*Hannah POV*
The blaring of my alarm woke me from my slumber. I hit the off-button, resisting the urge to pick it up and throw it against the wall.
"Come on, Alex, we have to get to class," I said to my roommate, sleep slurring my words. The lump of blankets on the bed next to me shifted and a muffled cry of protest could be heard coming from within it. I shook my head as I got up, realizing that I was still dressed in yesterday's clothes. I made a mental note to try and quit the bad habit before poking the sleeping mass that refused to move.
"Get up. We need to go to breakfast," I tried again, getting only silence in response. "Ok," I faked indifference and grabbed my uniform, "I guess you don't want to see Jeff then..."
Gwen jumped out of bed, snatching up her uniform and sprinting into the bathroom to get ready. I sighed, smiling at how obsessed she was with the blonde boy. She emerged from the restroom shortly, her hair wet and tie crooked, but otherwise ready for our first day at Dalton.
"Tie," I pointed at the accessory that hung askew before leaving to take my turn in the restroom. I noticed her turn to a mirror and try to fix it out of the corner of my eye. I got ready quickly and joined my companion as we left for breakfast. Dressed in the signature blazers and trousers combo, ties around our collars, we were sure to blend in nicely at the new school. That is, if everybody actually believed that we were boys.
We headed off to the cafeteria getting a little lost along the way, but eventually we found the location of the eatery. Gwen and I stood in line, her grabbing a bowl of fruit salad whilst I chose a plate of strawberry crepes. Feeling a bit surprised at the seemingly high quality food, I scanned the large room for the Asian boy that I thought of so fondly. My heartbeat quickened as I spotted him sitting among a few others at a table. Gwen followed my gaze and scurried towards them, weaving between tables as she did so.
I followed her, silently begging my face not to blush when I saw Wes. As I neared the group, I noticed that there was a brunette boy seated beside Jeff, and a dark-skinned teen next to Wesley, leaving one seat available next to each of our crushes. Gwen and I quickly exchanged glances before taking our respective seats.
"Good morning," Wes smiled at me.
"Morning," I squeaked, beginning an intense staring contest with my crepes.
"Oh, right!" Jeff exclaimed as he noticed the confused looks on the faces of the unfamiliar boys. "Nick, David, these are a couple of new kids, Lewis and ALex. Alex, Lewis, this is my roommate Nick, and Wes's roommate David," the blonde explained as we all shook hands.
"It's nice to meet you all," David said with a smile.
"Yeah, welcome to Dalton!" Nick grinned. "So, what grade are you guys in?"
"Tenth," Gwen shrugged, her arm brushing against Jeff's. She tensed up for a moment before relaxing once more.
"Oh, cool!" Nick didn't seem to notice my friend's embarrassing moment. "So are Jeff and I!"
"Great," I smiled. "Maybe we have some classes together."
"Probably," Nick replied. "Let me see your schedules."
I handed him the sheet of paper. Wes glanced at it from over Nick's shoulder. It took every ounce of self restraint within me to keep from giggling like an idiot. Gwen and I watched Nick's expression morph into excitement and Wes's change to disappointment.
"We've got tons of classes together!" Nick exclaimed. "And Jeff has pretty much the same schedule as I do, so you've got a bunch of classes with both of us!"
"That's great!" I said. "That means you can show us around, right?"
"Yeah, anytime," Jeff said. He glanced toward Gwen.
"You guys don't have any classes with us," David said upon inspecting our schedules. "That's okay, though. I didn't think you would."
"We've got the same free period, though," Wes said. "So we can hang out then."
My cheeks turned pink. "M-maybe you can help me with my Warbler audition song."
Wes smiled. "Yeah, maybe."
The bell cut off our conversation. I jumped and squeaked, surprised.
"Calm down, Lewis," Gwen laughed. "It's just the bell."
"It's so damn loud," I whimpered.
"Come on," Jeff said. "Let's get to class!"
