Random Book of Jaric Fluff & Stuff

Scene #6

Arbed House

Date Unknown

Final Student

Japeth's POV

Well, the world is looking up. We get our final student today, and Rhian didn't shove his annoying face in my business once this week. Since we're twins, I can't call him ugly without calling myself ugly-it's a real headache.

Anyway, the rest of the boys and I were all sitting neatly in the meeting room per the Dean's instructions-behave yourself and she won't drug your tea-waiting for our last classmate to arrive when we hear voices in the hall.

Maruv, of course, sneaks out of his seat so he can eavesdrop on them, and at his snicker the rest of us head over. Well, minus myself. I couldn't care less.

"Dude, he just disrespected King Dutra! You can't do that in Foxwood!" Kei hisses. "Can you, Rhian?"

"Not legally," Rhian whispers back. "Wonder what King Dutra did to him."

"Nothing good, that's for sure," Troezen cuts in with a grin that proves his usual inquisitive, morbid nature.

"I would've put an asp in his toilet," Aley admits with one of his famous smirks.

"Surprised it wasn't crog bones in his stew," Maruv remarks dryly as he gives Aley a suspicious look. "I never got over that cough, and Dean nearly threw you out then and there. 'Attempted murder', she called it."

"It was just a bit of fun. A harmless prank." Aley defends, going back to the same argument that didn't work on Dean Brunhilde.

"I could've died, but it was pretty funny when she hauled you into her office. Never seen you so terrified." Maruv snickered.

"She broke things, screamed, scolded, even swore. All I could do was cower in the chair, praying she didn't snatch it up and throw me out the window." Aley shudders at the memory.

"Shush, I'm trying to listen!" Maruv whispers loudly.

Something about chains follows, then the sound of clattering metal.

"...meet the other boys, of course." The Dean says, and the boys leap back onto their original spots with a second to spare before the stranger and the Dean appear.

He has inky black hair that falls jaggedly into his face, cadaverous skin, angled features, a sturdy build, and his eyes. Oh my God, his eyes. Bright pools of violet, pulsing with contempt and unbridled anger that draw me in somehow.

I quickly glance towards the ceiling, then focus back on the Dean.

"Boys, please rise and introduce yourselves," Dean Brunhilde says warmly.

We do, down the line, and I introduce myself as "Rhian's twin". The other boys stick with their names, which no one really cares about. Smooth move, I know, and it earns me a warning look from the Dean and a penetrating gaze from the stranger, which I accept and hold without challenge.

After refusing to introduce himself, the still-nameless stranger demands where he'll be staying. That's when I remember the no-longer-roommate-less Kei. His unfortunate incident, I suppose.

I snort aloud. "I almost pity him."

The boy shoots me a venomous look, to which I smirk back, serpentine and confident.

He turns and dramatically follows Kei out, but not before I get one last look. I hold my smirk.

Soon after he and Kei disappear, Kei comes scampering down, looking scared out of his wits.