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Coriolanus Snow was and always had been an exemplary student. He always was, always had been. Thank you, you're welcome, no need to applaud.
He was always on time, had his uniform neatly arranged, the best-dressed in his class. His grades were also the best. Coryo was the best of the best, he knew it, and he intended to keep it that way. Tigris told him that good grades were necessary to get into a good college, but not just good grades, good behavior, a good reputation. She said this while tousling his blonde hair and with a gentle smile, but Coriolanus took these words very seriously, very seriously indeed. He was going to be the best. He was going to get into a good university. He was going to make his grandm’am proud.
So it was a big surprise when, that Wednesday afternoon, Coriolanus was called to Director Highbottom's office. There were no reasons. There was nothing, really. But he knew that Director Highbottom didn't like him much, for whatever reason, and that's why he wasn't very comfortable sitting on the chair in front of the older man while he fiddled with his old computer.
"Director," Coryo cleared his throat, drawing the man's attention, who only looked up with an irritated fatigue. "I have a class in fifteen minutes. And you still haven't told me why you called me here."
The director looked at the clock on the wall and then sighed.
"Well, I guess he's late."
Coryo frowned. He? Who was he? The intercom on Director Highbottom's desk rang, and he answered with the same disinterested face. Why had a man like that become a teacher in the first place, seeming to hate so much what he did?
"They arrived? Oh, good. Great, then. You can send them in."
The intercom was turned off. Director Highbottom put both hands on the wooden desk, looking very serious at Coriolanus.
"Mr. Snow, being a class representative is a role that goes beyond the performative, as you must know. It is your job to represent your class and your colleagues, and also to guide them in different situations. But not only that. In the case of a new student, he is entirely your responsibility."
There had never been a new student in that school. That school was elite, and all elite families in the Capitol knew each other. There were no new students, there was no way. All his classmates were children he grew up with. Coriolanus frowned. He had questions, many questions, starting with why he had to be responsible for a new student, why couldn't the class teacher do that. But before Coryo could speak, he was interrupted by the opening door of the office. Coriolanus turned to see who was at the door.
It was a woman and a boy. A boy his age.
Coriolanus' confusion increased by the minute. He had never seen those people in the Capital, never, and he knew everyone, just like everyone knew each other. The woman had curly hair, brown skin, and wore an expensive embroidered dress, the kind Coryo saw in the shops his mother visited before she passed away. Golden hoops hung from her ears. She had her hands on the boy's shoulders, who, upon closer inspection, looked a lot like her. Round face, brown skin, big brown eyes. He was wearing the school uniform.
Oh, no.
Coriolanus understood what the director meant.
"You may come in, Mrs. Plinth," the director gestured with his hand to the woman, who smiled, closed the door behind her before walking up to the desk; she gestured for the boy to sit in the vacant chair next to Coriolanus, and he did. "As we discussed, for the better integration of your son into the class, the class representative will be responsible for him during this initial period. This is Coriolanus Snow, the representative of the eighth grade."
"Hello, dear," the lady waved to him with a gentle smile, speaking with a peculiar accent. "Thank you so much for welcoming my boy. You have no idea how grateful I am."
Great. Great, great, great. The last thing Coriolanus needed was to be responsible for a new child in that damn school. But still, he smiled at the lady, his most angelic smile that matched his blonde locks.
"Mr. Snow," the director now addressed him, "you will be responsible for Sejanus Plinth and everything that will happen to him in these first months. His integration success is your success."
Coriolanus nodded. Maybe he didn't like the idea of guiding a new student very much. It seemed like a bother, but he could do it. He could do it for more points on his already brilliant resume. He turned to the boy... Sejanus, wasn't it? The boy looked absentmindedly at the shelves, as if Coriolanus wasn't there. What a lack of manners. Nevertheless, Coryo smiled, charming, and extended a hand to greet him.
"Hello. My name is Coriolanus Snow. I'll be your guide around here."
The boy didn't react, not even turning his face to look at him; he just continued to gaze at the shelves. Coriolanus's blood boiled a bit, to be honest. He detested it, detested lack of manners. Before Coryo could repeat his words louder, Mrs. Plinth lightly tapped Sejanus on the shoulder. He turned abruptly, looking at her with wide eyes, and then turned to Coryo, seeing his extended hand. Sejanus smiled kindly and finally shook his hand but said nothing. He opened the backpack on his lap, took out a notebook and a pen. Coriolanus frowned. What the hell...? The boy seemed focused as he wrote in the notebook before finally turning it to Coryo.
Coriolanus widened his eyes.
HELLO! MY NAME IS SEJANUS PLINTH
I AM DEAF
Oh.
