"That was a ballsy move," the yellow-haired boy said after the quartet had moved on and the common room went back to its normal chatter.
Alanna just shrugged. "I don't think I'm very good at making friends," she said.
"You certainly impressed those guys," the boy said. "I'm Douglass by the way. Douglass Veldine."
"You told Ralon to back off didn't you?" Alanna asked.
"Well yeah," Douglass said. "But I didn't do very much about it."
"No worries," Alanna said. "So are you a freshman too?"
"Yep," he said. "I just got here."
"So you don't know who those guys are?" she asked, subtly gesturing to the group of four boys who were now sitting around the centre table and laughing about something.
"Are you kidding?" Douglass asked incredulously. "Which rock have you been living under? They're pretty big stuff."
"Yeah Ralon called one of them highness didn't he?" Alanna remembered. "Why?"
"That's Jonathan Conté," Douglass said. "His dad's the principle and he also owns most of Corus. And Gary's Jonathan's cousin. He's Mr. Naxen's son."
"Thought he looked familiar," Alanna said.
"Both Jonathan and Gary are so loaded," Douglass said, a hint of awe coming into his voice. "They have private planes and stuff. Their dads pretty much just run the school because they want to. Not because they need the money or anything."
"What about the other two?" Alanna asked.
"Alex and Raoul are in that league," Douglass said. "I mean not as famous or anything. Jonathan and Gary are proper celebrity billionaires. But in that league I think."
"Woah," Alanna said. "I mean I knew people here were rich I just didn't realise there would be celebrity billionaires."
"Anyway you should probably check the board for your sponsor," Douglass said. "Every freshman has one. It's a sophomore who shows you the ropes. Tells you how to get to class and dinner and everything."
"Who did you get?" Alanna asked.
"Raoul," Douglass said. "He seems pretty cool."
Alanna found to her relief that she had gotten Gary as a sponsor. He seemed kind she thought. And he really was. He patiently explained how to get to the Dining Hall at least ten times and also drew a makeshift map to help Alanna get to her classes.
"Don't worry about Father David," Gary said as he shunted her towards her English class. "He might seem like a hardass but he really isn't that bad. Just make sure you meet all the deadlines. Even if the work's crap, just put something on his desk. He never gives extensions and will fail you."
Alanna needn't have worried at all. She discovered she was miles ahead of her freshmen peers with regards to English. Unfortunately instead of being able to goof off Father David gave her Jane Eyre and told her he wanted a book report on his desk by Monday.
"Why am I being punished for being good at something?" she groaned to Gary, who just grinned.
"Priests aren't exactly into giving rewards," he said. "Just pretend to be crap at Maths if you don't want the extra work."
But Alanna found that she didn't have to act dumb in Maths.
"We never did any of this back home," she said waving around the sheaf of papers in Gary's face. "He gave me ten pages of sums to do by Monday. At this rate I'll have no weekend."
"We never have weekends," Gary said, thoroughly amused. "Didn't you listen to Dad's 'work hard' speech?"
"I didn't think he meant this hard," Alanna said darkly.
"And don't forget about sports hour," Gary said, as he directed her toward her history class. "Though why they call it sports hour when it's actually three hours I'll never know. But it leaves you beat. And all you'll want to do is pass out. But don't. Trust me. The longer you leave homework…"
"I'm not even going home," Alanna huffed. "How can it be homework?"
"Hate to break this to you Trebond," Gary said, his smile gentle. "But this is your home now."
"I'm going to die," Alanna said flatly.
"You won't," Gary said. "No one does. Now go quickly. You're late for history."
She walked to her history class and Gary watched her go with a wistful smile.
"Were we ever that little?" he asked Jon, who slid into place next to him.
"Well maybe six years ago," Jon said with a half-smile.
"Doesn't it make you feel nostalgic?" Gary asked. "For the good old days when we were still scrubby little freshmen with rage and anger towards all the bastards who run this school?"
"You mean your father and my father?" Jon asked amusedly.
"Well indirectly I suppose," Gary admitted. "Though really its those damn priests."
"What does he have now?" Jon asked, watching Alanna's back as she walked huffily to history.
"History," Gary said. "He'll like Mr. Olau."
And Gary was right. Alanna knew something was different about Mr. Olau's class the minute she walked in. For one, Mr. Olau wasn't a gaunt priest. He was a middle-aged portly man.
"Hello," he said kindly, as she slid into her seat.
"Sorry I'm late," she said.
"Well better late than never," Mr. Olau said with a chuckle.
Alanna found herself warming to the eccentric looking little man.
"So today we'll have a light class. Nothing too serious," Mr. Olau said. "Current events sound good? We'll get into the Great Wars later. "
There was general assent.
"So how many of you know how the current presidential primaries work?" he asked.
There were a few hands raised. Mr. Olau pointed to a boy at the back.
"People registered to either the Civilians or the Statists vote for candidates running in the primary," he said.
