High by the Beach • France

Chapter One

Vance wasn't a big fan of the idea of boarding school, though it wasn't exactly his choice as he was being lead though the dormitory that was filled with other boys who watched the new kid with no shame as they did so. Vance felt like everyone was looking at him like he was some sort of invasive species but he didn't let that bother him.

The dorms were seperate from the main building where classes would be held. At 6:00 am Vance would have to take his first class of the day, math, which he had no real intentions of passing—he was hoping to get expelled as quickly as possible since he didn't want to be there in the first place.

Vance had always been an issue when it came to school and overall discipline so after having enough, his mother sent him to some very high rated boarding school hoping it would help with whatever was wrong with her son—Vance was there to prove it wouldn't.

The boy who had been showing him around, who had introduced himself as Bruce, stopped infront of a door and knocked on it with a smile. "Your roomates name is Finney, he's a few years younger than you but he's an absolute sweetheart." Vance didn't respond to Bruce who tried his hardest to strike up a conversation, instead they sat in silence as they waited for the locked door to open.

The fact that they had locks was somewhat perplexing to Vance as he assumed that a bunch of crazy shit probably happened behind those locked doors but it was also a huge blessing.

The bedroom door opened and a disorganized boy with bed head spilled out of the room along aside the subtle smell of weed that he had obviously been trying to air out. "Oh hey Bruce," The boy—Finney—licked his chapped lips as he watched Bruce before turning his attention to Vance. "Hello, I'm Finney," He held out his hand with a grin though Vance refused to shake it as he rolled his eyes at him instead.

Finney's weird preppy-stoner energy was confusing and overwhelming.

"Well, I'll let you guys talk to eachother now–" Bruce suggested. "Oh and I almost forgot. This is a really dumb rule, and trust me I hate it to, but you will need to cut your hair—I think your hair is really cool, I mean, if it was up to me I wouldn't have you cut it because it really suits you and..." Bruce had to slow down as he found himself basically falling in love with Vance's hair which made it even sadder that it had to get cut off. He cleared his throat.

"But sadly its not up to me."

Vance spoke for the first time in a while as his eyebrows furrowed. "That's complete bullshit, what the fuck?" He scoffed. "I'm sorry," Bruce frowned though Vance didn't except the apology as he pushed passed him and his roomate.

"Whatever."

As he walked into the vaguly weed smelling room he noticed that it was basically split in half, one side blank and the other filled with a mixture of Korn, The Cure, and Taylor Swift posters—Finney seemed to have a very wide range when it came to music.

Almost immediately, Vance set his old beat up suitcase on his bed and began throwing all of his clothes into the empty dresser on his side though he didn't want to unpack everything since he wasn't planning to stay for too long.

After saying goodbye to Bruce, Finney closed the door and awkwardly tried striking up a conversation with Vance who had no interest in contributing.

As he saw Finney staring at him waiting to start talking, Vance gave into the silent pleas which asked him to go first. "It smells like weed in here," He observed.

A panic found it's way onto Finney's face as he grew red with embarrassment. "I have no clue what you're talking about!" He lied through his teeth. "You're eyes are literally red," Finney clicked his tongue and threw his hands up playfully. "Okay, fine you caught me," He sighed with a smile, before switching the conversation topic.

"By the way, I heard Bruce mention the haircut thing but don't worry abut it. You know when I first came here I also had to cut it off—and yes, I did it all by myself." Finney half-joked before grabbing the joint he had hid underneath his pillow in a panic. He lit it before continuing.

"You know, I could cut your hair, if you'd like," He suggested. Vance paused for a couple of seconds as he thought about his answer, he would've been quick to say no but for whatever reason he wasn't completely against the idea.

"Fuck it, why not," Vance shrugged, knowing he'd probably regret it in the long run. "If you mess my shit up i'll kill you," He warned and his roomate smiled. "I won't," Finney was confident in his hair cutting abilites and Vance really hoped that he was right to trust himself.

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Word count: 861