Oh.
"Mr. Plinth," Director Highbottom's voice snapped Coriolanus out of his state of shock, "moved from District 2 with his family to the Capitol. You're expected to help him fit in and get used to our way of life."
Coriolanus must have really done something terrible in a past life, if that kind of thing exists.
On top of that, the boy was from District 2.
Coryo wanted to vomit.
Still, he nodded and forced a smile. Maybe the extra Sign Language of Panem classes he attended would be of use now. Coryo raised a hand to his forehead and tilted it forward. Sejanus didn’t react. He frowned and looked at the mother. Mrs. Plinth smiled kindly again at Coriolanus.
“You’re a very kind boy, Coriolanus, but sign languages are not universal. The Panem Sign Language is not used in District 2. Sejanus learned a different dialect, so… he doesn’t understand these specific signs.”
That’s all he needed.
“Well, Mr. Snow, the class is about to start. It’s good if you take Mr. Plinth to the classroom and introduce him to his classmates, don’t you think?”
That’s just what he needed.
It wasn't Coriolanus' fault that Sejanus was simply the easiest prey he had ever encountered in his entire life.
Okay, some of his classmates were a bit jerks, he would admit that without thinking twice. Pre-adolescence turned you into a big jerk, or so it seemed to most of them at least. It either made you even more childish than in childhood, if that was possible, but proved plausible with each passing year, and Coriolanus rolled his eyes hard every time one of the idiots opened their mouths. Still, Sejanus seemed to make an effort to attract negative attention. First of all, as if the general knowledge that he was from the District wasn't enough, he continued to act like a fool, showing the little notebook he always carried to his classmates, not understanding why they laughed in that way.
One day, Coriolanus was finishing an activity, his forehead creased in concentration, when someone pulled the sleeve of his uniform. He turned, confused, only to find Sejanus Plinth looking at him with those wide eyes and a confused expression. Coriolanus sighed, tired, dropping the pen on the table.
"What is it?"
He knew that if he spoke in short sentences slowly, Sejanus could understand him. Sejanus handed him the notebook. Coryo frowned as he read.
WHY ARE THEY LAUGHING AT ME?
Coriolanus looked to where Sejanus was pointing. It was Livia Cardew's little group. She glanced back and laughed before turning forward. Coryo took some time to understand that Livia wasn't laughing at Sejanus. She was laughing at him. Laughing at him for being stuck sitting next to the weird boy and the newest target of the class's negative attention (to Persephone Price's relief, for sure, Coryo thought).
He felt so ashamed that he couldn't even describe it. And above all, he felt an irrational anger towards Sejanus Plinth. Coriolanus took the notebook from his hand and wrote with a stern face:
THEY ARE NOT LAUGHING AT YOU.
IGNORE THEM.
Sejanus Plinth was a hopeless case, indeed. Even if, by chance, Coryo had decided to pity and fraternize with District people, there was no way to make him fit in.
"I don't know what to do," Coryo heard the school's sign language translator whispering to the teacher during a class. "He's not our first deaf student, but I can't understand what he's trying to say, and he doesn't understand me either. It's very frustrating. I would never have guessed that the Districts have a different variant, especially when there is a national official sign language."
Not even the school's translator could understand Sejanus. What a miserable life he must have.
Being the class representative, and because of the (stupid) responsibility delegated to him by the (also stupid) Director Highbottom, Coriolanus had to keep an eye on Sejanus. And Sejanus seemed to have confused that with friendship, or so it seemed. He followed Coryo up and down, to every corner, like a little puppy. He didn't know how to join in the conversations that Coriolanus had with his own friends, but he always stayed there in the corners, swaying from one foot to the other, watching with big brown eyes as if he could understand something.
"Why are you even hanging out with this boy?" Clemensia asked Coryo as they walked through the courtyard, Sejanus trying to keep up a little behind. "He's so... weird."
"Don't talk like that," Lysistrata looked at her with a frown, but Clemensia waved her arms, exasperated.
"What do you want me to say?! He's weird! I have a little brother who’s deaf, and I can't understand anything Plinth tries to say. Not even the translator understands. As if being from the District wasn't enough."
"Don't talk like that!"
"Your heart is too soft, Lyssie."
"It wasn't my choice," Coriolanus sighed, tired, seeing that Sejanus continued to follow them not too far behind. "Believe me, if I could choose, I would want to ignore him just like anyone else. And the worst part is that he thinks he's my friend. Can you believe that? Just like now. He keeps following me everywhere. I don't know what to do to make him stop."
"You shouldn't be... I don't know... making sure he can fit in?" Lyssie frowned. "I don't see you talking about the things people do."
