Monday dawned almost indecently bright and sunny. Coram groaned as he rolled out of bed. Today was the day, he thought bitterly. He was increasingly regretting his decision to go along with this farce the twins had concocted. However he had to admit that the idea of Alanna at Corus Academy did make him feel twinges of happiness. He had not been looking forward to Thom's inevitable failure. And Alanna was as good as any boy. But she isn't one, he thought bitterly. And no amount of wishing was going to make it so. But he had given his word to help them and help them he would.
"We're going to drop Thom to St. Agatha's first and then get you settled in at Corus," Coram told Alanna, who was fiddling with her newly short hair. "This is the last chance you have to change your mind lass. Are you sure you want to go through with this?"
"I do," Alanna said her voice steady. "It's our only option."
"Okay," Coram said. The children put their luggage into his truck and they drove to St. Agatha's.
"Guess I'll see you around," Alanna said, with a small smile, as they stood in Thom's small dorm room. "Make some friends Thom."
Thom just snorted. "You know you're my only friend," he said. "Don't need anyone else."
"Yes you," Alanna said, suddenly worried about her brother. "Thom you need other people. People keep us human. Trust me. You need other people."
"Fine," Thom said, with bad grace. "But only for you."
"That's good enough for me," Alanna said, pulling her brother into a hug.
"Take care of yourself Al," Thom said, cuffing her on the side of her head.
"You too Thom," she said and with a wave she was gone.
Thom suddenly felt terrified. He had never been apart from his sister and even though he was older, she had always taken care of him. No one messed with him at their old middle school because no one wanted to mess with Alanna. Now she was gone and it was like his shield had been ripped away. For the first time in his life, he felt vulnerable.
"Are you doing alright lass?" Coram asked, as they drove away from St. Agatha's. Alanna had fallen into a slightly morose silence.
"I know this is stupid," she said. "But I feel like this is the last time I'm going to see this Thom. I feel like the next time I meet him he'll be an entirely different person."
"Nothing wrong with that," Coram grunted, which earned him a glare from Alanna.
"He's your brother," Coram said, with a half-smile. "Nothing is going to change that."
"I know," Alanna said.
"So first we're going to introduce you to Mr. Naxen," Coram said. "He's the vice-principle and he always meets every new student that comes into the school. Then we'll probably go get you fitted for uniforms. You'll have an everyday kind and a formal kind. The everyday kind will have your house colour on it. There are four houses; blue, yellow, red and green."
"Like Harry Potter," Alanna said with a smile.
"If you say so," Coram said. "Mr. Naxen apart from being vice-principle is also head of the red house. Mr. Olau, the history teacher is head of the blue house. Father David and Father Gregory are heads of the yellow house and the green house respectively. Father David teaches English and Father Gregory teaches Mathematics."
"There are priests at Corus Academy?" Alanna asked with surprise.
"Most of the teachers are priests," Coram said. "Apart from your regular lessons you will also learn how to be a polite member of society."
"I know how to say please and thank you," Alanna said with a frown.
"Well this is more than just please and thank you," Coram said. "You're going to learn etiquette. And you're going to have dancing lessons."
"God Thom was right," Alanna groaned. "This school is stuck in the early 1900s."
"These skills will help you in life," Coram insisted.
"Doubt that," Alanna grumbled.
They drove up to the impressive gates of the school and Alanna had to suppress a gasp of wonderment. It was different coming in from the side entrance and going to Coram's house. The huge school building towered behind the gates and Alanna suddenly felt unaccountably small.
"Cooper!" Coram shouted to the brown-haired man standing outside the gates. "Let us in won't you?"
The brown-haired man came towards their car and Alanna realised that despite his towering stature he couldn't be more than three years older than her. He had one of the most interesting faces Alanna had seen. While he wasn't exactly handsome, his nose being far too beaky for that, there was something in his hazel eyes that suggesting a great deal of intelligence.
"Coram," the boy said, his face splitting into a smile. Alanna had to quickly revise her first opinion of him because the minute his mouth curved up into a smile, he became very handsome indeed. "It's good to see you."
"Up to no good as usual Cooper?" Coram asked. "What are you doing hanging around the gates."
"Just helping new parents out with anything they might need," the boy said, his hazel eyes gleaming with suppressed mirth.
"And robbing them blind too, I'll bet," Coram muttered. "Why we keep you around I'll never know."
"It's because this place couldn't run without Mum," he said with a cheeky grin. "And who's this?"
"This is Alan," Coram said. 'My nephew. He's starting school here."
"Looks a little young to be starting school here," the brown-haired boy said.
"I'm fourteen," Alanna said.
"I'll take your word for it," the boy said with a laugh. "I'm sure you'll grow."
"Just open the gates," Coram said with a sigh.
The boy gave him a mock salute and opened the school gates.
"Who is that?" Alanna asked quizzically.