Gwen and I followed the two boys through the frenzy of blue blazers, desperately hoping that I wouldn't run into anyone else. I managed this barely, but only because my miniature size allowed me to slip between narrow gaps. I dodged and leaned, only brushing against someone's arm once. Eventually, the four of us reached the classroom doorway.
"You guys can sit at our table, if you want." Jeff gestured toward a few chairs. I nodded and took a seat across from Nick. I specifically did this so that Gwen would have to sit across from Jeff. Yep, I'm evil like that.
"Thanks," Gwen mumbled, looking at the table. Her bangs hid her expression, but I knew that she had to be bright red.
The bell rang again, signaling the start of our class. The chatter of the classroom died down instantly as all eyes turned toward the teacher.
Our English teacher was a young, cheerful-looking woman. Her glossy blonde hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and she wore a red blouse with a brown, pencil skirt that stopped a few inches below her knees.
"Good morning class!" she beamed. "I notice that we have a couple new students here today. Would you boys care to introduce yourselves?" She turned to face us, the rest of the people in the room following her lead. Gwen looked at me, nodding her head as encouragement.
"Hi, I'm Lewis," my voice barely came out as a whisper. A chorus of confused looks circled the room.
"Lewis," Gwen gestured towards me, "and I'm Alex."
"I am Miss Raquel," the teacher said, "and this is Sophomore Honors English. I hope you two are ready to work hard and try your very best!"
I nodded, flipping the pen in my hand. The class began shortly, and we received our books, adding to the list of items sitting in my backpack that were sure to weigh me down.
"Today, we will review grammar work," Miss Raquel announced. The class groaned. I merely sighed and pulled out a spiral notebook to take notes. I glanced at Gwen to see her doodling in her notebook, not paying any attention to what the teacher was saying. It amazed me that she passed her classes, let alone excelled in most subjects.
The class period dragged on, and by the end of class, my hand was cramping up. The bell rang, and I gladly set down my pencil for a moment before packing up my various school supplies.
"What's next?" Gwen asked me as she put away her notes.
"History," I hummed, glancing at the piece of paper that listed our class order. I scrunched up my nose, and flipped the paper over. "Now if it would only tell us where that room is."
From behind us, I heard a chuckle.
"Come on," Nick motioned for us to follow Jeff and himself. "It's this way. History is lots of fun, by the way."
After throwing my bag over my shoulder, and wincing a bit at the heaviness of it, Gwen and I walked in-between Nick and Jeff. Gwen seemed to be having a very riveting conversation with the latter, so I made short chit-chat with Nick. He was actually pretty nice, and very polite. Mostly, I asked him questions about Dalton. He told me about the Warblers, and how every year they strived for musical excellence. He also gave me directions to where Gwen and I should audition. There was a little room about three doors past the foyer where the Warbler crew practiced almost every day. I took a note of the directions Nick gave me on the back of my hand, so I would remember.
Eventually, through the neat, nicely-decorated halls of Dalton, we arrived at the history room. Most of the guys were already seated and talking, because the bell hadn't quite rung yet. Jeff and Nick showed us their desks, and the two of us set our things on the desks beside them promptly. I took in a breath of relief, from having the weight on my shoulders released.
"Hey, Lewis," Nick put a hand on my shoulder. "You okay? You look pretty winded."
"I'm fine," I huffed. "That's just...a lot...of books."
"And Lewis is so tiny that those things are half his weight," Gwen added. I had half a mind to smack her, then and there.
"Blame genetics," I growled as I took a seat. The bell cut off any further comments Nick or Jeff wanted to add. All heads were turned towards the front of the room, towards our history teacher.
The man in question was extremely tall, with slicked back dark hair. Framed glasses adorned his face, the metal resting against his nose neatly. Striking green eyes peered out from under the glass, boring into my very soul. I could tell, straight away, that this man was not to be trifled with.
"Hello, class," The man said, stoically. He held a book in his hand. "We have some new students with us today. Please, introduce yourselves."
Since most of the kids in our history class were the same ones in our previous English class, introductions were quick.
"My name is Dr. Greenwood, and you shall address me as so. Now, take out your notebooks, and have your pens poised and ready to go."
