Work Text:
Welton's Academy. A name which carried such a weight that made itself almost unpronounceable. Every letter, every syllable, those two words which felt heavy, carried with meaning, life itself, a legacy. Passed down in generations; Tradition, Honor, Discipline and Excelence were its four well built pillars. Welton was a well forged academy centered in the most traditional method: strict, high demanding, successful. The right method. The only correct method.
Welton's Academy was the most popular academy in the whole country of America. By the year 2.026, it had also become the most antique boarding school of the country, with an exquisite structure that exposed his long, successful life. It showed its walls proudly, the antique architecture, which maintained its original design after years and years of renovation. The wood of the doors, the design of the windows, every detail in every shiny chandelier. There was an almost ancient magic in every step of every stair, in every corner, even the long forgotten ones. Welton lasted long and forever will. Welton lasted forever, Welton was forever.
Still, some changes have been made. Innovations, renovations, everything which had been necessary to keep his walls on its place has been done. His brother told him so once that he came to visit him: the stairs had been renovated, it seemed. The chandelier had been forcefully reparated, once that the electrical circuit presented fails. An awful tragedy , knowing that the almost ancient chandelier had to be completely reconstructed once that it fell into pieces on the floor while the electrical connections were being repaired.
Still, even with all its ups and downs, Welton's magic and it’s charming, imponent aura, remained the same. A breath of stolen air escaped of whoever lips pronounced its name in a whisper.
Todd sighed, while he walked up the recently renovated stairs, heading towards his chemistry class. The bell hasn't ringed yet, but he guessed that being there early wouldn't cause him any harm. He took a seat in his usual place, leaving his notebook neatly accommodated over the desk. He stole a glance through the window, he saw green, lively campus, the students chatting, playing and practicing sports there. He saw the cloudy, autumn sky, and he felt its breeze. He breathed... and then, he heard a noise. He glanced now at his phone, which was laying next to his notebook on the desk, just to noice a notification popping up on the screen. Yeah, that was it... whose message was this?
Cellphones were strictly prohibited in Welton's Academy, Todd remembered. Strictly prohibited... most of the time. For this week, they were allowed, since the summer vacations season had just finished yesterday. The Academy recognized that some students needed the phones to communicate to their parents about their returning to the Academy and wellbeing, and that was the only reason the phones were still allowed and not locked up in the Principal's office as usual.
Todd stared at the notification on his screen, and then, his eyes flicked towards the door, just to make sure that his chemistry teacher wasn't going to arrive now. Seeing that there was no sign that he was coming, he picked up his phone with a fast movement of his hand and clicked on the message.
To be honest, Todd didn't really understand this "social media stuff" at all. Well, he'd say he had the essentials, only what was strictly necessary for him. Todd thought of himself as just a simple guy who just needed the basics, like WhatsApp, Google, and barely any YouTube to survive. Why would he need anything else? He did create an Instagram account, though, since it seemed that it was now a necessity for every teenager like him to have one... he couldn't be social in any party if he didn't have his account. "What's your insta?" Would ask whoever person he spent the party talking whit. And, tired of his own answer being an awkward, blunt: "oh... I don't have one" and the following horrified stare of the person who asked him, Todd decided to create an account. But still, he didn't even use that account at all. He probably didn't have much followers, though... when was the last time he checked?
He also had a Facebook account, but the only reason for that was that his brother created it for him as soon as Todd received his cellphone in his thirteen birthday. Kind of long ago. And he didn't use that app at all either, he'd just ocasionally like whatever some family member or friend of him posted, although they were as little keen on social platforms as him. Todd wasn't a fan of video games either and barely knew a few, so that explained why his phone was basically empty.
It had been a long time since it was like that... until recently. After weeks and weeks, Todd had finally succumbed to the pressure... that pressure... who else would it be? Neil has been spending several weeks of his life basically begging him to download that "TikTok" app. The "Just do it, it'll be fun!" turned into "Have you installed it yet?", and then it turned into "Todd, just do it already." and it almost ended up in Neil picking up Todd's phone and installing TikTok on it and creating an account for Todd himself... but in the end, Neil didn't have to go that far.
During the two weeks summer vacation (in which the students were allowed to leave the Welton's dorms and return to their homes) Todd finally created his account and started his new "TikTok life". To be honest, he didn't understand a thing at first... it was oddly similar to instagram, but he didn't understand neither of those apps... after some days of struggling with the "like", "save", "follow", "sharing" and whatever else buttons it had, he finally understood it and created a group chat with all of his friends.