"And after that?" Mr. Olau asked.
There was silence.
Alanna tentatively raised her hand. "The people with the most votes get nominated at the party conventions right?"
"That is true," Mr. Olau said. "Now can anyone tell me why that's going to be a problem for the Civilians this time."
"Because they have no frontrunner," she said.
"Excellent," Mr. Olau said. "And what does that lead to?"
Alanna shrugged. "It's never happened before."
"Because the Civilians have no frontrunner there's going to be a brokered convention," he said. "Which means our next president, rather than being someone who stands for something could just be someone who is the least offensive."
Mr. Olau continued talking about brokered conventions and Alanna listened enthralled. He made politics seem incredibly interesting and Alanna found herself wishing the class would go on longer when the bell rang.
"For our next class it would help if you read about the causes of the first Great War," Mr. Olau said. "But once a week we'll have a current events class too. So read up on the primaries. And tell me which nominating convention you think works better. The Civilian proportional representation one or the Statist popular majority one."
Alanna came out of Mr. Olau's class looking very thoughtful.
"So how was it?" Gary asked, when they walked into the Dining Hall for lunch.
"Mr. Olau's weird," Alanna said. "But he really makes you think."
"He's crazy," Alex said, but without rancour.
"Alex and Mr. Olau don't exactly see eye to eye on anything," Raoul explained.
"But he still manages to beat us all in exams," Jon added.
"Mr. Olau's balls to wall crazy but he likes original thought," Alex said.
Alanna quickly learned that Alex was incredibly intelligent. Apart from topping History he also was a Mathematics wizard. While at her old school he would probably have been called a nerd, no one here did that. He was quiet but commanding. And, as Alanna discovered in sports hour that evening, he was also an incredible athlete.
"How did you do that?" Alanna asked in awe as Alex executed a perfect bicycle kick.
"It's easy," Alex said with a shrug.
Alanna privately thought that it was quite unfair for Alex to be both intelligent and athletic. But at least he didn't rub ones nose in it, she reasoned.
Alanna quickly settled down into life at Corus Academy. Her classmates were friendly and they helped each other out. She found herself hanging out with Douglass Veldine, Geoffrey Meron, Sacherell Wellam and Francis Nond most of the time. She got especially close to Francis who was a shy blond boy, almost as small as her. Francis was genuinely kind. He helped Alanna out with lessons and was always there when she wanted to talk to someone. Although Alanna went to lessons with her classmates and got along with most of them very well, she found herself spending more and more of her limited free time with upperclassmen. Gary seemed to have adopted her, actively seeking her out when they weren't busy. Raoul, never shy about his emotions made it clear to everyone that he quite liked spending time with the little redhead. Both Jon and Alex seemed to enjoy Alanna's company and she found herself a member of their group. Where she went so did Francis and the five boys and one secret girl were often seen with each other around campus.
The only speck of dust on Alanna's mostly clear horizon was Ralon. Furious that she had acquired herself a group of fairly intimidating friends he attempted to undermine her any chance he got. And Alanna, by nature not being a sneak, meant that he largely got away with it. They were little things that Alanna, had she not known Ralon was out to get her, would have ignored. He always tackled her a little harder when they were playing football. Her shins became a mass of brightly coloured purple spots from all the bruising. When they played basketball Alanna would invariably find herself flat on her back, regardless of whether she played in Ralon's team or against him.
"You should tell Mr. Naxen," Francis said, one day. They were both sitting in Alanna's room and she was nursing a bruised eye.
"There's nothing to tell," Alanna said, gently pressing ice into her eye that was already closing.
"He's kicking your ass," Francis said bluntly. "And making it seem like an accident."
"He is not kicking my ass," Alanna said shortly. "I'm perfectly fine."
"Well you should at least tell Gary," Francis said. "Or Raoul. He'll probably just be happy he has a reason to beat up Ralon. You know he hates him."
"I'm not a snitch," Alanna said stubbornly.
"Fine I'll tell Raoul then," Francis said.
Alanna noticed that a slightly different look always came into Francis' eyes when he mentioned Raoul. He was utterly devoted to the older boy who had been assigned as his sponsor. Alanna had developed a new respect for Raoul who had to know that Francis had a bit of a crush on him but never in any way embarrassed him about it. None of the four boys made jokes about Francis and Alanna sometimes wondered if perhaps Thom would have had such a terrible time here after all.
But her doubts were quickly assuaged one evening in the squash court. She had booked it with Francis, who was actually rather good at the sport.
"Come on Alan," he said with a laugh. "If you're going to beat anyone at anything physical it's going to be me."
"You're way too quick for me," Alanna said taking in gasping breaths. "I feel like an elephant's sitting on my chest."
Francis just grinned at her and served.
"I think you're done here," a loud voice said from the back of the court.
Alanna lost her concentration for a second and the ball hit her square in the face.
