After the ceremony, students returned or just entered their dorm rooms. The girl's dorm wasn't as quiet as his had been, there was a hum of awkward conversation that drifted in rooms, putting residents at a little more ease.
"I'm here purely for the education, same reason my brother attends." Rachel was sitting on her bed primly with her brown pencil skirt unruffled. Stephanie was using the radiator to help her stretch in a multitude of positions that looked painful and left Rachel curious but silent on the matter.
"Oh! Your brother goes here too?" She asked to keep the conversation going.
"Yes, we're twins." Rachel paused, wondering how Stephanie was able to extract such conversation. It wasn't that Rachel had no friends but she wasn't the type to sit and gab about everything. "Why were you sent to Welton?" She reflected off herself and to the curios roommate.
Stephanie laughed for a split second. "A few reasons," she pulled up the waist of her grey wide leg trousers before she jumped onto her bed, all the air knocking out of her. "Ow," she wheezed, Rachel flinched at the painful noise. Stephanie laughed again, "Not as comfortable as I thought!" Her laughter died away, humming thoughtfully as she stared at the white ceiling. "This is my first time at a boarding school. I'm terrified."
Rachel had no idea how to respond other than "Forty minutes until dinner."
It had all been fun and games until Mr. Perry had showed up. Spoilsport. Charlie broke the tension the only way he knew how after they had regrouped in Neil's room. "So, Steven here has a sister at Hellton." Steven winced as all eyes were fixed on him and he was suddenly flooded with questions such as "can she sit with us and bring friends?" And the like.
"Thanks Dalton, you're a pal." He shot towards his smirking friend.
"They are completely valid questions. Your sister is like, our babe ticket-not that I'm saying your sister isn't attractive, I mean I don't really know."
"No, please say that. You morons better leave her alone," He made eye contact with each one of his friends and the new boy for extra measures. "Rachel likes to keep to herself, there's no "babe-ticket"," Steven bitterly quoted the air as he glared directly at Charlie. "There, okay? She's here for the education," there was a chorus of dubious noises ignited by Charlie and a leering Knox. Steven continued to speak through them. "So don't mess with her, no, I'm serious."
"We won't, Meeks," Neil placed a sincere hand on his shorter friend's shoulder. "You may have to watch out for Todd though," Todd's attention jerked to Neil when he heard his name. "Todd's a natural born lady-killer," Neil winked and Todd flushed scarlet, ducking his head down from attention. "Isn't that right?"
"I mean it you guys, leave Rachel alone. The less I have to be around her, the better."
Knox scoffed, exchanging glances with Charlie. "The fact that you don't want one of us as an in-law hurts." Knox joked, Steven looked at him stoically with his head inclined.
"Your assumption that you're one of the 'Generations Best' hurts, Knox." Another cacophony of appreciative and joking noises followed Steven's remark as Knox was administered a series of punches from everyone in the room.
Charlie laughed, catching the smile that tugged at Steven's mouth. "Beast," he held out his hand, palm up. "Skin it." And Steven slid his palm across Charlie's appreciatively. Maybe this year wouldn't be such a disaster after all.
At dinner Steven could've eaten his last thought as he saw his sister approach the table with another girl in tow. "May we?" Rachel gestured to the empty seats and Charlie agreed before she had finished her question, sitting across from him. "This is Stephanie Wilde." Rachel introduced as Stephanie sat mutely in front of Steven. "This is my brother, Steven and his miscreant friends, no doubt." Cue in Steven's facepalm.
"I think there was a compliment in there somewhere," Charlie teased, looking to a grinning Knox.
"I'm Neil Perry." His voice was warm and inviting. "This is Todd Anderson, Richard Cameron, Knox Overstreet, Ch-"
Charlie leaned in towards Rachel. "Charlie Dalton" he extended his hand and Rachel shook it begrudgingly.
"Enchanted." She replied in a voice that thought otherwise.
"You will be," Charlie winked before he caught Steven's attention. "Ray of sunshine, your sister."
"Thanks for stating the obvious." Steven replied as he continued to fold into himself, wishing he were anywhere but here. "Pass the hash, would you?"
Neil waited for their interaction to finish with an amused expression that tried to pretend he wasn't. "Gerard Pitts and I'm sure you know your brother. We're pleased to have you join us." Hidden in her hair, Stephanie couldn't suppress the roll of her eyes. Was this guy for real?
"...We are?" Cameron asked dubiously around a mouthful of pork. A hard jab to the ribs from Knox came soon afterwards.
"What was your friend's name?" Charlie said,Asking Rachel and looking towards an oblivious Stephanie. Rachel replied in a clipped voice, picking at her boiled string beans. Charlie whistled. "Wilde, I like that. D'you live up to your name then, Wilde?" He tried to draw her into the conversation. Stephanie cleared her throat, posture straightening.
"No." She returned to forking the food on her plate.
"Well…" Charlie searched for words to respond with. He had expected a different answer, maybe a clear, an acknowledgment or a joke but not such a bland reply. Disa-ppointed. "That does leave one lacking."
"That seems to be what I do best. If you'll excuse me," She grabbed a red and yellow apple before excusing herself and leaving. "I have to unpack still."
"Could I be of any assistance?" Charlie called after her to no response. "That's disappointing. She's really good-looking, too bad she's such a square."
"Charlie, that's not fair, you don't know her." Knox interjected after he caught the glare that Neil was sending in Charlie's direction.