I followed Dr. Greenwood's instructions, figuring he was not a good man to become enemies with. After all, Gwen and I were probably breaking laws already. We might as well get on everyone's good side, right?
*Gwen's POV*
History went by slightly less than quickly. The period was spent taking notes on the French Revolution, and stealing glances at Jeff. He looked so adorable when he was focused...
No. I shook my head, snapping out of my silly daydream. Jeff thinks you're a guy, I told myself. It won't matter how he feels about me, because it won't work. Still, I sighed. The way his smile could light up a room was so damn perfect.
"Alex," Dr. Greenwood said suddenly. Crap, he must've noticed me drifting off.
"Y-yes, sir?" I asked, cursing silently in my mind.
"Please tell me the name used to describe the tactic used by the French government to control their subjects."
Thankfully, Hannah and I had already learned a great deal about this topic. "The Great Terror, sir." I answered confidently.
Obviously, our teacher did not expect me to answer correctly. He shot me a glare, with those terrifyingly intense green eyes and grumbled a bit. Hannah looked at me, confused. I shrugged back at her.
"Mr. Chapman," Dr. Greenwood said angrily. "Don't think that I will go easy on you because you're a new student. You best keep up with the class, or...other arrangements will be made." Huh? What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Before I could sort out what Dr. Greenwood had said to me, the bell rang. I quickly stood and found Hannah amongst the crowd. We exited the classroom together, not wanting to be seen by Dr. Greenwood and face his wrath.
"Geez," Jeff said to me. "I've heard Dr. Greenwood was strict, but I've never seen him yell at a student like that before. Were you doing something before he called on you?"
Yes, I was gazing into your gorgeous eyes, Jeff. "No," I answered. "Not at all."
"Weird," Hannah sighed. "There's always that one teacher that just hates you for no reason whatsoever."
"Yeah," Jeff agreed. "Wait, I thought you guys said you were homeschooled."
"We were. I'm referring to my mom." Hannah lied about the mom hating her part, the homeschooled part. Her mom really did resent her. Jeff gave her a quizzical look.
"Okay!" I broke the awkward silence. "We've got science next, right? Where's that?"
Jeff lead us down another hall. We came to a room with long black tables. It smelled like cleaning alcohol. "Here we are," Jeff exclaimed happily. He was so cute when he was happy.
"Alex," Hannah snapped her fingers. Crap, was I really drifting off again? "We need to figure out what we want to do for Warbler auditions."
"What?" I brushed a strand of unruly hair from my eyes. "Oh, right."
"Don't worry, guys." Jeff flashed us a wide grin. "It's not scary or anything. However, I did audition 6 times."
My jaw dropped simultaneously with Hannah's. "Six times?!" I exclaimed.
"The trick is to not over do it." Jeff told us. "Don't work too hard. Just have fun." He gave us another reassuring smile before the bell rang. We all turned forward in our seats to pay attention to our new science teacher.
The first thing notable about this man was his extremely crazy hair. It fluffed up from his head like some sort of creature. His thick glasses rested on his nose, and I wondered if his nose was actually big enough to hold up such large frames. Wide, eccentric eyes were magnified by the glass, as the man gave Lewis and I a big grin.
"Why heeellooo, Mr. Chapman and Mr. Dahn. It is an extraordinary pleasure having you in our class. Haha, don't worry. I know the world can seem big and scary sometimes, but we don't bite. And I'm Mr. Yellson. Call me George."
I raised one of my eyebrows. This guy was definitely nuts. But he was a hell of a lot better than the evil Dr. Greenwood. Something about this science teacher seemed oddly comforting though. He reminded me of a kind elderly neighbor, or a batty grandfather.
"Alright," Yellson continued, clapping his hands together. He blinked a few times. The man reminded me of some kind of odd insect creature. "Today, I'll need you to be working in groups of two, so, everyone pair up!"
The blonde boy to my left instantly latched onto my shoulder. My cheeks turned bright red.
"I call Alex!" Jeff announced.
