Boarding School Blues

~O~

To my dear boy,

What misfortune you experienced on The Campania, I hope you have recovered well and are enjoying Easter.

As for myself, even though I have some days off for Easter, I find that I cannot enjoy it as there are some worries on my mind...

~O~

Charlotte and Snake's reunion was almost comical in how over the top emotional it was. For a man who eschewed all physical contact outside of his snakes, Snake could really cling. Even after Charlotte was finished crying her apologies into his shoulder and he was done whispering his forgiveness into her hair, they still held on to each other until everyone else started fidgeting uncomfortably.

"Is...is no one going to separate them?" Bard muttered quietly to the other servants.

Finnian sniffled, his blue eyes shining with unshed tears. "I think it's sweet!"

From the other side, Ciel made a face at the two. "Can we move on to more pressing matters please? Like the job we have to do? The job that is literally the only reason I hired any of you in the first place?"

"Sourpuss," Charlotte pouted good-naturedly and pulled away. Snake pulled back, a little more reluctantly, and pulled off her glove so he could fiddle with her fingers. The smooth, repetitive movements helped to calm him down. He'd been near frantic when Charlotte had disappeared again, and only the existence of the letter she'd left him had stopped him from immediately jumping the proverbial ship to go looking for her.

Pouting, he gave one of her fingers a reprimanding tug and Charlotte curled her hand around his own apologetically. They'd both lost family multiple times. They couldn't lose each other too.

Seeing that they were both on the brink of another emotional session, Sebastian let out a gentle but pointed cough. "If we could move on to more pressing matters?"

"Alright, alright!" Charlotte huffed and made to follow them.

Ciel held up his hand with a disgruntled expression. "When did I allow you to be a part of this?"

"I don't know but it was sometime before the dessert course I believe. Definitely after the main course. Is that correct Sebastian?"

"Yes Lady Charlotte, it was around the time she introduced the young master to six different businessmen and artisans, and secured a contract with the Soyeux family's Araigné Company to provide high quality cloth for future Phantomhive Company dolls."

"Mhm I thought so, that was definitely it."

"The two of you a blight upon my existence."

It was strange being back in the manor as a guest rather than a servant. For one, her clothes were nicer so Charlotte was loathe to go climbing through the vents when her stockings and gloves were made of actual silk. She sighed and then focused on Ciel.

The boy pulled an open letter from one of the desk drawers. The wax seal had been split neatly enough that Charlotte could still make out the two halves of the royal insignia. "It seems there have been some odd dealings at Weston College," he summarized. "The Queen wants me to discover the source."

"She can't simply order a few police officers to deal with it?" Charlotte asked as her eyes drifted from the letter to the school brochure lying on the desk. It depicted a medieval structure, tall and gorgeous, with the words Weston College printed in grandiose script.

"Weston College is a public school," Ciel rested his chin on his palm with a discontented hum. "They're independent institutions and typically out of the reach of common law. The students who attend them are the children of rich socialites and businessmen who can't afford to air their dirty laundry."

Sebastian huffed disdainfully. "Thinking about their appearance at a time like this," he said, "this is why I dislike humans."

"You know, you're right demon. If I could afford to destroy every single person who didn't like me, I wouldn't care about appearances either," Charlotte snarked back.

"Fair enough."

Ciel pinched the bridge of his nose. "I think I preferred when you didn't get along. At any rate, I'd like to have someone infiltrate Weston, but since the student body is comprised entirely of the sons of rich nobility..."

"A disguise wouldn't work?"

"The upper class is fairly insular. They all know each other at least in passing, and faking class isn't easy," Ciel reached for his teacup and swirled the creamy liquid inside as he thought.

"Then you'll be going in personally?" Sebastian asked. Charlotte immediately perked up and inched over to the desk, reaching for the school brochure.

The boy nodded and took a sip, not paying any attention to her as she flipped through the paper. "It is an important mission. Plus, it wouldn't be bad to have the Queen be indebted to me. There's only the problem of space-"

Charlotte clapped her hands together sharply. "I'm coming too!"

The two turned to stare at her, one annoyed and the other totally blank faced. Ciel inhaled deeply, asking for strength. He was half-tempted to just shoot her down there and then but experience had taught him that didn't work. So he tried another route. "Charlotte...Weston College is a male boarding school."

