast.
"I think I have everything," my brother answered. Of course he did; he had his book bag ready for the first day since we moved in. "I hope there's a Mathletes team."
"Nerd," I fake-coughed.

Dem just rolled his eyes a little. This happened all the time, but honestly, he was so smart it made me kind of proud to be his brother. Like, he was gonna go places. Myself, I wasn't too bright, but I was artistic; my dream was to be an architect and design a building in Cyrodiil City. Nearly every notebook I've used for classes was filled with doodles and drawings, and I had sketchbooks brimming with carefully drawn, shaded and coloured art. Not that I was that good, but it was something I just loved doing.
"You gonna go back to cheerleading, Pajux?" Mom turned to me. Back in St Septim High, I was co-captain and bottom left corner of the pyramid.
"Dunno," I replied, a little solemnly. "Cheerleading was fun, but I think I might miss the old squad too much to join a new one." The girls in my old squad were so great; Daniella, Suvari, Shahvee, they were my best friends in the world. We told each other everything: they were the first ones I came out to (but it was kind of obvious), they told me when they lost their virginities or had a pregnancy scare. We were never apart.

"You were so good at it though," Mom told me. "What's the harm?"
"I could fall off the pyramid, die and take the whole squad with me. Do you want that on your conscience, Mother?"
She rolled her eyes at my dramaticism. "Forget I asked."
The three of us finished breakfast, me going as slow as I could to delay leaving, and Dem practically inhaling his to speed it up. I hung my bookbag from my shoulder and headed out towards the garage, where my dark blue Particle sedan waited. Something I'd bought with my inheritance from my Grams, when she passed about a year and a half ago. Dem climbed in the passenger side, while I got in the driver's seat. My iPhone connected to the car speakers, playing the most unbelievably gay pop music in existence.
"Can't we listen to the radio?" Dem complained, grimacing; he was not a fan of my taste. "It's not that I don't like her, but don't you get sick of Lady Gaga?"
"Never," I replied, turning up the volume on Born This Way. "My car, my rules."
My brother scoffed, as I pulled out of the garage and onto our street. Leyawiin High School lay about two miles away from our new house, a route my parents ensured I knew. On the way, I ignored Dem reminding me of what we had to do. This was at least the tenth time he'd reminded me since the phone call; first, we go to Principal Maro's office, get our class schedules and a tour of the school, before our first class at the third period. I wonder what my first class would be; hopefully art. Or history. I prayed it wasn't math; even though I chose to keep doing it in senior year, I didn't want to. But there's no hope of going to college without senior year math.
The car pulled into the student parking lot, which was pretty empty. Guess when the weather's pleasant year-round, more people walked rather than drove. Leyawiin High, a great grey-brick building of three floors, and probably another one under the ground. Kind of older, as well, with big windows that opened up the classrooms. Inside, hallways designed with faux-marble floors, painted white brick walls decorated with pictures of students on trips, teachers during charity days and stuff like that. The odd trophy case separated the green steel lockers, one for each of the school's teams and clubs; debate team, football, basketball, Mathletes (Dem practically yelped with joy when he saw that). Dem and I arrived at the school secretary's office, the woman heading it a Cyrodiilic woman so old she looked like a Hagraven. In ancient times, the Cyrodiilics called themselves Imperials, but the name went out of use when the Empire dissolved into what's now the United Provinces of Tamriel.
"Hi," I called to her, pulling her from her computer. "I'm Pajux-Tai Androscal, and this is my brother Demerinei. We're new."
The woman's icy blue eyes sized us up over her black-rimmed glasses. Brushing her hair, thin and grey, away from her face, she clacked at her computer to bring up whatever she needed to see.