"What things?" Clemensia raised an eyebrow.
"You know what things. Everyone knows."
Coriolanus looked away. Everyone knew about the things people did, Coryo more than anyone, given that Sejanus was his desk mate. He saw how Pup Harrington shouted in Sejanus' ear when the teacher wasn't looking, and laughed when the only reaction he got was a confused look. He saw how Arachne Crane scratched things on his desk, and how he frowned but only cleaned it. And he saw how every time Sejanus tried to fit in, tried to say "hi," tried to talk to his classmates, they just moved away, pretending he wasn't there. Coriolanus knew all of this. But in his defense, he was just a student. What did they want him to do? It's not like the teacher didn't know either, and it's not like she couldn't do much more than he could.
"I don't want them to think I like him. I don't. He's weird. And besides, it's just nonsense. It will pass. It's not much different from what they did to Persephone Price until recently, don't you think?"
They were never so cruel to Persephone Price, he had to admit.
When Coriolanus returned to the classroom earlier after the break, he had a scowl on his face and was in a bad mood. He glared at Sejanus Plinth's belongings on the chair next to him.
Coriolanus was an exemplary student, as he proudly emphasized, but not only that, he would say he was a popular boy. All his classmates liked him, or at least the majority. And that served him well. He knew how important it was to maintain contacts in the Capital. But now he was stuck with Sejanus Plinth, the damn District boy, and some of his peers laughed at him when Coryo walked down the hallway, laughed at him when he had to copy the material twice to pass one for Sejanus, and laughed at him when Sejanus pulled him by the shirt for information, and when Coriolanus had to hold the boy's hand to guide him in Physical Education class. Coriolanus gritted his teeth.
Coriolanus hated Sejanus Plinth, and there was no way he could express it like his other classmates.
There was no one in the classroom. No one would see what he did anyway. He went to the blackboard and grabbed a piece of chalk. Coriolanus mumbled curses to himself as he scribbled on Sejanus's desk:
SINCE THIS IS THE ONLY WAY YOU UNDERSTAND:
GO BACK TO THE HOLE YOU CAME FROM
Coriolanus dropped the chalk on the chair, crossing his arms. At least once, he had to have the right to express himself, to let out what he felt. It wasn't fair that everyone could show their contempt for Sejanus, everyone except Coryo, because Coryo had to be perfect. He turned his head when he saw that the classroom door had been opened. Sejanus entered the room. He waved as soon as he saw Coriolanus, smiling, a smile that Coryo did not reciprocate. He never did, actually. Maybe this way Sejanus would realize that Coryo didn't want him around, but in reality, it never worked out. Sejanus walked over to the shared chair, and then he looked down. He frowned. Fists clenched.
Sejanus opened his backpack and took out the notebook and a pen, scribbling hastily and flipping the page to Coriolanus, an irritated expression on his face.
DID YOU SEE WHO DID THIS?
Coriolanus looked at the paper and sighed. And here they went again. Coryo took the notebook from Sejanus's hand and then wrote.
WHO KNOWS. MAYBE ARACHNE, OR PUP, OR LIVIA, OR APOLLO.
I ARRIVED IN THE CLASSROOM A SHORT WHILE AGO.
DIDN'T SEE.
Sejanus read Coriolanus's message and looked from Coryo to the desk, from the desk to Coryo, with eyes that seemed too big for his face. He wrote something else before handing the notebook back to Coriolanus. He looked sad.
I'M TIRED.
THEY DO THIS ALL THE TIME.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT I DID.
The only thing Sejanus had done was to be a District boy. That's it.
Coriolanus sighed. He rummaged through the worn backpack, which had long been Tigris's, and found a cloth. Coryo took out the water bottle he carried and dampened the cloth before wiping Sejanus's desk. Slowly, the chalk he had placed there began to disappear, leaving the table clean. He said nothing more. He turned to his own side of the table, looking down at where his book was open. Someone pulled the shirt of his uniform. Coriolanus didn't need to guess who it was.
"What do you want now?" He turned, and Sejanus showed him the notebook with capital letters:
THANK YOU.
Coriolanus couldn't look him in the eyes anymore. Stupid boy.
"You're welcome."
The next day, when the room was empty after the class ended, Coriolanus packed his belongings to go home when, once again, someone tugged at his shirt. He was already fed up with it. He couldn't wait for Sejanus's adjustment days to finally be over.
"What do you want?" Coryo asked in a tone too tired for someone his age.