She blinked at him. "Yes?"

He pressed his fingertips together. "You're not male."

"Prove it."

"What?" It took a second for his brain to catch up with that lightning fast response. "What do you mean 'prove it?' Just look at yourself!"

If anything she just looked more unimpressed. "Really? You're going to tell me I look like a girl, Ciel Phantomhive?" Flashbacks of the pink dress he kept locked up in the dark recesses of his closet swam before his eyes and he resisted the urge to shudder. "What exactly makes me a girl?"

"Female sex organs presumably?" Sebastian questioned and Ciel choked in the background.

"Bold of you to assume I have any organs at all."

"Hm, well then," the demon cocked his head and then shrugged, "I'm out of ideas."

Ciel recovered from his close brush with death by mortification and slammed his cup down. "It doesn't matter, there's no space at Weston for two students!"

"Ugh," Charlotte groaned like an angsty teenager, "you never let me do anything!"

She marched out of the room and Ciel almost opened his mouth to yell that she should go to her room before the absurdity of the situation caught up to him and he groaned loudly. "She's insufferable."

"I don't know," Sebastian smirked, "I think the young master could do with more friends. Isn't unhealthy for young children to be so isolated?"

"Shut up, I didn't contract you to be my therapist. Now go poison someone from the Sapphire Owl dormitory so they can't attend school for a term. It seems to be the only dormitory that suits my personality and I can't afford to stand out as a sub-par student."

"Yes my lord."

oOo

Ciel had never attended public school. As a child he was too sickly to leave the house for a long period of time. Boarding school with its forced cohabitation, rough-housing, and lack of one-on-one care would have been a death sentence.

Still, he was intelligent so it seemed that classes would be a breeze for someone of his calibre. Sapphire Owl truly was suited to him, he thought with a hidden smile as he flipped through one of the textbooks. The students were almost all uptight and studious types, more interested in staying inside to read than running around in the sunlight and breaking fingers trying to catch a cricket ball.

Just as he was thinking this, the door slammed open and an older boy marched in. "BOY UP!"

As if someone had lit a match beneath the seats, every single boy leapt to their seats and began scrambling to the front of the room. Ciel was almost knocked off his feet in the rush. "What is happening?!"

A student, one Ciel had met before – his name was McMillian – stopped long enough to call out to him. "The last one in line has to do whatever the upper years tell them!"

The upper year in question narrowed his eyes at Ciel as he inched into the line. "You're new right?" He said but he didn't wait for an answer, instead handing Ciel a folded piece of paper. "Come back to the dorms when you're done polishing the prefects' shoes. We'll have a welcome party for you."

Ciel managed to maintain his expression until he left the classroom and then he scowled. Polish shoes? Wasn't that servant work? Were first years considered servants at public schools? How barbaric! More than that, he'd never polished shoes before. That was the sort of thing he left to Sebastian. All he knew was that you had to use the right colours otherwise it would look unsightly.

As he was thinking this, he passed by the window and glanced outside. Then he froze, doubled back, and stared in shock.

In the courtyard, a blond dressed in the uniform of the Violet Wolf house tossed a thick braid over his shoulder and held a hand over his face to shade his eyes from the sunlight. A smirk curved over his mouth as he waved cheerfully at Ciel.

"Charles!" Someone else called out and another Violet Wolf student joined him. His hair was cut in a strange way, low at the sides and spiky in the centre, and even from this distance Ciel could make out the thick eyeliner. The boy glared up at Ciel and deliberately turned his back on him while speaking in a deliberately loud voice. "Don't fraternize with the Blue House, they're all stuffy bores. Come on, your welcome party is this evening."

Ciel gritted his teeth as he watched them leave. So insufferable!

I don't know enough about trans and nonbinary experiences to speak on this topic which is part of why I made it so vague. Also because one of the rules against making a Mary Sue is giving them opinions that are unusually modern for the time period. A modern opinion is that genitalia doesn't always equal gender, but this is the 1800s so Charlotte isn't going to say that.

Also I was this close to putting Charlotte in the Red House but honestly the only qualification for that is "rich" and that's kinda boring?