SMOKE AND MIRRORS.

001

Nicholas let out a rough sigh as he pushed through the halls once again, sharp shoulders of uniforms poking his arms, and hems of plaid skirts brushing his calfs. He got to his dorm, the one shared with his shady roommate, Jordan Cortes, and opened the door, his books almost slipping out of his arms. Once he got inside he saw Jordan wasn't there and he let out a guilty sigh of relief. That guy always creeped Nicholas out, as in his dark clothing and the buzzing atmosphere he always brought with him, like, turned Nicholas off completely.

Nicholas dropped his books on his bed and took off the loose ponytail he wore, golden hair spilling over his blazer. He eventually took that off too, and he licked his lips, jumping onto his bed. The school day was busy, you could say; Anastasia had gotten into another fight and Nicholas wasn't any help at solving it at all, using his words as Anastasia used her fists. A crowd had gathered around and Ana and him bolted once they saw the sky blue patch of a teacher.

Although he had gotten into that one conflict, he couldn't afford to fight anymore. One more punch from him, whether it was in form of speech or a literal punch in the jaw, would mean suspension. Nicholas worked too hard to get in to that school, even if it wasn't the best one in the board, it was good enough for him.

In a few minutes a book was opened on Nicholas's lap and he read the beginning of a sentence before the door was slammed open.

"Hey fucker." Anastasia's husky voice bounced on the close walls, and she flopped onto Jordan's bed, which was right across from Nicholas's.

"Yo." Nicholas continued looking at the book, and he didn't say anything about how Jordan would kill Anastasia for being on his bed. He could see her bright pink hair spilling over the side of the bed from the corner of his eye.

"So when is that freak Jordan coming back?" Anastasia asked, playing with her hair. Nicholas looked up and a shiver crawled up his spine. "He's right there..." It was Jordan in the doorway.

"What is that bitch doing on my bed?" snapped Jordan, dragging his chains behind him. His sapphire eyes seemed to become darker when he glared at Anastasia.

"Jordan calm down before you do anything stu-" Jordan pounced on top Anastasia, holding his chains on her neck.

"Too late." said Jordan, putting his black painted nails in a hole on his chains. Anastasia grinned up at him, teeth bared. She looked like she was about to punch him.

"You...." began Jordan, a stripe of hair covering his left eye. "You sat on one of my pawns, you bitch." Jordan swiftly reached under Anastasia's back and pulled out a chess piece. "You're lucky you didn't break it. Don't touch my stuff again..." Jordan let Anastasia go and we all watched as he walked out of the room in a slender like way, it was like whenever he walked past you, you could feel the negative thoughts flowing out of him. It was abnormal.

Anastasia stood up from Jordan's bed and once they saw him close the door she plopped back down. "Geez what's his problem... Hey Nico, what's it like having a roommate like that?" She asked playing with her hair again, fingers acting as a brush."

Nicholas sighed, "We don't really talk. He doesn't spend much time here either; he comes in, mutters about killing himself, takes a shower, sleeps, and goes to his classes."

"Talking about classes, I better go,"—Anastasia rolled her eyes in irritation.— "They say if I miss detention one more time they'll suspend me." Nicholas said, looking over to her.

"I thought you didn't care about that?" she looked back at Nicholas, eyes narrowing.

"I wouldn't if it didn't mean that my foster parents would throw my independence out the window." Nicholas replied, and she groaned.

Anastasia got up, "Well, goodbye 'fucker'."

Nicholas flopped onto his bed once she'd left, talking to her plus the long day at school wore him out. He closed his eyes, snuggling into his pillow and slowly drifted into sleep.