He quickly discovered some things: Charlie had at least five different TikTok accounts dedicated to different purposes. Why? Todd might actually never understand the reason. One was just a basic account that he used to talk with all of his friends, the other was just an extra account, he had another one to follow his best friends only... and he had an edits account. Todd was truly impressed when he found out. His knowledge of edition was seriously limited, but he was intelligent enough to guess that editing must be really difficult and that it took plenty of time to create good ones... Charlie had tons of those good edits, which were mostly of his favorite celebrities, such as well known actors, band members and singers and it did amaze him, to be honest. Todd took mental notes to ask Charlie to teach him his editing skills some day. It sounded fun.
Todd quickly discovered that Know also had more than just one account. He wasn't as active as Charlie on those, but he did use his accounts frequently. He had a matching profile picture with Chris (just like Neil and him did, after Neil spent another week begging him to match) and he also used to repost tons of TikTok videos every day. Todd barely reposted anything, to be honest. Seeing Knox's account, it kind of looked like his Instagram. He had some videos with friends, and some "aesthetic" pictures of himself, aswell as pictures of him and Chris together. Both Chris and him also posted some couple-videos together. Todd remembered that Neil explained to him that those were "trends", basically the same style of video made by different people, no matter if they were famous or not. It was kind of cute. Todd ended up learning that Chris was into editing aswell, and that she and Charlie used exchange some editing tips whenever the group hanged out.
More on Todd's side, Meeks didn't have anything on his account. It was empty and private, but for some reason, he was the one which had the most followers in their whole friend group by far. He did have a lot of reposts, though, of the most random stuff... some videos about the vietnams war, a huge interest of him. A random video of a silly cat. A video explaining how to create explosives from scratch. And then, a video of an AI generated cat with wings and claws which was stealing a Big Mac from Spider-Man... seriously?
Taking a look into Pitts account now, Todd immediately noticed that his account was basically almost empty as his own. Surprisingly, or maybe not, it didn't have a thing, and it was a private account aswell. It did have some reposts, though, half of the videos that Meeks reposted, and some other publications about Pitts favorite bands. A lot of posts about the analysis of movies aswell. Todd did know that Pitts loved Letterbox, so he wasn't really surprised once that he found those reposts.
And now, Neil's profile... Todd would even say that he outdid Knox's efforts of having the most aesthetically pleasant account. It looked just like his instagram account, tons of photos which followed the same style, color palette, patterns and so on which conveyed the same feeling... it was perfect. Those were photos, phrases of his favorite books, both movie and books recommendations that Mr Keating had suggested him before... Neil even added some photos of their meetings in the Old Indian Cave, every picture was taken perfectly enough to hide every detail, just to make sure that the teachers would never discover that those pictures were taken inside the campus... it was discreet, a well protected secret, a promising mystery that should never be revealed... the pictures were almost endearing. The lighting, the shadows, every photo that showed up in front of his eyes was perfect. Almost a blessing.
And then, his eyes caught a sudden movement in a corner. Todd immediately hided his phone on his backpack once that his gaze caught a glimpse of the teacher arriving. He thanked God once that he made sure that he hasn't been discovered. The students immediately began to arrive, filling the classroom with the echo of chatters, the movement of the chairs and desks and the sound of people opening their notebooks and picking up their pens.
Todd greeted Charlie once that he took a seat behind him, and moved his backpack out of the way so that Knox could sit next to him. It was a silent greeting, of course, since their chemistry teacher seemed to be even more eager to start the lesson early today than usual.
- "Thank you." - Knox whispered quietly once that he took a seat next to him, while he took his stuff out of his own backpack in a rush.
Todd nodded, picking up his pen. Before finally focusing on the lesson, the class had to wait for Neil to apologize for being late. Talking about his grades with Mr. Keating during the recess turned out to be enough for an acceptable excuse, but as usual, the chemistry teacher told him to be there on time for the next lesson.
Once that he knew he escaped every possible negative consequence, Neil rushed to take a seat next to Charlie. The lesson continued just as expected for a usual Monday, quiet but still full filled with tasks. How annoying it was to know that he'd probably have to spend more than half of the afternoon studying in the library again. How could it be that Todd still didn't understand the new topic? The exercises just seemed impossible to solve, and Knox wasn't able to be much of a help either. How annoying.