"Like I said, 'miscreant friends.'" Rachel sent a pointed glare in Steven direction as he sighed and considered beating himself to death with the bread roll he had in his hand.
"Would you shut up?" He whispered leaning forward towards her. "Look, they're my friends and I'm sorry they aren't good enough for you. If it makes you feel any better, I wish I could go back and fix everything that had happened and that I was the one that had died. Happy?" He snapped as Rachel flinched. Her hardened expression cracking into abhorrence. Faces around the tab;e fell silent and wide eyed as they all watched the exchange. Rachel, as graceful as ever, cleared her throat before she scooted her chair back and left calmly without a word.
A frustrated sound ripped from Steven's throat as he threw his roll, landing it in Cameron's bowl and splattering soup everywhere. "Hey! What the Hell?!"
Charlie bust a gut at Cameron's expression, Steven just mumbled an apology, his mind stuck on other much more frustrating topics like how he now felt guilty and knew he'd have to apologize to his sister.
"…You wanna talk later?" Pitts spoke over the shocked and irritated rant Cameron was understandably spluttering out. Gerard had watched the interaction with confusion, his stomach sank when Steven shook his head. "You wanna tell me at least what that was all about?" Steven shook his head again and Pitts sighed in defeat.
Apples always tasted best in trees. There was a crunch as Stephanie took another bite from her fruit and sighed, knocking her head back on the trunk of the tree she sat in. She didn't know why she left, she really shouldn't have. It was just a lot to take in all at once, she had never been very good with new social situations.
Charlie seemed like a really fun guy, she had no doubt in her mind that they'd be good friends as soon as Stephanie fit into her skin again. Knox was adorable in that little boy way-Neil was obviously the Alpha dog. She didn't know much about the other four but Steven and Rachel didn't seem to be in he best mood with each other. Understandable, they were siblings and now they had to compete in the same school. Good luck.
Rachel... she liked Rachel quite a bit. She seemed so serious though. Distanced and professional...at least Stephanie would never have to worry about a messy dorm room and she liked that.
Breakfast was relatively normal but there was no sign of Rachel. Stephanie had come over to offer a morning greeting, flash a shy yet brilliant smile and sat next to Todd who seemed more clumsy and awkward than yesterday. Every time Charlie asked her a question or spoke in her direction, Neil flashed a warning expression. Think before you talk. Most times his response was a shake or a nod, occasionally a shy smile or an are-you-retarded expression was awarded. The latter was largely in response to Cameron. She had grabbed some apples and pastries before leaving, making a mental note to give them to Rachel.
"You need to wear skirts Stephanie." Charlie remarked as they walked to their first class.
"And distract you in class? No thanks." She teased. At Charlie's surprised expression she frowned "What? I have nice legs!" She protested defensively, almost in the mood to hike up the legs of her wide trousers to prove it.
"You suddenly have a personality too. Were you hiding that in your pants as well?" Charlie replied back with his signature smirk.
"I can hide alot of things in my pants Charlie." She was not flirting. Honest. When She saw Rachel she spit off from Charlie's side and approached her roommate with a smile and soft voice. Last thing she wanted was for Rachel to seem like she was going to be lectured. "Hey, you left before I woke up-"
"I wake up early." Rachel snapped defensively, Stephanie's hands were up in surrender as soon as she heard the sharp tone of voice.
"That's okay, I also didn't see you at breakfast so I brought you some stuff." She laid an apple and all the pastries on Rachel's desk as Rachel did a double take.
"…Thank you?" She was confused as Stephanie shrugged, taking the window seat next to her.
"No problem."
Class after class passed. Lunch only seemed to last five minutes before they all returned to Chemistry, Latin, Trigonometry and a few other "fun" subjects. The only eventful one was English class with that new zany teacher from London. Thank God that it was finally the last period of the day. Study hall was always appreciated and then all the time before diner to do homework and have study groups with friends was always fun.
Charlie was pleased to discover he was in most of the classes that all of his friends were in except some advanced classes that Neil and Steven were in. Rachel was also in some of those advanced classes but all the classes he was in he shared with Stephanie. She was fun to get to know along with another girl (with fashionable glasses) that Stephanie had formed a tentative friendship with named Anna.
Suddenly, Cameron stormed in and ruined all the flowing consciousness of the story. "Hold on, hold on. We told Anna she wouldn't be here for another few chapters." Shut Up Cameron.
"Well, that's not the only problem," Charlie joined Cameron's scowling side. "Eric, I've realized-we've all realized that your past writing has been….distinctly unfunny and much more cliché and chick-flickish. We've decided that this has to stop."
Bugger. Look, I realize you want your funny bits but I have a reputation to uphold and an audience to captivate. Making this about girls in Welton and all that Jazz is what they want-complete with snogging.
"Yes but I never get to snog anyone!" Cameron wailed a sound that pierced ears and (by some miracle) Charlie ignored as he continued to question on with passionate yet annoying fervor.
"Whatever happened to your bloody poetic license mate?"
This isn't poetry, it's fan fiction and you're making my job a whole lot harder by pissing me off.
"We're just exercising our rights to 'not walk', if you know what I mean."
I'm going to get you a good spanking, if you know what I mean.
"Oh. OH! Here it is! Here it is! Come read about violence inheriting the system!"
- O N E M O M E N T P L E A S E -
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