"Ahh," she rasped, "I've got you here. Principal Maro will be with you in just a moment." Her thin pink lips gave us an awkward smile, gesturing us to sit and wait. In the fifteen or so minutes we sat there for, I clicked away on my phone, sending messages to the girls in our group chat and playing Dragon Hatch. Shahvee told me my replacement, some Khajiiti girl, couldn't get the routine down as well as I could, and offered to beg my dad's boss to let him come back. In all honesty, I almost let her. But oh well, the show must go on.
"Ah," a deep voice called,"you must be the Androscal twins."
"Do you see any other identical Argonian brothers around?" I quipped at the middle-aged Cyrodiilic man, tall and broad with greasy black hair, tan skin and beady brown eyes that now glared at me. What was that, five seconds and he already hated me? That had to be a record.
"You must be Pajux-Tai," Maro replied. "I pulled up your permanent records. A fine student, albeit with an attitude problem. Headed for AP Art and History, honors classes in Alteration magic, alchemy, and an ex-cheerleader."
"I can just tell we're going to be besties." I gave him a smile, feeling my small blue eyes glint with cheek and insolence. A victim of my legendary wit and charm, he smiled back at me, turning to my brother.
"And Demerinei, I presume?"
Dem nodded. "That's me, sir." Kiss-ass.
"A model student. Honour roll, without a single detention or suspension. AP Math, Tamrielic and Biology. Lead your school's Mathletes to victory in the provincials last year. You're going to do just fine here."
Oh, how my brother did love being fawned over. He smiled, took the praise and ate it up as if he were starving and Maro's words were hot burgers. Once they finished taking turns to feed Dem's ego, we got started with our tour of the school. It's big. There's classrooms. That's about it.
With our schedules in hand, a firm handshake and a "Welcome to Leyawiin High" from the esteemed principal, my brother and I parted to put our stuff into our lockers. Maro had assigned me one on the school's second block, near the Magic Studies department, and I dumped the stuff I didn't need just now into the metal lockbox. Before heading off to my first class (which was math, ugh), I decided to stop by the library; they'd have the textbooks and stuff I'd need for my classes. The librarian, a perky young Dunmer woman, was more than happy to help me out. Advanced Magical Applications: Alteration, Gateway into a World of Colour for art, Honor-Roll Alchemy, and a couple others for each class. There, I'd successfully wasted the rest of math. Armed with my Alteration textbook, I doubled back to my locker to deposit the new books, before heading down the corridor to my very first class at Leyawiin High.

