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Merril
Merril knocked on the door gently and poked her head through the open gap a little awkwardly, not wanting to disturb too much, “Um, hi! I’m Merril. My dorm is across the hall and I just thought I’d pop in to say hello.”
The new transfer student looked her up and down, almost a little suspicious of her presence in his doorway. Merril felt even more awkward and found herself looking away from his intense gaze.
“Hello. I’m Adam.” They shared small smiles and Adam looked around the many boxes which still littered his room.
“So…are you settling in alright? Got your class list yet?” Merril prompted a little, keen to make sure the new kid – Adam – didn’t feel to ostracized in his new school.
Adam turned back to the box he was slowly unpacking and continued setting up the shelves above his desk, carefully removing each piece of merchandise with extra care.
“Yeah…it’s okay. It’s not easy transferring in the middle of the semester but…it’s what my parents wanted.”
“Oh my goodness!” Merril exclaimed, moving a little further into Adam’s room, “Is that Something Damaged merch?! I love that show! I’ve seen every episode at least twice now.”
Adam’s head whipped up so fast he almost hurt something, clutching his framed cast picture close to his chest, “You…you watch the show?”
“Of course! If you ask anyone around here, you’ll know they are all so sick of me talking about it.” Merril said with a giggle, “Hey, at least that’s a good start for having things in common with us Hanover’s? I would love to have weekly viewing parties with you.”
“Maybe.” Adam said, picking up a particular frame from the box and gently caressing it, “Hey, doesn’t Julian Larson go to this school?”
“Oh, yes! He’s over in Stuart though, and they have crazy security over there – a result of one too many prank wars between them and Windsor.” Merril replied with an eye roll, “He is super nice and friendly though – he even got me a signed poster!”
Adam tilted his head to the side the more Merril spoke, a strange look spawning across his features, “So…you two are like, friends? Could you introduce me?”
“Oh! Oh no, I wouldn’t say we’re friends.” Merril blushed, “More just…acquaintances. But my boyfriend, Spencer, he is friends with some of his friends so maybe I could set something up?”
“Yes, that would be lovely.” Adam said with an almost sickly-sweet smile, “Thank you, Merril. I think we are going to be good friends.”
Justin
It was approaching one am, well past curfew, when Justin found himself trying to sneak through the main doors of Hanover without being spotted. He couldn’t exactly enforce curfew rules onto the other Hanover’s if they knew he was breaking his own dam rules. Slowly and quietly, Justin locked the huge doors and carefully crept up the old stairs to the first landing. He cursed himself for picking a bedroom on the third floor as he stood on a particularly creaky stair, the cracks sent reverberating all around the landing.
“Goddam old stairs…”
As he approached the next set of stairs, Justin thought he saw a figure silhouetted in the moonlight from the window, but when he reached the top saw no one there. Turning away from the window, Justin recoiled in surprise as he came face to face with Adam who was lingering in the shadows.
“Adam!” Justin exclaimed, immediately clamping a hand over his mouth from how loud his voice was, “What are you doing out at this time? It’s…late.”
“I could really ask you the same question, Justin.”
“Oh…yeah. Well, I had to help the Windsor prefect with…an incident.” Justin said, failing miserably to come up with an on the spot excuse.
“At one am?” Adam asked, his posture and voice giving off enough of an ‘I am suspicious of you’ vibe to give Justin concern.
“Yes, exactly.” Justin said, an attempt to re-establish his position of authority in this situation blooming, “Anyway, whatever my reasons are, it’s well past curfew and you should be in your dorm room.”
“Whatever you say, Justin. Shall I walk you to your room?” Adam asked.
“No…no thanks.” Justin replied, a little puzzled by the offer, “Besides, isn’t your room down a floor?”
“Yes, of course. Goodnight, Justin. I hope you had a nice evening over in Windsor.”
Justin took the last flight of stairs two at a time and headed for his room before any more questions could be asked, moving quickly enough that he missed Adam’s attention being redirected to the window facing Stuart House.
Spencer
The Valentine’s Fair was approaching fast, and Hanover house was a warzone. Everywhere you looked boys were carrying planks of wood or boxes of various sizes and looking either mildly panicked of highly stressed. Spencer painstakingly weaved his way through the smattering of construction in the main hall of the house and toward the stairwell, precariously balancing stacks of papers. He turned the corner and very nearly avoided running into someone else coming in the opposite direction, whose arms were equally as full.
“Whoa!” Spencer exclaimed, narrowly missing the collision, “Sorry dude! Struggling to see over this pile of paperwork.”
Spencer looked around his arms and noticed the new kid, Adam, trying not to drop any of the bright red roses he had bundled in his grasp.