There was a cruel laugh. "Useless," Ralon said coming into her line of vision. "As always." He was accompanied by another large boy with vacant brown eyes who Alanna didn't recognise.
"We're leaving," Francis said nervously, noticing a look in Alanna's eyes. It was usually a look that preceded violence of some kind.
"Glad to hear it," Ralon said with a smile that made Francis distinctly uncomfortable.
"We booked the court," Alanna said getting up. "It's ours for another twenty minutes."
"It's mine now," Ralon said harshly. "So get out."
"Come on Alan," Francis said. "You were getting tired anyway."
"We booked it," Alanna said stubbornly. "Our names are on the sign up sheet stuck to the door. It's literally down in writing. So the court's ours for the next twenty minutes."
"You don't want to mess with me on this one," Ralon spat. "Maybe you and Raoul Goldenlake's little bumboy need to be taught a lesson."
"Leave Francis out of this," Alanna said sharply, as her shy friend became pale.
"No I think it's unnatural what all of you get up to," Ralon said, his voice calm. "I think we need to what's best for him. There's no better teacher than pain."
"Did you take all night to come up with that," Alanna snapped, desperately attempting to divert Ralon's attention to her. "God my hamsters could do better."
And unfortunately for her she succeeded rather well. With a snarl Ralon lunged at her, driving his fist into her face. She kicked at him as hard as she could, but she was absolutely no match for the older boy. He made her the focus of every bit of anger he possessed and after a point Alanna just couldn't fight back.
"Next time listen to me," he hissed, giving her one last kick in the ribs.
She just glared at him too winded to speak.
"Now get out," he said.
Francis quickly helped her up and supported her weight all the way to the dormitories.
"Are you alright?" she asked, as he tightened his grip around her waist.
"Yeah his friend wasn't really into it," Francis said, trying to keep his tone light but failing rather miserably.
"Good," Alanna grunted.
"You have to tell Mr. Naxen," Francis said. "This is getting ridiculous Alan."
"I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing he got to me," Alanna said stubbornly.
"Got to you?" Francis asked incredulously. "He nearly killed you."
But Alanna just shook her head. They got to the dorm and Francis helped Alanna into bed.
"Tell them I'm not going to come down to dinner today," Alanna said. "Everything's too raw. Someone'll notice."
"They're going to notice tomorrow too," Francis said. "Unless you plan on staying up here till that gaping wound on your face heals."
Alanna touched her forehead and winced. "I don't even remember getting that," she said.
"Yeah getting hit in the head about thirty times can sometimes affect memory," Francis said dryly. "You should at least go to the infirmary."
"I'll go in a bit," Alanna said. "Maybe when the room stops spinning."
Francis looked at her horrified.
"Just kidding," Alanna said. "Calm down Francis. I don't have a concussion."
"You're a ridiculous person," he said. "And I hope once your brain starts working again you'll come to your senses."
"Go for dinner Francis," Alanna said. "And tell them I'm feeling a little bit out of it."
I'd say," Francis muttered, but he left anyway, after giving Alanna an ice pack.
A few hours later, when Alanna was carefully turning her body over, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in, there was a knock on the door.
"Alan?" came a voice through the door.
Alanna silently cursed Francis, recognising Jonathan.
"Not feeling to good," she called back. "Think I'm coming down with something. I'm probably contagious. It's better you don't come in."
"Alan open the door," it was Gary this time.
"Really not feeling good," she said again, well aware she was fighting a losing battle.
"Open the door or we're going to kick it down," Raoul said loudly. And with a groan Alanna conceded defeat and opened the door.
The four boys on the other side all had expressions of worry on their faces.
Alex let out a low whistle. "Francis said it was bad but he really went to town on you didn't he?" he said.
"I fell," Alanna said shortly.
"And I'm sure you had plenty of help," Gary said, his tone sharp.
"I'm going to kill him," Raoul said, suppressed anger in his voice. "I'm going to rip his disgusting little head off."
Out of the four of them only Jonathan was silent. He gently turned Alanna's head to the side, examining the bruising down her neck.
"I'd say go to the infirmary but Francis told me he had already tried and you were being stubborn," he said. "But if anything like this ever happens you come to us alright? We'll handle it."
"Thanks but I'll fight my own battles," Alanna said, her chin resolute.
"We're your friends Alan," Jonathan said, a half-smile on his face. "We're here to fight your battles with you."
Alanna smiled at the four boys shyly. She had had friends before; she hadn't been a total loser. But these boys felt like more than just friends. They felt like comrades in arms.
"We'll get Francis to bring up some food for you," Gary said. "And just remember. We've got your back."
a/n: I hope you like this chapter. Sorry about the politics stuff. I'm pulling it from the American political system. It'll be important later. And just to clarify, this is a modern day au but it's still set in totally fictional Tortall. Anyway tell me what you think. I do enjoy reading your reviews. :)