"How was your summer?"
"Did you hear? Mack's already trying to get with Lori, and it's the first day!"
"I went skiing in Winterhold with my parents."
Everyone was talking pleasantly with each other. All, except me. Me, the drama queen, the eternal centre of attention in my old school. At St Septim, everyone knew my name. Everyone begged me and the cheer squad for an audience, trying to get a taste of our popularity. But here, I was nobody. Just another face in the crowd.
By Sithis, I hated it. All I could do was sit there in the back, wait, like some outcast with no friends. But that was not me. I had no friends. Yet.
"All right," the teacher said, trying to calm the rabble. "Welcome back, everyone. Good summer?"
The class murmured in a generally positive manner, turning to each other with some sparse nods.
"Don't worry, I won't throw you all into the deep end on the first day," he continued. A High Elf, with flowing hair a milky-white colour, with piercing green eyes and skin that looked like it had been sprayed with gold paint. "We'll do the list. Amaund?"
A Breton guy raised his hand, calling 'here'.
"Amxi?"
Another Argonian, a dainty and slim girl, responded.
"And...Androscale?"
"It's pronounced 'skahl'," I corrected him, smiling pleasantly. At least he didn't seem to be a dick. "And I'm here."
"Ahh, you're one of the new students," he realised. "Pajux-Tai, isn't it?"
My head tilted in a curt nod.
"I'm Mr Sillina. Lovely to have you." His voice still carried a hint of a Summerset Isle accent. "I'll finish the list, and we'll have a little chat to make sure you're good to start, 'kay?"
Sillina continued through the list of students' names, until he came to the last one, a Khajiit named Vehris. Once that was done, he let the class practice with small-scale spells for a little while.
"So, your transcripts say you were honor Alteration in junior year." Sillina perused a sheet of paper, printed with information about my history and grades in this class. "I doubt you'll need to catch up...might even be ahead some places. What level can you cast at?"
I gave him a sly smile. Alteration was one of my many talents, the school of magic I was best at. My hand lifted from the desk, as I let my mind focus on something. The red pen on his desk, on the other side of the room. Little crimson wisps started floating out of my extended hand, as the magicka, the energy that powers spells, ensnared the pen and lifted it into the air. Right between my fingers, which spun it between them in a way that was show-offy, even for me.
The Altmer's slim face returned my smile. "Well done. You're talented, I'll give you that, but cockiness is dangerous with magic. What about the theory side?"
"I got a B the last essay I wrote, on the Trinimac University's study into life detection. That was a pretty good read, actually." And it was; I wasn't too big a reader, that was more my brother, but something about that study really interested me.
"Oh yeah, I read that myself. I'll be sure to email your school back in Riften for a copy. It'll be interesting to read your thoughts on it." The teacher's eyes brightened up a little; it seemed that most of his students weren't as interested in Alteration as me. "But I don't think you'll have much to do. If there's a problem, don't hesitate to ask."
I gave him one last smile, nodding as I sat back in the class, still playing with the pen I'd floated over from the desk. Sillina began talking us through some third-tier level spells; mild levitation to start with. The girl next to me, a Nord, had her notebook in the air and rotating slowly, like a pickup item in an RPG.
"You're good," I said to her, giving her a little jump that broke her focus. The notebook crashed back to Nirn, falling off the desk. Through my small fit of laughter, I apologised.
"I-it's alright," she gasped breathlessly. Blond curls fell in front of her pretty, roundish face, as she looked over at me with her icy blue eyes. "Thanks anyway."
I smiled at her. "I'm Pajux-Tai. Just moved here from Riften."
"Astrid." Her plump, baby pink lips turned up into a pleasant smile. Those blue eyes seemed to glimmer, in a mix of 'fairy princess magical pixie girl' and 'bitch, I rule this school with an iron fist'. My kinda girl.
"So," I began, after a few minutes of pleasant small talk, "what do you do for fun around here?"
"Depends. The Plaza is good for shopping, cafés and shit. We have a multiplex, and like one decent nightclub. That's really it."
I chuckled. "Sounds better than Riften. We had one mall, and it was on the other side of town."
Astrid's Android phone made a little chirping noise, a text she flicked open and clacked out a reply to. "Hey, you wanna sit with us at lunch? I've got a friend I think you'd like."

"Uh..." Wow, that was quick. "Sure."
"Sweet," she sang a little. "You'll know our table."
Once the bell rang, I gave Astrid a polite smile goodbye, wondering who this friend of hers was. Knowing humans, Nords especially, it was because he was another Argonian. But still, it was one step towards regaining my crown; soon, I would have everyone bowing at my feet as I walk through my kingdom, a gorgeous boy on my arm and a GPA that would make any college admissions board jizz themselves. This was gonna be a fun year.