Sejanus handed him what seemed to be a bowl. Coryo frowned but opened it, unable to avoid the look of confusion and shock on his face. There were various types of sweets and savory baked goods. Cookies, slices of cake, candies. Some things Coriolanus was sure the ingredients had cost more money than he had seen in the last few years after the rebellion. He raised his eyes. Sejanus fidgeted with his fingers, nervous.
"What is this?" Coriolanus asked slowly; he didn't have time for small talk, he needed answers now.
Sejanus smiled kindly but didn't answer. He brought one hand to his forehead and the other to his chest, moving them forward simultaneously. Then he pointed to Coryo. With the hand clenched, he tapped the side of his chest three times. He raised his closed fist just below his chin and brought his hand forward, opening it. And then, as if nothing had happened, Sejanus leaned forward and kissed Coryo on the cheek. It was all so fast, and as if nothing had happened, Sejanus left the room, leaving Coriolanus red and the food bowl there.
Stupid boy. Weird boy.
Tigris jumped for joy when Coryo returned with the bowl that night.
It became a habit. Coriolanus wouldn't complain.
Whenever a colleague did something mean to Sejanus, Coriolanus would find a way to fix it. He started cleaning the scribbles on Sejanus's desk, took Sejanus to the infirmary when they were too cruel to him, and also wiped away his tears while grumbling and complaining. And the next day, Sejanus always came back with a bowl full of sweets, various foods, and smiled at Coryo with that same big, silly, and goofy smile, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
Always when no one was looking.
Coryo also blushed when no one was looking.
He wouldn't admit it, never would, his pride prevented him from doing so, but maybe, just maybe, Sejanus Plinth wasn't so bad after all.
Coriolanus knew it was his responsibility as the class representative to ensure that such things wouldn't happen, but what blame did he have when Sejanus made it so easy for his classmates?
Coryo convinced himself that it was just harmless teasing, at least most of it. It wasn't anything different from what they had done to Persephone Price, and it's not like Persphone Price had been hurt, because she hadn't. There was no problem, that's what he thought, watching as they hid Sejanus's belongings, threw his notebook into the water, and threw dirt at him during the break. Sejanus always came back to Coryo's side with that same silly smile, the same silly big eyes, the same silly wave, and all Coryo could do was smile back and hope none of his classmates noticed that Sejanus was holding his hand.
He didn't want to be associated with that boy.
But he also didn't want things to escalate to that level. If he had known (if he had known the consequences), he would have tried to intervene earlier. That's what Coryo thinks sometimes.
He hadn't noticed how his classmates' teasing had been escalating, becoming more cruel and maybe even more violent. How the shoves made Sejanus whimper, and how now they also kicked his foot as he walked down the hallway, as if it was very funny to see him almost fall. But on that day, Coryo had returned to the classroom after going to the bathroom, and to his surprise, some of his classmates surrounded Sejanus in a corner of the room.
"So, he's been lying all this time?" Coryo heard Arachne's voice, irritated and confused.
Coryo got a little closer, leaning against a wall to observe the situation. Sejanus, poor Sejanus, looked lost. He tried to write something quickly in his notebook, but Arachne grabbed it and threw it to the other side of the room.
"Come on!" she complained, frustrated, and stood on her tiptoes to pull Sejanus by the hair. "These are hearing aids! How come you hear and never told any of us?!"
From his corner, Coriolanus saw and understood what Arachne meant. Behind Sejanus's ears were hearing aids. It wasn't news to him. Coryo was observant, much more than any of his classmates, and he had noticed the hearing aids a long time ago. He had the same question as Arachne before Sejanus explained that they didn't solve much but helped him with depth perception. But Arachne didn't know that, neither did Pup Harrington and Apollo Ring, and now she pushed Sejanus's head to the side to get a better look. Sejanus tried to push her away, but it wasn't of much use.
"Arachne," Pup spoke, and now he seemed a little nervous, seeing that more people were entering the room, "are you sure you want to do this now?"
"And why not? If this means what I think it means, this idiot made our lives harder for no reason in the last few months."
What happened next was too fast for Coriolanus to even comprehend the events. Arachne Crane had forcefully ripped one of the hearing aids from Sejanus's ear, and now, to her terror and that of Pup Harrington and Apollo Ring and the students who were slowly approaching to understand the situation better, Sejanus let out an agonized scream.
There was blood running down his ear.
That couldn't be hidden from his parents.
Taking a moment to look back, Coriolanus seethed with anger as he considered that Director Highbottom knew.
He knew what would happen when Sejanus' parents enrolled him in that school, and he also knew what would happen by assigning Coriolanus as responsible for him. He knew the reaction of his classmates. Director Highbottom knew everything, and that's why he stated explicitly, with all the words, letters, and commas: everything that happened to Sejanus would be Coriolanus Snow's responsibility. Everything. Coryo didn't know why he was surprised, to be honest. That man planned ways to ruin his life all the time, continuously.