"Wha-" I turned to Lewis, who only gave me a knowing smile.
"Don't worry," Hannah muttered under her breath. She picked up her notebook and walked toward another boy. "I'm not a cock block." I blushed even more as she introduced herself to a random student.
"Now," Yellson's voice quieted, and we all had to become completely silent to listen. "We will be learning today about the differences in ph balances in different types of liquids..." He continued to give instructions on the experiment, which, fortunately for Hannah and myself, we had already executed earlier in the year. I took the opportunity of free time to glance at Jeff out of the corner of my eye. He appeared to either be doodling on his paper, a slight smile on his face as the picture of a stick-figure battle grew in the spot on his notes. I couldn't help but smile at his look of child-like happiness he continued to draw.
"Uhh, Jeff?" I asked carefully. The boy looked up at me.
"Oh sorry...what are we doing?" He looked slightly embarrassed as he slid the paper with all of the doodles under his textbook.
I smiled. "It's okay. Here," I ran him through the experiment. I threw a quick glance toward Hannah, who seemed to be scaring the boy beside her with her intensity and frustration towards his confusion. I chuckled to myself slightly. Jeff, who seemed perfectly competent in the science experiment, went to get our supplies. I took the opportunity to pull my chair over to Hannah. She had forced her partner to retrieve the supplies.
"How's it going?" I asked.
"I should ask the same for you, lovebird," Hannah grinned.
I looked at Jeff to see if he had heard. "Shut up," I whispered harshly.
Hannah rolled her eyes. "Oh please. He can't hear us, he's way over there." She gestured towards the boys on the other side of the room.
"Well.. Yeah.. but..." I searched for an excuse before giving up and turning my chair back around to my table. I began to write out some of the written part of the assignment until Jeff returned to my side once more.
"Back!" he smiled, setting down the supplies in front of us. I beamed back at him, before breaking eye-contact and beginning to set up the equipment. Stop looking at his eyes. You don't want to drown in his deep... chocolate brown... eyes... No! Stop!
"Alex, are you okay?" Jeff asked.
"Yes!" I answered a little too quickly and sharply. I cleared my throat. "Yes, yes I'm fine. Let's get started."
Jeff gave me one of his oh-so-heart-melting smiles. I had complete confidence that I would be able to successfully perform the experiment with him by my side.
And about twenty three pH sheets later, the science period ended. Hannah was coated in a fine goo mixture of pig liver and milk, and I was spotless. Jeff really was an excellent lab partner. Unfortunately, our time together was cut short by our next class period-French. Jeff gave us careful directions to the classroom, which Hannah and I followed carefully.
The French classroom was smaller than the rest of the classrooms we had seen. The desks were squished together in disorderly rows of six, in lines of five. I watched as students filed into the classroom and took their seats. A tall boy with a wide grin slid his arm around my shoulder.
"Hello," he whispered in my ear seductively.
I jumped back, trying to disguise my feminine squeak with a lower yell. "Wha-"
"I've never seen you before," the boy said, cocking his head to the side. "You new?"
"Yeah," Hannah said. "We arrived yesterday. Today is our first day of classes." Her voice was light, uncertain of the mysterious boy before us. "I'm Lewis, and this is Alex," she motioned towards me. "What's your name?"
"I'm Sebastian Smythe." The boy said, as if we were already supposed to know. He grinned at us again, showing off perfectly aligned teeth. It was the only straight thing about him, it seemed.
"Wha-" I was still having trouble breathing after the insanely awkward encounter with the assertive student.
"We better take seats," Hannah said. It was amazing how calm she could be when I was not. And vice-versa. I suppose that was why we were friends. I was tall and blonde, while Hannah sported a head of wavy black hair and was not even five feet yet. We balanced each other out, in ways. We'd both endured the same situations, the same abandonment of our parents, the same bitchy girls at school, and the same terribly boring teachers. We kept each other from going insane, during all those years in the hell known to most as Crawford.
Ugh, even the name disgusted me.
Crawford.
It sounded like some type of diseased crustacean.
