"Holly!" Ciel winced when a hyper girl yelled to Alice.

"Julia, hi." Alice gave the girl a hug, then turned to introduce Ciel. "This is my brother, Ciel Phantomhive. Ciel, this is my friend Julia Harmony."

"Hello." He said curtly. Julia looked like one of Lau's friends. She wore the same clothes as Alice, who had explained that the school had a uniform, but she wore her skirt shorter.

"Holly, I thought your last name was 'Trancy-Phantomhive'. Why does he have a different one?" Julia mock-whispered.

"My parents adopted him two years ago." Alice recited the story she'd fabricated. "His parents died in a fire."

"Oh, you poor thing!" Julia placed her hand on his head. "Hey, what's with the eye-patch?"

"It covers the de—" Alice started to explain.

Ciel held up his hand to stop her. "My eye was damaged by the smoke. I was in our home when the fire started."

Julia made a show of wiping her eyes, then turned back to Alice. "Have you introduced him to Dick?"

"No, not yet." Alice took Ciel's hand and led him away from her friend. "I'll do that now. See you later."

"Who was that?" Ciel asked when they were a good distance away from Julia.

"A friend I made a few years ago." She explained. "My parents work a lot, so they finance trips for me so I won't be bored. I visited Gotham City about four years ago. That's when I met Julia. We've kept in touch, so it's like I never left the city."

Ciel nodded, only half listening. It seemed that every student they passed looked at him like they wanted to ask a question. He was starting to get annoyed.

"Richard! Barbara!" Alice called, waving to a pair of kids.

"Holland?" The girl called, shielding her eyes against the sun. "Is that you?"

Alice grinned. "Yup! I'd like to introduce you to my new brother. Like me, he's starting today. His name is Ciel." They waved and she turned to him. "Ciel, this is Barbara Gordon and Richard Grayson."

"Hello." Ciel repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"Ciel lost his parents in a fire a few years ago."

Alice was surprising him at how easily she lied. He was glad he'd told Sebastian to look into her background. By a few years, she means over a century. He almost laughed.

Barbara looked at Richard, as if trying to gauge his reaction. The older boy seemed to be forcing a smile onto his face. "At least you survived." He said conversationally.

"Richard's parent died a few years ago, too." Alice whispered. "Circus accident." She turned back to the other students. "Hey, I saw Bruce at the game last night. Where were you?"

"Homework." Richard half-blushed. "Barbara was helping me with a history report."

"Too bad. Ciel wanted to leave after the first half, so I didn't catch the final score." Alice checked her watch. "Oops, we'd better go. Gotta get our schedules before the bell. Bye."

Barbara waved and grabbed Richard's arm. "We'd better get going, too. It's test season, you know." The group split up and Alice led Ciel down a hallway.

"Ciel, I suggest staying away from them." Alice surprised him with this comment. "Barbara's dad is the police commissioner and she's becoming an excellent detective. She might find out about your… condition."

The young demon turned to look back the way they'd just come. "They're hiding something."

"Probably." Alice tugged on his arm to keep him walking. "Most of the students here come from prestigious families. I'd be more surprised if they weren't keeping secrets." She shot a smile back at him. "Although, I doubt any are as cool as yours."

She led him to a door marked to be the student services office. The woman at the desk asked for their names, then handed them folders. Ciel opened his and saw a map with a collection of rooms highlighted in different colours.

"That's a map of the school." Alice told him as they exited the room. "The highlighted numbers are the rooms where you have classes." She removed the map from his folder to reveal a list of classes that were also highlighted in different colours. "The colours of the courses correspond with the colours of the rooms."

She walked with him until they reached the first room marked on his map. "What do all the letters even mean?" he scowled at the schedule.

Alice glanced at the sheet in his hands. "Math." She waved and started walking away. "I have gym, so I have to go change. Yuck. Gym first thing."

Ciel watched her leave before opening the door.

By the time lunch came around, Ciel was ready to leave and never return. Everyone had stared at him throughout the morning, but never approached.

Math had been relatively simple, given the basics hadn't changed in centuries. But history had been infuriating. Only a handful of the points in his textbook were correct, and those were just who did what and when. Not the important facts.

"I'm leaving." Ciel grumbled as he walked hastily down the hall. He opened the first door he saw and walked outside.

Unfortunately, he saw right away that he wasn't actually outside. Rather, he was in a small courtyard. And he wasn't the only one in the room.

"Ciel?" Barbara stood up from the bench she and Richard were sharing. "What are you doing here?"

Ciel noticed Richard stuff what looked like a file into his backpack before looking up at him. "Where's Holland? I thought she'd be with you."

"I don't know where she is." Ciel was starting to get irritated. He wanted to get home, but Richard had reminded him that he needed Alice's help to do so.

"Can't you text her?" Barbara asked. "Don't you have a cell phone?"

Ciel pulled the blue plastic out of his pocket and flipped it open. He remembered that Alice had said it couldn't text, but it could make calls. He also saw that she'd put her number in his speed-dial.

She picked up after the third ring. "Hey! You figured it out!"

"Where are you?"

"Right to the point, huh?" She laughed. "I'm outside the cafeteria. But I bet it's easier for me to find you, since you probably threw out your map."

Ciel would never admit it to anyone, not even Sebastian, but she was right. He'd left the coloured paper in his first class after memorizing a route to all the rooms he needed. "I'm in a courtyard." He answered instead.

"Oh, I know where you mean. That's a really nice place to eat lunch. I'll be right there." Alice hung up and Ciel listened to the dial tone a moment before putting the phone away.

"She's on her way." He told Barbara.

"Then we'd better get going." Richard stood up and walked toward the door. "We have some things to take care of." He and Barbara left.

Ciel squinted after them. They were definitely hiding something, and he (or rather Sebastian) was going to find out what it was.

Thanks to all who favourited this story and sorry it took so long to update. I don't know when the next chapter will be up.

Comments are always appreciated.