There was a reason why Erik hadn't been aware of the fact that there was indeed a lake near Crowby's buildings even though he considered himself well informed about the school and the surrounding. From what he'd gathered it was just one huge campus with a forest that eventually led to the main highway. The fact that the path to the lake was anything but obvious probably helped a lot with it being unknown of. They walked through the first bits of the forest after entering it near the soccer field, casually avoiding tree braches as they were held onto and let go of again. The road -if that was what you could call it- was horribly unpleasant with thorn braches and bushes blocking the way. It was pure guesswork to know where they were headed but Preben seemed to know the way by heart as he guided all of them through the thick realm of trees. There was also a steep slope down and Erik never wanted to take this route on a rainy day because he almost tripped even without it being slippery. After that they had to cross a creek with a little bridge that consisted of thick plywood and extended from one bank to the other. Erik was sure that the planks were already in a state of rotting but decided not to mention it as they one by one made it to the other side. After that they followed a much clearer path of stomped down forest vegetation, a sign that they were around here more often, to eventually make their way through thick bushes.

It felt like being stranded on a reversed island with the water in the middle surrounded by thick trees. Erik felt unhot for the first time since arriving at the campus and man did it feel good. Preben had been right; the shade all around him was welcomed, together with the lake itself. This place was a treasure. Looking around he saw that they were standing on some sort of little beach consisting of pebbles and rocks all around the lake. There were some chairs on this side too, probably nicked from a hallway or a class when teachers weren't paying attention. They had a faint pale colour, a little reminder of the bright blue they used to be in better days before the sun had taken its toll on them.

The lake itself was awfully quiet, not even the sound of the highway that shouldn't be that far from this place. Erik had at least expected the sound of a stream or crickets in the tall grass but it turned out to be mostly Preben and Tino's laughing that filled the air.

Right, Tino Vainamoinen, a junior like Erik with a face so innocent that one wouldn't be able to spot him in a group of choirboys. Angelic features, huge bright eyes with pink instead of tan skin from summer and blond hair that looked bleached because of the sun. A pretty illusion of a perfect son, that was until he heard him talking.

He turned out to be the kind of guy who used more swears in the last 10 minutes than Erik had in a whole month. His mother would've had her second heart attack of the day for sure. It wasn't that Tino wasn't friendly, not at all. He'd introduced himself with a bright smile and was even so polite to ask about Erik's life before he arrived at Crowby's. Hobbies, friends, family; the usual stuff but, sadly, just like the other two of Erik's new friends Tino had a love for cigarettes and Erik made sure to pass it down this time when he got offered one.

Even though he didn't know much about Tino except for the fact that his family was originally from Finland, his favourite things besides cigarettes were skittle vodka and salmiakki and that he could skip rocks like a pro; Erik liked Tino very much because he didn't take Preben's shit like Constantijn had done.

"Stop complaining for fuck's sakes."

"I can't help it that my eyes were almost burned out of my sockets!" Preben had protested and Erik was sure that if there had been animals around in the first place they would be long gone now. He just decided to fumble with the small hole in his shirt instead of contributing to the conversation as the others talked.

"As if what you did to Mathilde the day before Spring Break was such a beauty for the eye to behold." Tino had retorted, taking another long drag of his cigarette before blowing the smoke in Preben's face.

Preben had gotten up by then -unfazed by the smoke- and pulled the bright red shirt over his head, making his hair look even more dishevelled that it had before. He made sure to throw the piece of clothing at his friend's head. "You promised to never bring that up again!" It was the first time that Erik had seen him in an emotion that could be regarded as something that wasn't happy. He also told himself that he wasn't obviously staring at the bare chest in front of him.

Tino merely snorted as he threw the shirt and his cigarette but aside so that both landed in between the rocks. "No, I promised to never bring it up when Neddie was around. Do you see Constantijn here? Exactly. I'm a man of my word, you know that."

Erik just silently watched and judged, like he always did. For once he wasn't alone in this role though. Apparently Berwald, or as Preben liked to call him 'Waldy', wasn't really the talkative person either. Erik was even fairly certain that Berwald didn't enjoy being here and was just around to accompany his boyfriend on this journey to protect him from the big bad Preben. That was just an assumption however, one that only got proven by the angry looks he shot Preben from time to time in a fruitless attempt to wipe that smug look off of his face. Berwald's glares were intimidation to say at least with his towering height. He truly wasn't someone to mess with but Tino had contradicted that with: "Ber is one big teddy bear once you get to know him, really. He just isn't the best at expressing himself." Erik could relate to that, except for the scary and intimidation part. He just mostly looked awkward or boring when he wasn't able to 'express himself' properly. Nevertheless he'd found his partner in silence without expressing it. Not being the only one who didn't speak didn't raise any questions on why he didn't participate in conversations; just the way he liked it.