“Can’t you watch where you’re going!?” he said in annoyance.
“Sorry, we’re all just rushing around today.” Spencer tried to explain with a half-smile.
Adam readjusted his grip on the dozens of roses and tins of paint in his arms with a huff, “Just be more careful next time. This is…important stuff.”
Spencer crouched down to place the papers on the floor and stretch out his arms a little. He gestured to Adam’s full arms with a cheeky smirk and eyebrow waggle, “Trying to get someone’s attention for the fair, huh? Or do you have a couple dozen secret admirers out there?”
“It’s just…just a project I’m working on. I have to go.” Adam said, trying to sidestep Spencer and be on his way.
“Oh well hey, do you want a hand? I can at least help carry some of this stuff.” Spencer offered, trying to take the small bundle of Polaroids from Adam.
“No!” he yelled, jerking away from Spencer, “I mean…no, no thank you. I can handle it. I’m sure you’re busy anyway so I’ll just…see you later.”
“Alright, offer still stands for later.” Spencer backed up enough to let Adam pass by freely and watched as he disappeared into his dorm room.
Upon bending down to gather his things, he noticed a bright red trail of paint trailing after Adam’s path. With a dramatic sigh, Spencer heaved the papers back into his arms and headed off in search of a mop.
“Why is no one ever clean in this place…”
Danny
Danny collected his lunch and headed toward his usual table, where Spencer, Merril and a few other Hanover’s had saved him a seat. On his walk over however, Danny’s attention was drawn toward a single figure sitting alone in the farthest away corner of the dining hall. Danny gave his friends a wave and changed direction, intending to sit at the same table as the lone student.
“Hey Adam.” Danny said, settling onto the bench opposite the new transfer student, “Want some candy?”
Adam looked over at Danny with a frown, his face heavily guarded and posture turned in on himself. “What do you want?” he asked.
Despite the reaction, Danny smiled, “I want to talk. I could use some company at lunchtimes, y’know.”
“Your friends are over there, at that other table. Y’know, the one with the free seat?”
“Okay, fine, you caught me.” Danny sighed, “I guess I just wanted to see how you were doing. Even though you’ve been here a while now, it’s not easy coming to a new school in the middle of the year. Trust me, I know. And…please don’t be offended, but…you don’t seem to have made many friends.”
“I don’t need friends.” Adam said defensively, pulling his backpack closer to his side.
“You’re right, you don’t need them. You don’t need anyone really. But it sure as hell makes things a lot easier to have other people in your corner.” Danny said with a soft smile.
Danny reached over to offer Adam some of the aforementioned candy, causing the sleeves of his blazer and shirt to ride up slightly and expose some slivers of skin. Adam’s eyes instinctively darted toward the dark ink, standing out in contrast to Danny’s pale skin. The word Courage almost seemed to leap from Danny’s wrist and float around in the air between them, bringing a sense of understanding to both boys.
“Yeah…I certainly don’t think I’d be sitting across from you if I didn’t have some of the friends I do now.” Danny said, fingers gently tracing over the freshly applied marker pen, “I don’t have to worry about judgement with them.”
Adam’s posture relaxed as Danny spoke; his grip around himself lessened and his expression softened a little.
“Anyway. I won’t bother you any longer. I just wanted to let you know that you aren’t alone here. The school might seem big, and you might not feel like you fit in yet, but I can promise you – no one here feels like they fit in. I still certainly don’t feel like I do.” Danny said with a small smile and shrug of his shoulders, “But yeah. If you ever…I dunno…just want a friend. You know where to find me.”
As Danny stood to return to his table, he noticed Adam became slightly distracted, and was no longer paying attention to him. Instead, he was staring off to the side of Danny, seemingly lost in thought.
“See you around, Adam.”
Adam
Adam was acutely aware of the Hanover swimmer – Danny – leaving him, but his attention was too busy elsewhere to really dignify him with a response. Sure, Adam liked Danny. Out of everyone he had met since moving to Dalton, Danny felt like one of the only ones who really saw Adam for who he actually was. Maybe, he thought, maybe he did need a friend. And friends share secrets, right? Before Danny left Adam was seriously considering sharing his secret plans with him and giving him the privilege of helping set things up on the night.
But this thought train was derailed the second the cafeteria doors swung open and Julian strutted in, followed closely by the awful Logan.
Adam had allowed himself to become distracted: he had listened to what the Hanover boy had to say and he found himself wondering, dwelling too much on fantasies rather than focussing on his reality.
No, Adam didn’t need friends. What he needed was Julian Larson.
*