"That's George Cooper," Coram said. "He's the cook's son and is as crooked as they come."
"He seemed pretty cool," Alanna said, with a hint of smile.
"I'll bet he did," Coram said dryly. "You'll stay away from that one if you know what's good for you. He's too smart for his own good."
Coram parked his car and uncle and niece made their way to the imposing school building.
"Now don't be alarmed," Coram said quietly. "It can overwhelm people a little. But Gareth of Naxen is a good man."
Alanna just nodded, too nervous to say anything. Coram knocked on a large brown door that had the words vice-principle written on the nameplate.
"Enter," a voice said from inside.
Alanna swallowed and pushed the door open. Behind the imposing desk was a man bent over a stack of papers. He looked up as Alanna entered. His eyes were a muddy sort of brown and his hair that fell into his eyes was an equally dull shade of brown. He had a narrow face and seemed to be quite thin, but despite this he had a commanding air.
"'Lo Gary," Coram said, holding out his hand. Mr. Naxen took it and gave him a firm handshake.
"Hello Coram," Mr. Naxen said, his voice slightly nasal. "How was your summer?"
"Nothing to complain about," Coram said. "Gary this is my nephew, Alan Trebond Jr. He's a new student here."
"Alan Trebond Jr.?" Mr. Naxen said. "You must be Alan's boy."
"Yes sir," Alanna said. "He sends his regards."
Mr. Naxen nodded. "So Mr. Trebond," he said. "I'm glad you've decided to join us here at Corus Academy. It's our aim to send you out into the world equipped to handle it. It will be hard. Your day starts at five and we will keep you busy through out. But you will learn the benefit of hard work and I trust you will be an asset to both this school and to your family."
"I'll try," Alanna said fervently. There was something about Mr. Naxen that made one want to impress him.
"I think we can put you Mr. Olau's house," Mr. Naxen said thoughtfully. "Give your details to the school store and they should give you uniforms."
Then with a nod, he dismissed her.
"That wasn't so bad was it la-lad," Coram said, correcting himself.
"That was the easy part," Alanna said. "Uniforms now?"
"You should get your casual uniform immediately," Coram said. "It's just shorts and a t-shirt with your house colour. Tell them your size and they'll give it to you. But they'll have to measure you for your formal uniform."
Alanna looked at him nervously. It was entirely possible during the measuring process that the tailor would discover she was not in fact a member of the male gender.
"So what you're saying is that this could be game over," Alanna said, her violet eyes widening.
"Well we'll just have to wait and see," Coram said grimly.
But they needn't have worried. The old tailor measured Alanna without touching any parts of her that could have given her away. She thanked the gods that she had been born with a relatively small chest. The binder was more than enough to keep her flat.
"I'll have it done in two weeks," the old tailor said. "In the meantime you're allowed to wear your casual uniform on Fridays, which is the day for formals."
"Thank you," Alanna said, perhaps with more gratefulness than was normal. The old tailor just nodded his head and let her go on her way.
"I'll leave you here," Coram said, when they had reached the outside of her dorm. "Send me a message if you need anything."
"I'll be alright Coram," Alanna said, with more confidence than she felt. "What's the worst that could happen?"
Coram just snorted and walked away. Alanna made her way up to her room and unlocked the door. The room was a little smaller than Thom's had been and it was quite Spartan. There was a single bed that was pushed against the wall, a tiny closet and a desk in the corner. Alanna found that she quite liked her new room. She began unpacking, putting all her clothes into the small closet while leaving her binders and tampons in her bag, which she then locked and slid under her bed. She knew she was going to have more than enough problems without having feminine hygiene products scattered around her room. After she was done, and feeling a little hungry Alanna decided to see if the common room she had passed getting here had a toaster or something she could use to heat the PopTarts she had stashed in her rucksack. She pulled on her new uniform and examined herself in the mirror. The shirt and shorts were mostly green, which was the school colour. There blue around the collar and on the sides of the t-shirt. Despite the fact that it really wasn't a very nice uniform Alanna still felt more confident once she put it on. You're a student of Corus Academy now, she told herself. She walked out of her room, PopTarts clutched in her hand. The common room was crowded. Most of the boys were wearing their school shorts and not much else. The whole room smelled like teenage boy. It was a combination of sweat and axe deodorant. Alanna briefly wondered how she was going to survive in this sea of testosterone. She then comforted herself with the fact that while might feel vaguely uneasy; Thom would've undoubtedly killed himself.
"Look what we have here," a loud voice said from behind her. "I think someone's lost."
Alanna turned around slowly. In front of her was a grinning blond haired boy. Alanna's first impression was that he looked like a nasty piece of goods. He had crooked teeth and a cruel smile that didn't quite reach his icy blue eyes.
"Are you lost kid?" the boy asked. Alanna noticed he spoke with a bit of a lisp.
