10 years old Sejanus Plinth was very nervous for his first day at the Capitol's academy. He hopes with all his willpower that he wouldn't be excluded, that he'll make friends like in his home district.
"Take care of yourself, darling. Make some friends, alright?", his mother, his kind and compassionate ma held him by his shoulders as her eyes filled with love, but anyone could see the red rim around them displaying that she too clearly missed District 2 like him.
"What if they hate me? I miss the district, Ma", he felt bad reminding her of their old home
"Why would they hate you, love? This is our home now, Sej. You should make some friends today, it'll help you. Now go, school is starting", he attempts a brave smile for his mom before heading in.
The moment he stepped through the door he could feel people pointing at him, calling him names and judging him before even getting to know him. Didn't these people ever heard of the phrase
"Never judge a book by its cover."
He had stubbornly worn cheap clothes and now he was regretting, everyone around was dressed richly and elegantly.
Sejanus willed himself to take a deep breath, whether he liked it or not, this was his home now and what better to do than make some new friendships.
He spotted some kids around his age talking and laughing at each other's jokes. But the moment he stepped closer their heads turned towards him and judgemental stares were thrown towards him.
"Hi, umm…my name is Sejanu..", Sejanus was by no means a shy kid, but rather he was the one who spoke up when something wrong was happening. But all his confidence evaporated when he was surrounded by many criticising gazes.
The group just snickered and ignored him.
'Fool! Why did he think they would want to talk to him?', but a part of him still clung to the hope that maybe someone in this place was kind enough to talk with him. Because he wasn't sure that he would be able to survive each day for so many years studying alongside with people he was sure disliked him.
Suddenly someone bumped into him, making him fall on the hard concrete ground.
"Well, if it isn't the new district freak? What are you doing here? You should go back to the District where scum like you belong.", the boy who had bumped into him was a very mean person, Sejanus would bet all his money that he was a school bully, his face was contorted into a sneer as he made the rest of the School laugh.
"Don't be so mean, Felix. You know people from there are weak. Why even bother with their kind.", A girl spoke up to the boy, who he now knew as felix.
"District scum are the same, Arachne. All wild and animalistic.", Felix answered back.
This drew even more laughter from the students that had gathered around the scene, Sejanus felt hot tears brimming his eyes, a part of him wanted to run from this awful place and hide, but the other part told him he was no coward. He would stand his ground, rather, sit his ground. He made an attempt to get up when another boy from the group shoved him back
"Come on, Felix. He's wild and unpredictable, you wouldn't want to get hurt, now, would you? What's your name, new boy?", the boy asked him.
"S…Sejanus Plinth.", the looks on their faces went from mocking into shock. But judgement soon returned.
"A plinth, huh? See who you were defending Festus", Felix gave the boy a glare. But his stare soon came back towards Sejanus. "I hope you have a wonderful time here, Plinth", something in his tone screamed danger.
Behind all the students, Sejanus caught sight of a blonde boy. The only thing clearly visible through the distance was his eyes. They were blue but not the sky blue, but rather the sea blue. So dark yet so light at the same time, those eyes hiding so many mysterious depths that it is completely possible for a person to lose themselves into them. But as the bell rang, students huddled towards their own classes, Sejanus lost the boy in the middle of the crowd and he kept sitting there, still, transfixed into those rare blue eyes that had stared at him for a few seconds.
As he got up to class he took some notes of the students he met until now.
Arachne- He would have thought her very beautiful if she hadn't been completely rude to him. Her still childish body was slimmer and taller which gave her a look of a model. Her perfectly plated blonde hair reached just above her waist and her face was perfectly set, she filled all the main criterias of being a mean girl.
Felix- He heard about the boy, something about him being the great-nephew of the current president, or something like that. But all of it apart he was just a bully who hid behind his numerous riches.
Festus- Wasn't much better, but at least had the decency to ask his name, even if it was just for the ideal of mocking him.
Sejanus didn't understand why their bullying had suddenly stopped when they heard his surname. Probably because of his father's wealth.
He wanted to scoff, how could something as blood money pose so much value, how could it earn anyone's favour in such a little time? The money earned by helping the District bomb their own, he felt sick just at the notion.
Numbly he walked towards the entrance of his assigned class.
Sejanu felt so little among the sea of Capitol-bred rich kids that were due to exclude him. But it got worse in the recess, when the kids thought he was the ideal person to vent out on, his father's influence can go down the drain. If needed he would fight to earn their respect, which turned out to be a very bad idea as he lay down on the floor sporting a black eye and a split lip. Tears that had welled in his eyes began hotly cascading down his face as a little bit of snot went in his mouth.
'Why couldn't anyone like him? He just wanted to go back to his home where at least he belonged.'
"You shouldn't cry, it will give them the satisfaction they are looking for", someone approached him, and the person handed him a delicately embroidered handkerchief. His vision swam because of the tears but he could still see a foggy outline of a boy his age with blonde hair.
The said person lent him a hand to get up, which Sejanus warily accepted. Getting a bit of snot on the boy's hand which made him make a disapproval noise but, to his surprise, no rude comments were directed towards him. Sejanus didn't know what to do, what if the boy just mocked him if he said anything?
As his vision became clear he identified the person as the blonde boy from the corridor.
"Thank you", he said gathering his courage, which caused the boy to give him a small honest smile
"Don't worry about it, I think it was really brave of you to stand up for yourself like that, I met a lot of people who used money to make up for their lack of courage or skill. Anyways, my name is Coriolanus, Coriolanus Snow.", the boy, now identified as Coriolanus, extended his hand towards him in mid-air.
For a moment Sejanus froze then his face broke up in a huge smile, as he instead of taking the offered hand he embraced the boy, causing the said one to stiffen but soon to accept the embrace and awkwardly pat him on his back.
Suddenly Sejanus remembered his bag of gumdrops his mother had given him, as he offered his new friend one, he saw Coriolanus face lighten up with surprise and hunger, almost as if he hadn't eaten in a while.
They spent the rest of the afternoon just bathing in the sun with some eventual topic, but the silence didn't bother either of the boys. Sejanus discovered that Corionalus wasn't a very open person but a quite agreeable company to spend your time with.
He didn't know if Coriolanus thought of him as a friend, but to him the blonde was now his one and only friend and Sejanus wasn't letting this friendship go.
That day he returned home in a better mood than he had in months and his ma gave him a discreet wink
Mrs. Plinth had a fair idea of what must have caused such a reaction from her boy, and she thanked the kindred soul that lifted some of the loneliness and responsibility off his shoulders.
That day Coriolanus also came back home in a puzzled mood, happy and also confusing.
"What happened, Coryo?", Tigris asked sensing her cousin's emotions
"I met a boy, the new Plinth from the district. I think he's very weird."
"What kind of weird? Good or bad?"
"Good", Tigris found herself smiling, maybe, just maybe her cousin would find a best friend he could confide in.
"Your new friend?"
"He's not my friend, I would never befriend a person, nevermind one from a district nonetheless."
That night as Coryo laid down on his make-shift bed he couldn't help but think about the weird boy he met, he was different from the rest of the Capitol kids (he called his mother 'ma', who does that? If his mother were here she would laugh and embrace him, and begin to tell him to accept differences by telling him a story or singing him a song.), maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to have a friend.
Then his late father's phrase circled in his mind
'Snows don't have friends.'
'Maybe I'll try to befriend him, Mother. Afterall, it's what you would have wanted, for him to feel welcome in such a place.' a subtle scent of roses circled around his nose as a small smile danced on lips as sleep finally took him.
That night his dreams were about his mother and her contrary belief from his father about love and friendship.
