Standing at the entrance were two males in tailored black suits. Their whole look was pretty similar and reminded everyone of bodyguards due to their broad muscular bodies. The two males wore a pair of black sunglasses that made them look more intimidating.

Emerson knew who they were. They were for him. His mother sent him across the world to attend Wings Private University and decided to assign bodyguards to protect him as well. Like that wouldn’t bring attention to him more than his weird observation moments.

The mint boy, not wanting to be seen by the two bodyguards, immediately blocked himself from view by hiding against Cameron’s chest. This made the entire group stare at the newcomer before figuring out that Emerson and the bodyguards were connected and Emerson didn’t want to see them.

The group sprung to attention immediately when Sebastian stood up and Frankie curled into Emerson’s other side. Emerson was now sitting on the two males’ laps with his head covered by Frankie’s oversized blazer. This was to hide his mint colored hair.

Sebastian has made his way towards the two adult males. His aura was strong and dominant, as was his voice. “Excuse me, sirs, but you are trespassing on campus grounds. You need to get visitor passes if you wish to peruse the campus. If you do not leave now, I will notify school security.” His voice was befitting that of a student body president.

The bodyguard on the right stared at Sebastian. His voice was low and rough, accented with a slight English lift. “We are looking for Mr.Emerson Faith. He failed to report to us when he left this morning.”

“Did he attend school today?” The other bodyguard spoke, his voice thick with the English accent. Though, Sebastian did note a slight clarity in some words which helped him understand the bodyguard.

“I cannot help you until you get a visitor pass. You have two minutes to get off my campus or campus security will escort you out. Your choice.” There was a reason why Sebastian was student body president. He protected his friends and his students from everyone.

“Fine. We will speak to him when he returns home.” The first bodyguard huffed out.

The other bodyguard scoffed as the two males turned around and left the cafeteria. Sebastian still notified campus security and, after five minutes, was notified that the two males had left the campus entirely.

Sebastian joined his table again, sitting beside Felix once more. Emerson flinched lightly when Frankie lightly tapped his shoulder.

“They are gone, Emmy.” The cotton candy boy spoke softly against Emerson’s ear.

Emerson nodded before sitting up, still in both Frankie and Cameron’s lap. “S-Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Sebastian immediately retorted, his demeanor strong and kind. “We are family here. You are now a part of our little family, okay?”

Emerson nodded, feeling warmth weave it’s way into his frozen soul. His mind decided to lock away the future conversation he would have to have with his two bodyguards.

“Hey, Sebby?” Kit’s deep voice brought Emerson back to the group’s conversation. “Are we still doing the thing tonight?”

Sebastian glanced at Kit before looking at Emerson. “Oh, um, yeah. Emerson would you like to join us?”

“We go to this hill,” Frankie spoke softly beside Emerson, who was still in his lap.

“We watch the sunset and just relax and talk with each other.” Cameron clarified, his voice gentle and calm on Emerson’s other side.

Emerson wanted to go, he definitely enjoyed the group’s conversation, but he knew he needed to speak with his bodyguards and probably call his mom. Therefore, Emerson shook his head lightly, his gaze on the table since he didn’t want to see the disappointment on his new friends’ faces.

He flinched lightly before relaxing immediately when he felt Frankie squeeze his hand in a comforting manner.

“Hey, Emmy, it’s okay if you can’t come. We do this once a week so you can join us next week when we go.” Kit smile was shaped like a box, it was unique and Emerson definitely liked it.

“Yeah, maybe you could hang out with us tomorrow. Sebastian is going to be showing us a new recipe he found.” Ash teased the elder without a care in the world.

Sebastian rolled his eyes before shrugging. “Only if you want to, Emerson.”

The bell’s shrill noise interrupted their conversation immediately. Camerin helped Emerson stand up since he was still in their laps.

“Looks like you and me have chemistry together.” Cameron’s comment made Emerson blush with a strange feeling weeding its way into his soul. He ignored his thoughts and nodded as he followed Cameron towards their Chemistry 142 class. His eyes still drank in every detail of the room, but none of it really made itself important to him as he sat down in the back besides Cameron.

Cameron waved and said hello to a few random students that Emerson didn’t catch the names of as the male sat beside him. The teacher started class with no issues and greeted everyone carelessly as she moved around the front of the room, avoiding the stacks of papers and books and random strewn about chemistry equipment. She was very disorganized.

“Today is a relax day. Just get to know each other since your partner at your desk will be your partner for the rest of the year.” The teacher, Ms. Jones, smiled brightly. This was when Emerson realized she had different colored eyes, one blue and the other was green, and her hair was frizzy and wavy, messily styled in a high bun. “I’ll be starting class lessons tomorrow.”

The class was definitely happy as they began chatting with the students around them. Most were talking about their summer adventures.

“Hey, Emmy, can I call you that or is Kit only allowed?” Cameron was playfully smiling as he had turned his body to face the smaller male.

Emerson shrugged lightly, not caring really if they all called him Emmy.

“Well, Emmy, what did you do over summer?”

The question was harmless, Emerson knew that, but it immediately brought up bad memories. Blood flashed behind his brown eyes, memories of broken lamps and mirrors joined as well. There were sounds of crying and screaming, sounds of police sirens and the ambulance. Emerson could faintly hear the door being broken open and thunders of footsteps rushing into, seeing him, seeing the s-

“Emerson?” Cameron’s gentle voice halted Emerson’s thoughts. Emerson glanced up at the male, realizing only now that tears were flowing silently down his pale cheeks.