"I'm Alan Trebond," Alanna forced herself to say. "I'm a freshman."
"Well you definitely look fresh," the boy taunted. "You can't be more than twelve you midget."
"And you are?" Alanna asked.
"Ralon Malven," he said, coming closer to her. "But you can call me Mr. Malven. I have a feeling we're going to be getting to know each other quite well."
Alanna noticed a group forming around them out of the corner of her eye. She was once again devoutly thankful that Thom was far away in St. Agatha's. While he might be a little taller than her, Thom would definitely not have been able to face this boy without thoroughly embarrassing herself. Not that she was sure she could face him without totally embarrassing herself.
"I doubt it," she said, trying to sound glib. "I don't think we'd be compatible."
"Are you trying to snark me?" Ralon asked, coming closer to her. Alanna's hands unconsciously balled up into fists.
"Not at all," she said. "I just-"
"Because if you were snarking me jailbait," Ralon said. "I don't think things would end very well for you."
"Leave him alone," someone said.
"Stay out of this Veldine," Ralon snapped.
"I wouldn't dream of snarking you Ralon," Alanna said, sarcasm dripping from every word. Even though Alanna knew she should probably try and keep a low profile, she had never been one to run from a fight.
"See your ass belongs to me now," Ralon said. "If I say Alan Trebond likes to fuck animals, you say yes Ralon I like to fuck animals."
"Are you sure you aren't projecting?" Alanna asked, with mock concern.
Ralon gasped with outrage and threw his fist at her. Alanna, expecting this, ducked and punched his stomach hard. She was well aware that he would beat her into a pulp, but if she would be damned if she wasn't going to get a few hits in first.
The large boy let out a huff, but he was only slightly winded. He stood up and looked at her menacingly.
"You're going to wish you hadn't done that," he said softly and thrust the base of his palm sharply upwards, aiming for Alanna's nose. He hit it square on an Alanna heard an ominous crunch that she knew from experience would be followed by a great deal of pain. Alanna fell backwards and closed her eyes, hoping he would at least be quick.
"What is going on here?" A sharp voice cut through Alanna's pain induced haze.
"Nothing Conté," Ralon spat. "Just a little matter between me and a new boy who thinks he owns this place."
"Shut it Ralon," another person said. Alanna opened her eyes and sat up. Standing in front of Ralon were four athletic looking boys.
"What happened?" a dark haired boy with piercing blue eyes asked.
"I told you it was nothing," Ralon snapped.
"What happened?" the tall blue-eyed boy said, turning to a stocky, yellow haired boy.
"Ralon was picking on the redhead," the boy said. "And Ralon said, "if I tell you you like to fuck animals then you'll say yes Ralon I like to fuck animals." Then the redhead said that maybe Ralon was projecting. Then Ralon tried to punch the redhead in the face, but he ducked and socked Ralon in the stomach. Then I think Ralon broke the guy's nose."
"Maybe you should pick on someone your own size," a large boy with curly coal-black hair said. Although Ralon was undoubtedly large the curly haired boy had at least two inches on him and powerful broad shoulders.
One of the four boys noticing Alanna's predicament helped her off the ground.
"Thank you," she said, wincing as her nose started to ache.
"No worries," the boys said. He looked vaguely familiar, with deep brown eyes and chestnut brown hair.
"Get out Ralon," the blue-eyed boy said.
"Whatever you say your highness," Ralon said spitefully.
"I'm Gary," the brown-haired boy who had helped Alanna up said. "Sorry about Ralon. He can be a total dick."
"I'm alright," Alanna said.
"He really should pick on someone his own size," the curly haired boy said. "I'm Raoul Goldenlake. It's good to meet you-?"
"Alan," Alanna supplied. "Alan Trebond."
"I'm Jonathan Conté," the boy with the blue eyes said. "But call me Jon. And this is Alex Tirragen."
"Nice to meet you Alan," the fourth boy in the quartet said, holding out his hand. While the other three boys had warm open faces, Alex looked oddly secretive. Alanna thought he seemed rather catlike, his movements having a practiced sort of grace. Alanna took his hand and shook it.
"Well you've gotten off to an interesting start," Jon said, half ruefully. "Though I have to admit you do have excellent taste in enemies."
"To be fair," Alanna said. "I don't think I had much of a choice about making that one."
"You have a mouth on you don't you Alan?" Jon said with a laugh.
"It's a curse," Alanna said, the beginnings of a smile forming at the corners of her mouth.
"Well you should be careful," Jon warned. "Ralon Malven is a nasty piece of work."
"I'll be alright," Alanna said. She realised she had been saying that the whole day with a great deal of confidence that she did not in fact possess.
"I'm sure you will Alan," Jon said, there was a glimmer of humour in his clear blue eyes and Alanna found herself taking an instant liking to him.
a/n: So we have all our main characters now. Hope you liked this chapter! Please review!