But it still hurt now that his perfect record was tarnished with such a stupid and unfair warning. Coriolanus left the director's office boiling with rage. Boiling with rage at that wretch for doing this to him, for doing this knowing what would happen. Boiling with rage at his stupid, idiotic, imbecile classmates who actually thought that prank would be a good idea. Why couldn't they stick to mere jokes? And above all, dying of anger at Sejanus Plinth. Coriolanus had spent the last few weeks doing everything he could to help that idiot, and yet, there he was. With a stained record. He wanted to scream and curse Sejanus with every possible name in the dictionary when he saw him again next week.
"Excuse me?"
Coryo looked to the side with a stern face, annoyed, but soon his expression had to soften. He frowned when he saw that, in front of him, the same woman from weeks ago, the one he had met in the principal's office, was standing in front of him. She had her hands on Sejanus' shoulders. Sejanus. The anger returned to Coryo's chest for another moment, but he couldn't let it show, not now, not when his mother was standing in front of him. Sejanus had a bandage on his ear and held something in his hand.
"Hello, dear," she waved with a gentle smile at Coriolanus, her forehead slightly furrowed. "Are you Coriolanus Snow?"
"Huh..." he looked at Sejanus, and then back at the woman. "I... yes."
The woman turned to Sejanus. She moved her hands quickly to him, in a way that Coriolanus could barely identify what the signs were this time, and Sejanus nodded his head, moving his hand with a closed fist in a way that seemed like knocking on a door. She turned back to Coriolanus, and her smile was even kinder than before. She almost seemed happy to see Coryo there.
"Sejanus told me about you."
Hm. Sejanus spoke to Mrs. Plinth about Coriolanus. What did that mean?
"You're a good boy, Coriolanus," before he could even react, she had hugged him, and he had wide-eyed shock; people didn't hug so easily in the Capitol. "Thank you so much for being kind to my boy. I'll always be grateful for that."
Mrs. Plinth stepped back from Coryo and now gestured for Sejanus to hand him the container he had in his hands. It was much larger than all the others he had given to Coriolanus, and the container was filled to the brim with food, and food that looked delicious. His stomach rumbled just at the sight.
"You will always be welcome in our home, Coriolanus. Always. Our doors will be open if you ever want to visit us."
This time Coriolanus looked at Sejanus, who still stared at him with the same smile as always. Sejanus made the same gesture as the other day, when Coriolanus wiped the crayon off the table: he brought one hand to his forehead and the other to his chest, and moved them away at the same time. Coryo wasn't sure, he could be deducing things, but in that moment, he thought he might have finally identified what this sign meant:
Thank you.
Coriolanus watched Mrs. Plinth and Sejanus entering the principal's office, and as they did, he took the opportunity to grab a cookie just for himself. Coriolanus gave himself this reward. Maybe keeping Sejanus Plinth around wasn't so bad. It was all a matter of strategy.
The following week, when he returned to school, Coriolanus found that his warnings had been withdrawn. He didn't question the reasons, but he knew why. It was from that point on that he began to plan his next steps.
Coriolanus noticed how Sejanus flinched when Coryo dropped the heavy notebook in front of the table where he was sitting in the library.
Classmates were no longer playing the same pranks as before, but that didn't mean Sejanus had friends. Not real ones. So most of the time he spent was in the library, reading some of the dusty books left over from the Rebellion era. He looked at Coryo with a puzzled expression. The notebook he used to communicate wasn't nearby, so perhaps on impulse, even knowing Coriolanus wouldn't understand, he moved his hands. He pointed at Coryo, touched his thumbs together with closed fists, and with pinched fingers tilted them slightly forward.
Coriolanus didn't understand a damn thing as expected.
Coryo picked up one of the heavy notebooks from the table, a serious look on his face, and held one of the pens he brought in his hands. He wrote in large letters so that Sejanus could see, and watched as his face went from confusion to surprise, then to a mix of happiness and gratitude. Sejanus got up from the table and hugged Coriolanus with a strength that almost lifted his feet off the ground. Coriolanus grumbled, uncomfortable with physical contact, but it was better not to push Sejanus away, not now. Not when he was starting to take steps in establishing some kind of emotional bond, even if it could be a somewhat risky plan considering the effects on his reputation. But the rewards would make it worthwhile; Coryo was sure of that.
In the notebook left on the table, it was written in bold letters:
I WILL TEACH YOU THE SIGN LANGUAGE OF PANEM STARTING TODAY.
THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS DO.