This chapter… to be honest, I don't particularly want to be writing this. I'd rather just jump right into the action of the story, which starts next chapter. This is basically just an introduction to Adrianne's two friends, Morgan and Ellis.

Morgan and I didn't meet at her dorm like I'd told Elizabeth. Instead, we opted to meet in a more private spot: Charlie's, a small café a couple miles from campus. It was a greasy, hole-in-the-wall joint that most of our classmates wouldn't dare to be seen at, but it suited the both of us just fine. Even though I'd had to walk to Charlie's myself, I still managed to get there before Morgan did. (Morgan, for the record, suffered from the condition known as chronic lateness. She couldn't be on time for anything to save her life. I liked to joke that she'd been a few minutes late to her own birth.)

So I grabbed an empty booth and tried to focus on the menu, but my hands were shaking. I wasn't usually a nervous person, but this was an exception. Ciel Phantomhive was here, at my school, to do who-knew-what. He certainly couldn't have been there to study; I knew what kind of business the Earl did. He wasn't an ordinary kid; hell, he wasn't even an ordinary rich kid. I was sure that he wasn't here for so innocent a purpose.

Still, did I have anything to do with whatever business that Phantomhive boy had here?

I was cut off in my train of thought by Morgan, who thankfully chose that moment to show up. She took off her jacket and shoved it in the empty side of the booth before delicately taking a seat next to it.

"Adrianne! I missed you this summer. Wish you'd taken my offer to come home with me over break."

Morgan knew about my living situation (or lack thereof) and had offered to let me spend the summer with her and her family at their estate, but I'd chosen to stay at the school and take those additional classes. I usually spent winter and spring break with her or our friend Ellis, and I didn't want to impose on either of them any more than I had to… plus, neither of their families were all that fond of me- the poor, orphan scholarship student- and I'd rather be spared that unpleasantness.

"Hello, Morgan. It's good to see you again," I said, grateful that my voice wasn't as shaky as my hands were (not that Morgan would've noticed.) "How was your summer?"

"Oh, same as usual," she said. "I went to our island for a few weeks, hung out on the beach there. My mum and dad had a bunch of parties for their clients." Morgan's parents ran Constable Software and Co., a successful computer programming company, and had clients all over the world. Morgan, being an only child, was expected to take over the company when she got older; she was better with computers than anyone I'd ever met, but she didn't have much interest in inheriting the family business.

"Must've been a bloody good time for you," I said sarcastically, "being at all those office parties."

Morgan blushed.

"I didn't really talk to anyone, to tell you the truth. I mostly just stayed in the corner and hoped no one would try to talk to me."

Morgan was one of the shyest people I knew, which is probably why we were friends in the first place. The first time we'd met- seventh grade biology class, the second week of our first year at Alexandrina, where everyone seemed to already know each other despite the fact school had only just started- was when we'd had to do a lab report on the growth of Arabidopsis plants. It was about as much fun as it sounds.

Anyway, Morgan and I were the only two kids in the class without partners (Morgan was too shy to ask anyone, and of course no one wanted to work with the poor scholarship student), so the teacher paired us spares together. Now, Morgan was in all of my classes that year, and in the week and a half I'd known her, I hadn't heard her speak a word to anyone. She barely said two sentences to me when we were working on our lab report. It was only after a month or so of being partnered together in every class that she felt comfortable enough around me to actually speak to me. She turned out to be pretty nice, and we became friends fairly quickly after that- she wouldn't shut up around me. Still, to the rest of the school, Morgan was known as the girl who never spoke a word to anyone. The only other person to see the fun, talkative side of her was Ellis Maine, who started at Alexandrina when we were freshman in the high school program. Ellis' parents were big-time executives in the music industry, and he'd adopted the alternative style of his favorite bands, which made him a person to be avoided. But he quickly befriended myself and Morgan, and soon the three of us became a trio.

Our food finally came- I couldn't remember when we'd ordered it, for whatever reason- and Morgan and I kept eating and chatting 'til the summer sun started to sink into the horizon. Morgan called her driver to come and get us, and we waited for him outside Charlie's for a while.

"By the way," I started to ask her, "Do you have your schedule on you? I want to compare and see if we have any of the same classes."

She nodded, handing me a crinkled-up paper with her classes printed on it. "We probably have almost everything together, like we have every other year. Ellis' plane isn't getting in until tomorrow, but he texted me his schedule, so I'll get my phone out for you. I already checked, and all I have with him this year is English Lit."

As she spoke, I read over her schedule and sighed. "English Lit's the only class we have this year. At least the three of us are in the same class, first period with Mr. Michaelis."

Morgan looked worried, but handed me her phone. It turned out that Ellis and I shared everything except for science.

"At least we have that class," she sighed. "Is Mr. Michaelis new this year? I haven't heard of him. I hope he's good."

"If he's not, I can help you out," I said. "We've got a lot of Victorian text this year, and I've already read most of it. It shouldn't be hard at all."

"Easy for you to say. You're, like, the smartest person in our grade."

I didn't dispute her claim. To be honest, it wasn't exactly high praise to be considered the smartest person at Alexandrina, since most of my classmates would be dead broke if brains were money.

At that moment, her driver showed up. We both climbed in the plush back seat of the car and rode back to school in silence.

"You want to meet my roommate?" I asked Morgan as we got out at the dorms. "She's an interesting character… she broke the bloody door off its hinges today. Still, the two of you might get on well."

"That's all right," Morgan said. "I have to unpack my stuff. I guess I'll see you in class on Tuesday?"

"Yes," I said. "You will."

But I knew already that she'd be late.

Now, some author's notes:

It goes without saying that I don't own Black Butler. Alexandrina Academy and all non-canon characters are mine, though.

Adrianne does have some connection to the Phantomhives, but that won't be explained until further into the story. *cue suspenseful music*

Mr. Michaelis? I think you all know who that is. I might as well say now that this fic is a ship fic… although it's going to turn out to be a rather twisted one. But it's Sebby-chan x OC, though I won't say which OC it's going to be.

I'm only familiar with the manga canon, as I haven't watched the anime besides Book of Circus. But I know a good deal about it, so should I try to include some anime-only characters? (Probably it'd just be Alois, Claude, Hannah, and perhaps Drocell.) Give your opinion in the reviews, I guess.

Oh yeah, speaking of reviewing… REMEMBER TO REVIEW! Please? *gives you the puppy eyes*