"So, I doubt that those two gentleman have given you Crowby's wisdom yet…" Tino started as Preben had run off to make the worst attempt at a cannonball into the lake.

Erik looked up from the ripples in the water that slowly disappeared as Preben hadn't resurfaced yet. "Is there Crowby wisdom I need to know of then?"

Tino just chuckled, lighting a second cigarette with the lighter that Preben had left behind.

"You really thought it was just gonna be an eat-sleep-study kind of deal around here?"

And in all honestly, Erik had wanted to reply yes but instead refrained from answering. Berwald made a noise that resembled a faint chuckle, which made Erik just stare around uncomfortably until Tino spoke up again.

"Oh god you did…" He shook his head with a small smile after which he turned around to yell at Preben who was apparently enjoying himself with a lazy backstroke.

"You really weren't kidding when you said that the guy was a rookie!"

Berwald had snorted for a second, making Erik look up. His face didn't betray any kind of emotion though; reading this guy was just impossible.

"Why would I? We'll get him there, just like Constantijn!" Was the reply from Preben before his head disappeared beneath the surface of the water for a second time. Erik wasn't too sure what to think of all this. Again, he was used to people talking as if he wasn't there since that was something he'd brought onto himself. When Preben had said how he would get used to smoking he'd been afraid to be thrown into the wrong crowd of people but Tino wasn't that bad now was he? All the people he'd met so far were rather smart to begin with anyway and those were normally not considered the wrong crowd. A cigarette here or there, making sure the smoke was gone by the time he went home. Erik could deal with that. Hell, he had a roommate that smoked, that was enough excuse on its own if his parents would start raising questions.

Tino made sure to clear his throat thoroughly before starting his speech, making Erik smile a little. "Okay first things first. This place is ours and we like to keep it that way. As far as we know the student dean isn't even aware of this lake, making it the perfect hideout.

Second, one does not cheat or rat out on each other. It only brings your fellow students in danger. Also you can just buy the tests from Constantijn-"

Erik wanted to argue that one could also actually study instead of spending money on test questions but he knew that not everyone thought the same way as him on this subject. He couldn't deny that the reassurance of having the right questions was an appealing thought for a lot of students.

" Third, Whatever Ivan asks you, you say no. Also, you better avoid his younger sister in general too. She's a bit-" With that Tino made some weird hand gestures while crossing his eyes. Erik nodded; he got the message although he wasn't sure how much of this he should actually believe.

Before Tino was able to get to point number four he got interrupted.

"Go easy on th' kid…." It was the first time that Erik had heard Berwald talk except for the various nods and grunts of agreement and the chuckles a few minutes ago. His voice was exactly like he'd imagined, deep but the mumbling surprised him at least.

Tino looked shocked, on hand on his hip with a gaping mouth in an obvious joking attempt to play the victim. "I am going easy! Do you think I got all this help when I arrived here as a freshman?"

"HEY!" Preben dragged himself out of the water, shaking his head like a dog to get at least a bit of lake water out of his hair. A hand went through blonde hair in a vain attempt to get it up again. "Fuck you man, I helped ya out tons in your sophomore year!"

"No, you made me addicted to nicotine and showed me the glorious world of alcohol…."

"Exactly!" That Cheshire grin was back on his face again, so obviously proud of pulling Tino on the wrong path. Erik could only imagine how truly innocent he must've been when he first arrived here. Preben went to search for his shirt between the rocks after that.

"The only credit you deserve is that I met Ber because of you, that's all." Tino scooted closer on hands and knees before planting a small kiss on Berwald's lips although Erik wasn't sure if it was going to end up in a total make-out session here and now or not.

"ya two are eating each other's faces again, aren't ya?" Preben wasn't even looking and wasn't planning to either by the looks of it. Instead he favoured making gag noises during his search until he picked up the red piece of fabric with a gleeful 'gotchaa'. Erik just contented himself with connecting the abundance of freckles on Preben's back and shoulders with each other.

Tino pulled back and rolled his eyes while giving Berwald a small smile. "You're just jealous you don't have someone for once."

Preben didn't seem to have a comeback to that as he just silently muttered under his breath, throwing a random stone into the water with such force that it almost made it halfway through. The shirt got pulled over his head again, leaving only a darker patch around the collar from his hair; the water on his body already dried up in the late evening sun. His shorts were still soaked though but that didn't seem to bother him that much.