And speaking of diseased crustacean-sounding things, our new found acquaintance was currently resting his arm on Hannah's shoulder, in a way that obviously showed he had no indication of her actual gender. Her face was quickly flushing red, in the way indicating that she was about to whip out a bamboo spear and do a number on the flirty Sebastian's charmingly handsome face.
Before any blood made it to the dull walls of the closet-sized classroom, however, a young woman entered the room. Lewis and I quickly took seats. She was in front of me, and I sat behind. The black heels of our presumed teacher clacked loudly on the linoleum floors as she made her way to the front of the classroom.
"Bonjour, les étudiants," she said elegantly. "Comment allez-vous aujourd'hui?"
"Bien, Mademoiselle Morel," the class chanted. I chanted along with them, catching a few words. Hannah stared blankly before her.
I'd forgotten.
Hannah's French was atrocious.
Well, crap.
"Today we have a few new faces with us," Miss Morel said, her soft voice somehow calling the attention of twenty-plus teenage guys. Miss Morel was thin and lithe, with long, curly golden hair and an angular face. She was obviously very French, with thick eyelashes coated in a layer of mascara. She wore a flowy white blouse and a tight pencil skirt that showed off her curves. It finally dawned on me then, why all the boys in the room were paying attention.
She was gorgeous.
Of course.
"Would you two care to introduce yourselves to the class?" she asked with a casual gesture towards the other students in the room.
I stood, wincing as my chair squeaked, ripping through the silence. My face flushed a bit, and I ran my fingers through my hair nervously. "I-I'm Alex, Alex Chapman, and this is, Lewis Dahn." Hannah gave a slight wave towards the rest of the room.
"Excellent," Miss Morel said. "I'm sure you two will fit in well."
Sebastian raised his hand. "Mademoiselle?"
Miss Morel acknowledged Sebastian with a nod. "Yes, Monsieur Smythe?" She asked.
"I think it would be better if I sat in-between Lewis and Alex. I could help them out with...certain phrases." His tone made Hannah and I exchange quick glances of mild worry and confusion.
Miss Morel tapped her chin with her nail-polished finger. "I suppose that's alright,' she said with a smile. Sebastian smiled at her, in the same way he had smiled at us.
No way, I thought. He's hitting on the teacher...
Sebastian made a scene of scooting his seat towards our desks. In that action, he leaned against Hannah, pressing his chest over her head in awkward height contrast. Her face glowed red as she hid behind her text book, wishing away the persistent boy. "Don't worry," I heard him whisper. "I'll make sure you understand the entire lesson. I'll even give you private lessons if you want..."
"N-no thank you," she stammered, blushing more than I'd ever seen from her before. I smirked at my companion's uncomfortable state.
"Mr. Dahn," Miss Morel snapped. "Please be quiet."
Hannah nodded, wide-eyed at the teacher. She gulped and stood straight, shooting a glare at the snickering Sebastian.
He's in for it now, I thought. Hannah is pissed. I shook my head, and tried to focus on the French lesson. It was a damn good thing that Jeff wasn't in this one, or I'd be a goner.
*Hannah's POV*
"Ugh," I groaned, rubbing my temples. "That took forever."
"Yeah," Gwen agreed. "I'm so glad lunch is next."
I nodded. "We should probably start heading for the cafeteria. We need to secure a lunch table."
Gwen and I headed in the direction of the cafeteria. I looked for a face I knew amongst the crowd of boys. A few I recognized from the classes we'd had earlier that day. I spotted my Science partner from third period and waved.
"Hey, you two," a voice called. I turned, to see Wes. Without thinking, I smiled and giggled. I caught myself, however, and cleared my throat. Wes walked towards us, throwing his messenger bag over his shoulder. "So how's your first day going?"
"G-good," I squeaked.
"Pretty well," Gwen said calmly.
"Have you been able to find your classes?" He asked.
I nodded. "Jeff and Nick gave us directions for everything."
"That's good," he said, looking behind me and smiling as two familiar figures approached us. "Speak of the devil..." he said to the blonde and brunette teens.
