Campus Hearts

The First Last Day

The alarm rang loud and the sun creeped from underneath the curtains. Damian rolled over and slammed his hand upon the digital clock that sat on his bedside table, which inevitably stopped the aggressive ringing. He reluctantly sat up, rubbing his squinting eyes. He took a moment to look around seeing his two best friends still sleeping soundly. He slightly flattened his emerald green hair, though he admitted it was almost black by now, the bright colours of his youth had faded from it.

Damian Desmond, Ewen Egeburg and Emile Elman had collectively decided to move back into their dorm on the last day of summer as to be early prepared. Actually, to be truthful, Damian's father had insisted he suggest it, but the now eighteen year old didn't want to seem as if he was still being bossed around by his old man.

It was their final year at Eden College, a prestigious academy that only accepted the elitists of society. Damian's older brother Demetrius Desmond had also enrolled at the school and had long since graduated with honours. The youngest had always been competing with his brother and, when he was accepted to Eden in the first grade, it was the only time his father had told him, "I'm proud, son." to date.

He forced himself up and made his way to the large drapes, whipping them open. Then came the groans of annoyance from the two, previously resting, boys. "We don't have time to waste, there's only an hour left of breakfast and then we've got a three hour lecture from Mr Henderson." He ignored their glares.

"I appreciate you and all, but I don't take well to being prematurely woken up with talks about work on the first day." Ewen whined. Damian continued to ignore them, walking to the bathroom and slamming the door behind him.

"You better start getting ready!" He called.

Not long after, the trio were fully dressed and making their way into the mess hall for breakfast. "Eggs, toast and bacon please." Damian requested to the staff behind the piles of heated food. Once they all had their (overly full) plates of food they headed to their respective seats. It was a decently sized wooden table, with a small piece of card atop it reading 'reserved' in silver lettering. Even amongst high society, the Desmond family was extremely well known and respected.

When they were only a meter away from the table, the boys yelped out a cry of surprise, seeing a shorter girl speed past them. The hall went silent at the sound of shattering china in amongst the clanging of metal on the cold stone floor. "Watch were your going dumbass!" Damian was well spoken but also easily angered and when this rage came out, all sense of politeness was thrown out the window. His food was now splattered along the ground and he turned to the culprit.

"You gonna explain yours-" He stopped himself, seeing the small girl frozen in fear. Though she wasn't as small as she used to be, she was still much shorter than the three boys. Her soft pink hair was tied back into an admittedly messy ponytail and the little hair clips she always wore rested in the same place on her head. Her hands were risen, shielding her open mouth.

"Oh my god. I am so sorry Damian!" She squeaked, though her words were muffled behind her small hands.

His heart softened but his face hardened. "You should be!" He exclaimed. Emile stormed up to her,

"Sorry ain't gonna cut it short stuff." He said between clenched teeth.

"You better buy the second son a new plate of food pipsqueak." Ewen chimed in just as aggressively.

The green haired boy hated yelling at her. He didn't understand why he did it nor why he hated it, he just knew he hated it. He knew it made her cry, but what was worse was that nowadays, she tried to hold back her tears in front of them. Instead she opted for weeping later, with Becky in the girls lavatories. He only knew this because she wasn't exactly discrete and, plus, the bathrooms were along the main hall, so on occasion he would hear her echoing sobs. When he did catch the cries whilst walking past, his heart shattered. Knowing full well that he was likely the cause.