Tino was halfway through his cigarette when Preben arrived from between the rocks with four beer bottles. Tino himself had declined, saying he only wanted to get shitfaced Friday night at the Vargasses party. Preben just shrugged, telling that he needed more than a beer to actually get him wasted but didn't seem to push his friend into things. Erik took a beer with a bit of hesitation at first, not sure if this was actually a good idea but starting with just a beer seemed like the right thing to do, right? It wasn't that strong and he had to start somewhere after that miserably small amount of champagne on New Year's.

Preben was skilled enough to open each bottle by just the side of one of the plastic chairs and his hands. Erik just watched in amazement as one by one the bottle caps gave in with a little pop. When the bottle was handed to him he just eyed around, trying to make out how much of a swig was enough to make it look convincing yet not that it looked as if he was trying too hard. As Preben's bottle hit first the underside of his and Berwald tapped his onto the top of the neck, Erik had no time to think as the white foam started flowing from the bottle. He got up, holding the drink as far as he could from soaking his shirt.

"What the- what was that for?"

Tino grinned. "See it as a sort of initiation. Welcome to the club."

And with that they clicked the bottles together, Erik's one now sticky and still dripping.

When Erik entered his room there was a two-seat sofa in the most horrible old-fashioned plaid pattern pushed in one of the corners, together with a beer crate that served as a little coffee table. It cheered things up a bit, even though the couch had obviously seen way better days –as it was more foam than actually couch- and the table couldn't even be called a table, not even with a bit of imagination. At least Constantijn had done more work than Erik had to make things more bearable in their few square metres home but then again, Constantijn had been prepared after probably 4 years at Crowby's already. His roommate himself however, was nowhere to be seen. It was already past 10, the hour that students were supposed to be in their rooms. Tino had already mentioned that the dean wasn't that strict before classes actually started but it still rubbed Erik in the wrong way as the three of his friends decided to hang around at the lake a little longer while Preben had led him back to the soccer field so that he could find his way back to the dorms.

"You'll be fine, ya know…"

Erik had looked up as he had accepted the branch from Preben and let it go again as soon as he had passed it. When he didn't answer the other had just accepted the silence for a few minutes before continuing to talk.

"That ya shouldn't worry that much. Tino always worries about unnecessary stuff. You'll be all right here, we'll make sure ya will."

Erik had quietly thanked him for that when they were finally out of the forest and Preben had just nodded with a huge smile before returning to the lake.

The words 'see you later' echoed through his mind but Erik wasn't sure if he could count on that. It was probably a big lie just like the phrase 'Sure I will, tomorrow' or his list of friends that consisted out of two lines. He sighed as kicked the flip-flops from his feet. The linoleum floor was anything but refreshing against his feet and to his great annoyance Constantijn hadn't thought of a little fan or something either. The only option was to sleep without pyjamas apparently. Erik let his shorts drop to the floor and pulled his shirt over his head before dropping himself on the top bunk. It was weird how he would've never considered himself a top bunk man but aside from the fact that he could fall to his death after a bad dream there weren't really any downsides.

Classes for him started at around 9 so he figured he would have enough time to get ready and walk to the main building in 15 minutes and thus set his alarm at 8:45. He just hoped that Constantijn wasn't planning on using the shower at that point.

Picking up a book from the shelf he decided to read a little until Constantijn came back, just to be polite. They hadn't really talked so far and even though Erik could totally live with that fact, it was probably better to try and befriend his roommate decently. He had spent a whole evening with three people by a lake, a little bit more social interaction sure wasn't going to kill him at the end of the day.

Treasure Island was exactly like he remembered: decent story but characters so empty and flat that you couldn't make a difference between the Doctor and the Squire even if you wanted to. Just people with different names while they were exactly the same person, making the whole task of reading anything but challenging. Reading in bed felt pleasantly familiar. Things were exactly like at home like this, only it was much hotter and he now lived in a much more compact space.

Constantijn still wasn't back by the time Erik finished with the book and he just pushed every stupid feeling of worry to the back of his mind. This guy knew what he was doing, probably. Nothing to worry about. So Erik decided to get some sleep, still bothered by the heat. He couldn't remember when exactly he fell asleep nor the moment Constantijn entered the room with some noise until quiet took over again. All he did remember was the pleasant edges of his dreams until the buzzing of his alarm went off in the morning.

This chapter didn't feel finished for a long while until i just decided to post it anyway.
It's a shorter one but it didn't feel right to just add the start of classes to this part.

So hopefully I'm wrong with how this chapter feels and you can all enjoy it nevertheless

(oh and about the beer clicking thing, i don't know if this is a thing that everyone does but here in Belgium we like to annoy people by tapping the top and bottom of their beer bottles with ours because you get something like a coke-mentos reaction, just less powerful)