History class was fairly uneventful; the teacher, a Dark Elf named Mr Sarethi, ignored the fact that I'd just moved here and got us all started on the semester's syllabus. The Third Tamrielic War, which gave rise to the Republic. Yawn. My stomach groaned softly the entire time, begging for some food, and when the bell rang I almost sprinted through the halls to the cafeteria. A little prayer to Sithis echoed in my head; please let the food not be inedible dragon shit.
A little sign on top of the sneeze guard had a message to the students, welcoming us back and telling us lunch today would be meatloaf.
"ID card please," the Khajiit lunch lady demanded.
"I can't pay with cash?" I queried. "This is my first day, I don't have one yet."
The woman frowned. "Sorry, it's all automated. The card lets us charge your student account."
"Oh," I whined a little, handing her the tray. The clawed, orange-furred hand reached for the plastic, but hesitated when she heard my stomach complain. "Go on. Take it. Consider it a welcome gift from the school."
The corners of my mouth turned up into a grateful smile. "Thank you. Keep an eye out for my twin brother, will you? He's in the same boat." The lunch lady nodded with a smile as I took the tray and started looking for the blonde curly head that sat with me in Alteration. My eyes scanned the caf, eventually spotting her curled into a broad, muscled guy in a letterman jacket with legitimately platinum blond hair.
"Pajux," she called in her sing-songy voice, smiling at me again.
I took a seat at the end of the long table, next to a youthful Dunmer girl with black hair. She smiled tentatively, before returning to her cell phone and clicking away at the screen.
"So," Astrid started, "guys, this is Pajux. Pajux, these are the guys."
"Gabriella," was the Dark Elf I sat beside, who was buried in her cell phone.
"Arn," was the Nord boy Astrid was symbiotically joined with.
"Keerava, but we call her Kiki." An Argonian girl, with a slim build and greyish scales.
"And this," Astrid continued, her hand gesturing to the end of the table, "is Veezara, but we call him Vee."
My eyes followed her slender arm, past her perfectly manicured pink fingernails, towards the one I assumed was the friend Astrid thought I'd like. Of course, an Argonian, as I thought. His scales were greener than mine, as bright as leaves in the summer. Two horns, straight and thick, came out from his head for about seven or so inches. A red and white letterman jacket, adorned with LHS, was draped over his slim shoulders, reaching down to his similarly thin waist. Damn, he was pretty. Ridiculously pretty. Those gorgeous, sharp white teeth smiled at me, making the scales around his lovely green eyes crinkle just a little.
"Nice to meet you," he said, in a voice I didn't really expect from him; soft, nice and a little higher than I thought it would be.
"Likewise," I said to them all, trying not to stare at how pretty Veezara was. Funny, for all my big talk, I felt a little timid; in Riften, I didn't have to work for my popularity. The girls that became my cheer squad had been my friends since elementary school, and when we got to middle school and started the cheerleading, popularity just came with it. But here, I was at the bottom rung, starting all over again.
"So, Gabby," Astrid turned to the dark elf, "Delphine's left us high and dry. We're missing the bottom corner of our pyramid! And Julie as well. We're going to have to hold tryouts this week."
Cheerleaders! I knew it. Somewhere at the back of my mind, I could see it in Astrid's face.
"You know," I cut in, "I might be interested in joining your squad."
"Really?" Astrid's thin, masterfully styled eyebrow raised. "Well, you'll have to try out with the rest."
"As ex-head cheerleader at my old school, I'm confident I'll ace it." My own brow rose deviously. "You can find us on YouTube, but I'd prefer to show you in person what I can do."
"I like him," Gabriella piped up, smiling.
A little buzz in my pocket told me I had a text. Taking out my iPhone, I flicked it open to see my brother's name pop up next to it.

Dem: You work fast. Two hours in and you're already lunching with the Queen Bee?
Pajux: Of course. It's my rightful place. Did you get in with the nerd herd?
Dem: I'm joining Mathletes. You say nerd it as if it's a bad thing, but it's the technological age, nerds are the in thing these days!
Pajux: I'll have whatever you're taking that makes you think that's true.
Dem: Look behind you.