“S-Sor-rry.” Emerson cursed at his stuttering, but was shocked silent when Cameron hugged him tightly, securely.

“Don’t be. I won’t ask again. When you are comfortable with me or with any of us, you are always welcome to talk to us, okay? We don’t judge anybody, no matter what.” Cameron leaned back, smiling so brightly Emerson swore he put the sun to shame.

~

After Chemistry, Cameron walked Emerson to his English 214 class. Once they reached the class, Cameron nodded towards Frankie and left the younger to take care of Emerson.

Emerson sat beside Frankie and listened as the cotton candy haired male chatted aimlessly about the group. He explained how Sebastian got all six of them together because he realized the potential of everyone and how they were all a little too different to fit into the other groups. Emerson listened completely, enjoying the soft airy voice coming from the younger. The conversation ended once class began, though Frankie brought it up again once the teacher had finished teaching a little early.

“Ready for music arts class?” Frankie smiled warmly at the small elder.

The last class of the day was Music Arts and Emerson shared it with all six of his new friends. He simply nodded at Frankie and followed the younger towards the Arts class. Emerson was very curious as to what the six males did. The mint boy was a composer. He has written thousands of songs in hundreds of filled notebooks that were hidden away in his small house.

“Welcome class. I’m just going to go over a few of your positions just to make sure you are assigned what you signed up for.” The teacher, Ms. Ahi, was a young female from Hawaii. Emerson loved her silky cocoa colored hair and bright sky blue eyes. She was wearing a loose black pantsuit with a stylish sun hat on top of her head. She radiates warmth, caring, and happiness vibes.

“Jesse Boon, vocals.”

“Call me JB.” A tall male half stood up, giving a slight wave and kind smile before sitting back down beside a group of other males. He looked like a dancer yet a jock to Emerson.

“Very well,” Ms. Ahi smiled as she wrote on the attendance list. “Logan Young, rapper and partial vocals. Jackson Houston, rapper. Jin Wright, rapper and vocals. Nikki Westfields, vocals. Uh...”

“You can call me Rey, ma’am.” A younger male smiled warmly as he sheepishly scratched the back of his neck.

“Oh,” Ms. Ahi smiled lightly before writing down the nickname. “Rey, rapper and vocals. Kim Reese, vocals. Ryland Hyde, vocals.”

“Please call me Ry, teach.” An attractive male near a corner of the room spoke. He was surrounded by six other guys.

“Of course.” Ms. Ahi noted the name down before going through the rest of the attendance. Emerson noted Lisa from his math class and a few other students he remembered seeing from his other classes.

“Felix Hart, rapper and composer. Emerson Faith, composer and pianist.” Ms. Ahi glanced up as she eyed the two males. “I never let my students write music of their own, not without my supervision, but you both submitted a handful of amazing pieces. I’d love it if you both worked together and wrote a set list for the talent show near the end of the year. It will count for your final, especially since you don’t want to be singing or rapping, Emerson.”

Emerson was embarrassed as everyone was staring at him and Felix. The mint boy simply nodded before looking down at his lap. He softly flinched when he felt and saw a softly tanned hand wrap around his pale one. The hand belonged to Cameron who was listening as Ms. Ahi explained what the final would be for everyone else.

The rest of the class had to get in teams of however many people they wished and perform a song written by the only two composers in the class or one written by some of Ms. Ahi’s composer friends.

After some time, everyone was already in groups and throwing ideas out for group names. Emerson heard some that sound decent like “Genesis” and “Essence”. He realized that he might have to be part of a group. His gaze fell upon his new six friends who were all around him talking about group name ideas.

“What about the Golden Boys?” Ash gleamed as if his idea was amazing.

“No. It has to be the Outcasts.” Frankie stated pointedly.

Sebastian shook his head at every idea the group gave out. “Emmy, what do you think our name should be?”

Emerson was taken aback as the six males all glanced at him. Cameron tightened his grip on the mint boy’s hand which he was still holding onto. Emerson relaxed lightly as he eyed all of the males individually. He could tell that each male was different, yet they did fit a certain cliche group. They would probably never be friends if they just fit their cliche group more than they do now. It was like they were beyond the stereotypes and were making their own statement, their own scene in the world.

“Enigma.”

Silence followed the raspy voice that left the mint haired boy. He was instantly worried the name sounded bad, but he was reassured when Sebastian spoke.

“What does it stand for?”

“It’s almost imagine backwards!” Kit shouted as he stood up, a hundred percent sure he was right. Emerson shook his head causing the male to pout and sit back down.

“It stands for... something mysterious or puzzling.”

“What does that mean for us?” Frankie softly asked as he curiously stared at the elder.

Emerson took a deep breath, relaxing more as Cameron began rubbing his knuckles lightly.

“It means... you are all different.” Emerson cleared his dry throat before continuing, “You are making your own mark in the world. You are writing your own scene, tossing stereotypes to the side and becoming who you truly want to be. All of you are going beyond what people expect you to be.”

“Wow.” Felix was mind blown, as was everyone else.

“Hey guys. Is this the whole group? Six members?” Ms. Ahi stood between Sebastian and Felix, smiling warmly at the seven students.

“Seven members, ma’am.” Felix clarified. “Myself, Sebastian, Cameron, Frankie, Kit, Ash, and Emerson.”

“Oh,” Ms. Ahi looked at Emerson. “I guess that’s okay. What is your group’s name?”

There was a slight pause as Felix glanced around at everyone, stopping his gaze on Emerson who stared back cautiously.

“We are Enigma.”

~~~~