And then, Todd's heart almost skipped a beat... how unlucky could he be? Another notification popped up on his phone, causing it to make a noise that the teacher almost heard... key word was "almost", for a first time, it seemed to be a good thing that the chemistry teacher's hearing wasn't its best after all those years.
With his heart still beating frantically, Todd tried his best to slip it out of his backpack and put it on silent mode. Why did he have to be so useless when it came to technology??? He struggled again, and almost ended up pale when his phone sounded again. What would he do if the teacher gave it to the Principal to keep it locked up in his office forever?? Where would Todd hide if the Principal called his parents for a meeting??? That would be for real the dead of him…
And yet again, his heart skipped another beat once that he saw the culprit of all the noise that his phone was making. What was he doing using his phone mid chemistry lesson?? The name of Neil's TikTok account popped up on his screen one more time. To be honest, Todd was kind of surprised that it wasn't Charlie this time. If there was a master rage baiter on the group, it had to be Nuwanda... who else would it be? Although, thinking about it now, Charlie probably had to stop rage baiting all those kids in Roblox. Todd was kind of starting to feel bad for them... but this was a subject for another day. He had to keep his phone in silence NOW.
He turned around, half scared, half mad, just to meet Charlie's amused gaze and a chuckle of Neil, whose gaze was still fixed on the screen of his own phone. Before he could complain or say anything, his phone showed one last notification... and his finger accidentally clicked in it. The TikTok messages said:
Carpe_Diem🕯️🎭
[Todd, what a surprise.]
[I didn't know that you were a fan of me.]
[Are you planning on making a fan page of me?]
[I can sign your notebook if you want me to. ;) ]
Todd blinked slowly a couple of times, still perplexed about what he seemed to have just read. He couldn't answer that message. He was in class. He was in the classroom. The chemistry teacher was there. He was not going to answer. He was not. H e w a s n o t. Of course, his curiosity was stronger. He texted back:
Todd_Anderson
[Neil.]
[We are in CLASS.]
[What are you talking about?]
Todd didn't even have time to turn around and look at him before his messages were immediately answered:
Carpe_Diem🕯️🎭
[Nothing.]
[I was just admiring the beautiful edit that you reposted some minutes ago. I have to admit Nuwanda is talented.]
What. What was he even talking about?? Todd's heart skipped another beat. What was Neil even implying? That couldn't be true. Not at all. Still, his fingers rushed to check his own profile immediately. His hands were still kind of shaking, terrified as he was of the idea of the teacher discovering him. Still, he went there and checked it... just to see that it was true. It seemed that, when he entered Charlie's account, he accidentally reposted an edit that he made of Neil, as a late gift for his birthday...
Damn. How could he revert this situation? Todd hasn't learned how to delete a repost yet. That shouldn't be difficult, right?
Todd_Anderson
[It was an accident.]
[How do I delete it?]
The response was immediate. At that sight, Todd rolled his eyes.
Carpe_Diem🕯️🎭
[Owwww :( ]
[And here I thought that you were a fan of my acting.]
[Why'd you delete it?]
[It’s good. I was good.] [I was really good.]
This guy couldn't be serious. Charlie's chuckles alongside with Neil's at the back weren't helping any bit. A new notification on their group chat popped up on his screen:
Nuwanda⚡️⚡️⚡️
[Its good to see some appreciation of my hard work.]
[Fine arts like mine are often unappreciated these days.]
[Its good to know that people whit such good taste as Todd's are still walking around on our lords land.]
Todd_Anderson
[OMFG]
[We are in CLASS]
[You both can go to hell.]
[Keep on making edits there.]
Carpe_Diem🕯️🎭
[How interesting.]
[You still haven't unreposted it.]
[Are you still interested in getting an autograph, Todd?]
[ ;) ]
Yes. That was it. Enough TikTok time for today. He turned off his cellphone and returned it into his backpacks best hidden pocket. At least he managed to leave it on silent mode. Todd sighed relieved, his mind finally paying attention to the lesson again, as he tried to forget the embarrassment of just some seconds ago. The fact that Charlie was picking his shoulder wasn't helping, but he tried to ignore it.
Carpe_Diem🕯️🎭
[Hey]
[Why'd you leave me on read?]
[ :( ]
[Guys?]
[Im guessing I won't be gifting any autographs 😥.]