From a few tables towards the rear of the caf, I saw my brother with his middle finger raised high, surrounded by the dictionary definitions of the word nerd. I rolled my eyes as visibly as I could and turned back to the group.
"What you looking at?" Astrid asked, craning her neck to see behind me. "Is that another you sitting in Dweeb Town?"
"My twin brother," I told her. "I got all the cool genes in our egg. Shame nothing rubbed off on him."
"I'm so sorry for your loss," she joked. "Sitting at that table is social death."
"Dem was never socially alive."
The table giggled at my comment, even Veezara, which I was glad of; he had a nice laugh. I picked on my brother, made some jokes that he retorted to, but he was happy with other guys like him; the smart ones that play nerdy games and read comics. But I would never let anyone lay a hand on him, or bully him for his interests. One guy back at St Septim tried by shoving him in a locker, and within a day I had him off of the basketball team, spread a rumour he had gonorrhoea so no girls would go near him, and made him a complete social outcast, even more so than Dem himself. Nobody fucks with my little brother.
My new acquaintances and I chatted for the remainder of the lunch break, before the bell rang to end our respite from the relentless education. Luckily though, we had study hall next, which I shared with Astrid. And Vee. Wonderful.
As with any school in Tamriel, study hall is less of a time to study and more of a time to fuck around, depending on which teacher is presiding over it. Today, it was the ancient Cyrodiilic who taught Illusion magic, who was pretty much completely deaf and fell asleep as soon as we all sat down. Good, since there was absolutely nothing to study with it being the first day.
"When's the season start?" Astrid asked Vee, sitting with his feet up on the desk. "We'll need a full squad, three alternates and a routine set up before."
"Just after the Frostfall vacation," he replied. "We're first up against the Martin High Minotaurs."
Astrid nodded slowly, the little gears in her head turning with nearly real clicks. Being head cheerleader isn't just walking around, looking good in our uniforms and that kind of shit; you need to coordinate an entire squad, plan the cheers down to every movement, every drumbeat, every flick of the pom poms. Everything matters in a cheer, from the music to who goes where. Sometimes, it's more work than the SATs.
"So you're a football player?" I said to Vee. "Didn't really expect that."
Vee's eyes turned to me, a playful glint shining in the emerald-green. "And why's that?"
"You're just... A little slim I guess." I could feel my cheeks flush in embarrassment, one thing that rarely happened to me. "What position do you play?"
"I'm a wide receiver." It took legitimately every ounce of self control I had not to giggle like a kid at that. "I do more running than blocking, so I can get away with not being a beefcake."
My lips were pursed a little as I nodded, still trying not to laugh. "I'm not really into football. I just cheered for it."
"You don't like football?" Vee gasped faux-dramatically. "What kind of boy are you?"
"A gay one."
"Oh." I saw him blush again, looking away from me. "Sorry, I kind of assumed."
"It's 'kay. I'm kinda stereotypical, so I dunno how you didn't notice. Pop music, not into sports, a cheerleader. Well, soon-to-be."
"Cocky, aren't we?" Astrid chimed in.
"Always."
When the bell rang, I picked up my stuff and made my way to a double period of art class. None of my new friends shared that class with me, which I honestly preferred: it let me sit and work in peace, designing and drawing with no interruptions. The senior project was going to be a dress, which would be graded on various aspects like imagination, practicality, wearability, etc. Our teacher seemed pleased at me; almost as soon as she spoke the words, I had already started doodling designs, cut and fabric ideas.

For the rest of the class, she gave us free reign to sketch whatever we wanted, giving us pointers throughout (apparently, I needed to work on my dimensions). Art class made sure the school day ended on a good note, so I was in a pretty smiley mood walking through the halls. My phone in my hand, I texted Dem quickly.

Pajux: Need a ride home or are you and the nerd herd doing something else?
Dem: Kiss my ass. We're going to the comic book store in town.
Pajux: Okay, I'm your brother and I love you, but you need to get laid. And not just by your anime body pillow.
Dem: It's called a Dakimakura and I don't sleep with it. It's in the corner and it's cool.
Pajux: I legitimately cannot think of anything less cool.

Sometimes, it caused me physical pain that my twin brother was this uncool.
"Pajux!"

I turned on my heels to face who was calling me; Vee strolled towards me, a textbook in hand and a smile on his face.

"Hey," I said, giving him a coy smile.

"You've received a summons," he told me, smirking. "Astrid wants you to come to the Plaza."

"Oh, I would be honoured to accept. On one condition."

"That being?"
"You be there."

If I didn't know better, I'd have sworn he started to get a little flustered. "Uh, yeah I'm going too."

"Then let's go."