"Hey!" Jeff said enthusiastically. He threw his arms around Gwen and I, capturing us in a tight bro hug.
"Dude, you're going to suffocate them," Nick laughed, pulling his friend off of us.
"Heh, sorry," Jeff grinned. For a second, his eyes met Gwen's. He looked away after a moment, blushing.
"So what are we going to eat?" I asked, ever interested in food. We reached the cafeteria, and sat at the table David had reserved for us.
"Well," David said. "There are a few options..."
"Show her the rice," Gwen said, laughing.
I nodded seriously. "Is that really one of the options?"
Wes laughed. "Well, there are a few Oriental things, if you head to the left-"
Not another word needed to be said. I walked quickly and purposefully to the destination, only to return to the table with some rice and vegetable tempura. Gwen's plate was filled with a veggie wrap along with various vegetables and hummus. "Looks good," I mused, as I tore apart a pair of chopsticks.
"We got the same thing!" Wes exclaimed, peering over my plate as he sat beside me. He held up a pair of wooden chopsticks.
"Great minds think alike," I said.
"Indeed," Wes returned.
Jeff wedged himself in-between Gwen and I. "Hey guys!" He said. His plate was filled to the brim with various American-style foods. Gwen and I cringed. He stuffed his mouth with a few potato chips and chased it down with a sip of Mountain Dew. I frowned.
"So," he said after swallowing his 'food', "how did French go?"
"We met a boy named Sebastian," Gwen said, "he got Lewis in trouble with Mademoiselle Morel."
"Should've kicked his ass, then and there," I grumbled, stabbing at my rice bowl angrily.
"Seb?" Jeff asked. "Aw, he's not that bad. He's pretty cool, once you get to know him."
"And once you tell him you're straight," Nick joked.
Gwen choked on her food for a moment before exchanging a quick look with me. We hadn't really confirmed our sexualities, as Lewis and Alex. It sounded weird to say we were straight, since we weren't attracted to girls, but saying we were gay wasn't really proper either.
"Uhh," I said.
"Oh, are you two gay?" Wes asked.
"Erm..." Gwen looked at me and trailed off.
"We're bi," I blurted out. I turned quickly to confirm this idea with Gwen. She nodded.
"Yeah, we're... bi," she said warily, her voice traced with caution.
"That's cool," Jeff said, shrugging. "Nobody really cares here. Everyone is treated the same. No judgement."
"Yeah," David smiled at us, "that's one of the great things about Dalton."
I smiled, relieved. "That's...that's really awesome."
Gwen and I had once again escaped the threat of the Dalton boys finding out our true identities. The new problem had caught me off guard, but it seemed to be solved easily. The issues with our little switch tended to be solved a lot more simply than I would have anticipated. I was starting to think Gwen and I could actually pull this off.
After lunch, we headed to our math class with Nick. Our teacher was a plump, middle-aged man with a mustache and beard combo. He introduced himself as Mr. Phlit, beaming as he welcomed us wholeheartedly. After the warm welcome, he quickly began the lesson.
Yay, algebra.
"So, Lewis," Nick said, placing his pencil neatly on his desk after finishing the problem written on the board by our teacher.
"Yeah?" I asked, using a whisper so I wouldn't be caught.
"Are you and Alex gonna audition for the Warblers?" He asked, interested.
I thought about it for a few more seconds. "Yeah, probably."
"That's awesome!" Nick enthused, raising his voice. He was quickly shushed by Mr. Phlit. "That's awesome," Nick repeated in a softer voice. "Have you picked out any audition songs, yet?"
I smiled. "I've got a few in mind." I turned towards Gwen, who was diligently working, like the good student she was. "Hey," I poked her with my pencil. "Hey, Alex..."
It took a second for her to recognize her alias, and she looked up at me. "Hm?"
"When do you want to audition?" I asked.
Gwen shrugged. "Whenever we feel ready, I guess."
"We'd need some time to rehearse," I said thoughtfully. "So...next week?"