KARLNAP- DETENTION.

Chapter 3: You awake?

TW: Swearing, mention of anxiety.

"What? What reason would Wilbur have to dislike you?" Karl asked.

Nick shook his head, "It's a personal thing. You wouldn't like me anymore if I told you."

"I doubt that."

"I don't know..." Nick said. They'd reached the common room.

"Let's go into my room for privacy," Karl said.

"Or mine? If Tommy's in his room, that's just next door to you so he might be able to hear us."

"Alright," Karl watched Nick unlock his door and turn on the light. Karl saw the familiar Greek flag.

"Look," Nick sat down on his bed, "I understand if you don't want to be my friend after this. I understand the kind of people that go to this school."

"What do you mean?" Karl sat down next to Nick on the side of the single bed.

"Last year, Wilbur and I were friends. You weren't a student here yet, right?"

"Right, I only came last September," Karl said.

"Well, we were friends. My friends and Wilbur's were all one happy family. Clay and George had been working on hacking into the school database for months. It was just a thing we were all doing together, like a prank, I suppose. We just wanted to see what we could find out about people. About teachers, students, you know..." Nick paused to breathe, staring at the floor.

Karl nodded, waiting for Nick to continue and wondering what he could possibly be so nervous to tell him about.

"Clay and George used to hang out every night in George's room, trying to hack into the system. We barely ever saw them, to be honest... Eventually, it worked and we got access to all the school's information. Just laughing, looking at teacher's real names, medical data, previous jobs. Stuff like that. We searched up some of their addresses on Google Maps, saw where they lived. Then we moved onto looking at each other's accounts. I know we shouldn't have been doing it, but it's not like I could have stopped them even if I'd wanted to."

"Yeah," Karl said.

"Mine was the third data profile we looked at... George had wanted to see his,first. We saw his Visa info, his parents' names, his address in England. He showed us his house on Google Maps. His medical history... he's colour-blind, y'know, stuff like that. Then we looked at Clay's. Much the same. He's from Florida. Parental information, health stuff, dietician. He got detained by the police one time before he transferred here. He kept skipping school, apparently. Anyway, I stupidly asked to see mine."

"What, did you have a criminal record that they found out about or something?"

"No," Nick said. He rubbed his eyes and then continued to stare at his feet as he spoke. "Straight away, I realised it was a stupid mistake. They got to see I wasn't from the most wealthy area in Texas. They saw that my parents were divorced, which isn't a big deal, but it caught Wilbur's attention... So, he took the mouse from George and clicked on my finance profile. They found out that I'm only here because of my scholarship."

"So?" Karl asked, expecting more.

"So, my parents don't actually have the money to pay for me to go here. I'm not rich like everyone else. I got given a place here for free, all because of a scholarship and financial aid."

"Why's that a problem, Nick? What, does Wilbur not agree with scholarships?"

Nick looked up, looked into Karl's eyes. "Are you kidding?"

"No," Karl shook his head, confused.

"Karl, I can't tell if you're being serious."

"I'm being serious!"