Cole winced uncomfortably as the nurse dabbed his elbow with a damp cotton ball, his head still pounding from the aggressive hit. Everything had happened so fast; the unnatural explosion of green and gold flashing to an empty darkness in a matter of milliseconds. It was terrifying, to say the least.

"Don't worry yourself. Everyone is in here on their first day, they can't help it." She noticed the boy's guilty expression, his head lowered in anxiousness. He quietly glanced up at her with innocently confused orbs of emerald, equally glassy and bloodshot from the painful effort to hold back his restrained tears.

The Medical Room was definitely a shock, appearance wise. Unlike the other areas of the main building, the plain, ugly white walls and smooth brown floors were replaced with mug brighter and enjoyable colours. Blue and lilac stained the perimeter of the room with large animal stickers; that's probably for the little kids, Cole thought to himself. Although, suddenly, and rather painfully, he was knocked back into reality.

The yet-to-be-introduced Nurse began to carefully remove small pieces of gravel and dirt from his knee, flinching slightly as the limb jolted upwards in confusion. She hummed calmly as she kept her focus, quickly taking out the last clump. Her head turned to meet the boy's stare. "Don't look so frightened!" She laughed as Cole's cheeks flushed an embarrassed shade of pink, ushering him off the bed. "Now—"

"Miss, I am here to take Cole back to class." Zane nodded over at the said teen rather intimidatingly, strolling over and grabbing his smaller hand. "Sorry for the intrusion." And with that he marched Cole out the room and down the corridors.

"Wha…?" The small boy stared up at Zane as he was dragged, his legs hurting slightly.

Zane didn't look back as he chuckled to himself smugly. "I assume that you do not want to attend our Sexual Reproduction Class? It is vital for our generation, you see."

Cole suddenly stopped, bringing the robot to an abrupt halt. He blinked up at the taller boy, one eye covered by his raven hair. "E-Excuse me?"

"The class in which we learn about heterosexual reproduction?"

"W-Why not…" Cole bit his lip anxiously as he looked at his feet. "Why not gay—"

Zane sighed loudly, quickly pulling the Earth Master into a more isolated area between some lockers. "We don't talk about that. Although some teachers like Master Wu or Mrs Garmadon don't think it's fair, it isn't correct to be attracted to your own gender. If you were to like boys, then how would you contribute to the next generation of elemental masters?"

The other teen felt his cheeks heat up slightly, the stinging in his eyes becoming more and more painful as he sniffed. His emerald gaze shifted to meet Zane's stern glare, his head cocked to the side in mild confusion. "Is there something wrong, Cole?"

"Huh? O-Oh… no. No, I'm alright." Cole swallowed thickly, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. "We should be getting back to class."

"Certainly."

The rest of the day was over a lot quicker than Cole had expected it to be; he was now making his way down to his assigned dorm room where is bags already were. The hallway wasn't too full, the only people being the odd teacher, or the snogging couple pushed up against the lockers. He avoided the scene as discreetly as he could, sharply priveting to his right a1s he pushed open the correct door. All the other boys from the First Class that day were sat in the cosy area, divided evenly into their own, more personal friendship groups. Jay caught Cole's attention, recognising the rather an attractive snort of laughter from across the room.

"Can I sit with you all?" The boy hovered eerily next to the small couch near the fireplace, fresh wood placed nextly inside, waiting to be set alight. Before anyone could say anything Kai took hold of Cole's smaller hand and propped him next to him on the couch. "I-I'll take that as a "yes" then…"

Lloyd smirked as he swallowed another one of Jay's marshmallows, gladly ignoring the heartbroken glare as the Lightning Master realised there was no more left for himself. "You're pretty hardcore for someone so shy." He nodded positively as he noticed a flash of embarrassment take over the raven's expression. "N-Not in a bad way, of course! It gives you some mystery, ya know? Something that most of us struggle to keep-"

"Like, earlier, when you wrecked Skylar! That was awesome!"

"Jay!" Kai suddenly snapped, peering across Cole to the person on the boy's right. "Don't talk shit about my girlfriend!"

"Girlfriend? Well excuse me Romeo, but you started off the applause!" Jay retorted snarkily, enjoying irritating his friend. Cole's wide eyes darted back and forth between the bickering teenagers as he slowly sunk deeper into himself, practically squashed as the argument began to escalate to an unnecessary level. Before he knew it Kai and Jay were pushing and shoving each other in the middle of the room, other students either cheering or trying to break them up.

"You're not even dating!"

"I could say the same for you and Nya!"

"I have letters dammit!"

Lloyd sighed as he turned to Cole, shaking his head lightly. "Don't worry, it's not your fault. The boys here are pretty aggressive." The Earth Master responded with a simple "Hm", just as the main door opened quietly. Zane grumbled to himself as he used his free hand — the other was balancing a tray of hot coffee — to flick his wrist sharply and hit a blast of crystal ice at his friends' feet. Everyone swallowed nervously, watching the tall boy as he calmly strolled over to a spare table and placed down the tray, before turning to face his squabbling friends.

Kai and Jay rolled heir eyes, knowing what was coming. "I suggest that you two make peace or I shall put matters into my own hands-"

"Ugh, fine. Jay, I'm sorry for trying to snap your lanky neck."

"I'm gonna kill you later. Anyways, sorry, Kai, for complimenting Cole and accidentally triggering your pathetic emotions."

Zane smiled gladly, giving Kai permission to melt the ice. Once the atmosphere had calmed back down again the robot began to hand out the coffee, lastly coming over to his more preferable friendship group. He watched as they each took hold of a styrofoam cup, apart from Cole, that is. "No thank you, I'm not a big fan of coffee-"

"Did you not read the fine print on the forms and contracts of the Home? Paragraph eighty-seven, line sixteen: Students are required to drink one cup of coffee every evening to keep energy levels at their highest limit to ensure peak awareness if an threat should arise." Zane forced the warm beverage into the smaller a boy's hands. Cole stared at the coffee with wide eyes, gulping nervously as he nodded politely.

"O-Okay then. Thanks, Zane." He uttered as his friend walked away and back out the room, most likely to return the tray. Quietly he exhaled onto the top of his drink, usure how hot it would be in his mouth, but he was more anxious about other things. The way this school was run… it didn't make any sense. So far the only thing that he had learnt was watching a video about heterosexual couples and how to have sex, why letters are to be the only form of personal communication between students in different dorms, and finally how to nearly kill someone during a mock battle.

So far he'd made some pretty decent friends, with pretty innocent backgrounds — at least that's what he thought for the moment. I'll ask them about all that later on… Cole sipped his coffee cautiously, holding back a gag as he forced down the vial drink. He looked up from his cup, smiling softly to himself as he took in the group of kind people near him; These were going to be friends who had to trust him… no matter how much lying it would take.

Idk why, but I can just imagine this being one of those extremely strict, isolated, slightly intimidating schools. Set rules and standards for everyone to keep up with. Also, with that very last sentence, that's my cue to start building up the suspense.

Its also your cue to review this chapter!(smooth af) Much love!