P.E. No biggie. His body was in wonderful shape. Also, perfect opportunity to get a good look at the boy, Hal, and maybe even get a word or two out of him. But he reminded himself to take it slow. He didn't want to scare Hal off before Kyle could get anything out of him. 

All eyes were on him in the changing room. He was used to having all his eyes on him, of course, but never in a changing room. He dropped his sports bag onto a bench and gave everyone a thin-lipped smile, after which they slowly turned back to their changing even if some took furtive glances of him.

Kylian shook his head, trying to shake off the awkwardness of the situation and proceeded to change into his gym clothes and took off his shirt. There was a low whistle from one of the boys, which brought a humored grin into his lips. A few boys chuckled.

Next to him, Ian Grey shook his head as he eyed him, taking off his shirt also and dropping it into his bag, and tsked. "Boy. Six feet of godly beauty, aren't you?" This brought a ripple of laughter from those who heard, and Kyle joined along.

"Thanks. But where did God go wrong with you?"

He received a louder round of laughter but he wondered if it was actually because he was funny or because of how popular he was. Kyle pushed the thought out of his mind and pulled his gym shirt over his head.

Ian grinned cheekily, flexing his toned arms. "Nowhere. This is nothing but pure muscles, baby."

The boy beside Ian, whom Kyle remembered as Antonio Agresti, rolled his eyes and slugged Ian's arm. "Quit bragging. I don't see anything." 

Ian shook his head and was about comment when the P.E. instructors voice rang out saying, "Come on, ladies, into the gym. I want to see you there in no less than thirty seconds! Twenty-nine! Twenty-eight..."

The boys scurried to get out of the room before the countdown finished. Kylian yanked his jeans off and hurriedly pulled on his gym shorts and flung his Rolex into his bag after stuffing his feet into his running shoes, and followed suit.

The Gym Hall was pretty impressive. Sky high bars, ropes and so much more gym equipment were positioned neatly all over the room, all fenced by rows of tiers of seats in a state-of-the-art hall. Kylian and his sister hadn't had the chance to get a tour of the school and missed the orientation day, so it was all new to him. And having been homeschooled his whole life, he didn't know schools were anything close to this. He had only prepared himself by watching movies like High School Musical and the likes. But then, he remembered, this was Evemore High, a school designed for students like him, rich and privileged.

Ian staggered into the hall, looking as if he was run over by a stampede of students, which he probably was. The P.E. instructor, Coach Hadstings, or Captain Hadstings as he liked to be called—there must be some truth to it, despite Ian's claims that it was all bogus, even if given the coach's big build and qualifications—he frowned at Ian, an eyebrow raised. "Grey, what took you so long?" He boomed.

Ian looked dazed, but despite that, a troublesome look took over his features. "Why do you ask?" he said, leaning on the doorway, folding his arms.

The Captain ignored it. "Do fifteen. Now!"

Ian rolled his eyes, "Sir, yes, Sir!" and obliged. Kylian turned his attention back to Captain Hadstings as the girls and boys of year ten separated into two groups on both sides of their coach. His eyes searched around the gaggle of girls, trying to spot Catalina. Instead, his attention was drawn towards the girl from earlier. She had a blond lock twisted around her finger, and her eyes seemed to give the impression that she wanted him the same way. Her icy blue eyes, which were discernable even from the distance, regarded him, her lips parted slightly. He allowed his gaze to lock with hers for a moment as if to say, yes, I see you, but then he allowed it to skip over her to the other girls. But, I'm not interested.

He's met girls like her before, he's met a whole galore of them. And he's put up with them all because of his career where he was required to put up with them. But here he didn't have to and was glad to take full advantage of it.

Catalina was nowhere. It made sense, she must have been taken to the nurse, or better, a hospital. He sighed and scanned the boys. Standing between Antonio and another boy was Hal Aldane, his eyes focused on a spot on the gym floor, his mind elsewhere. Only now did kylian get a change to take a good look at Hal. Straight dark hair, it was probably actually wavy, a little tanned. Shorter than him, around 5 foot seven. When he finally looked up, Kylian noticed he had honey brown eyes.

"He's something, isn't he?"

Kylian looked at Ian at his words and saw him watching Kylian, his breath still fast but slowing down from the push ups.

"All that brooding must be bad for his health," Ian continued. "Gets picked on by Ms. Quaifer for it a lot, too. Anyone brooding and quiet, she thinks is depressed."

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Hey, Ian." The students started dispersing and Kylian regretted not paying attention to the coach. He elbowed Ian. "What did The Captain say?"

Ian raised his eyebrows. "I thought you wanted me to shut up."

Kyle pursed his lips, "I wanted you to drop the subject because it was untrue." Although shutting up for a bit would be glorious, too.

Ian didn't reply immediately, but he said, "It's test day. You can do whatever you want but when your name gets called, you go up to The Captain and do a couple of exercises that will measure your physical health. But, I'd say, you wouldn't have to put much of an effort, though."

Kylian couldn't help but grin happily. There couldn't have been a more convenient day.

He didn't want to barge in, so he started at the rope climbing, working his way to the other stations until he could get to one where Hal was without seeming suspicious. He even made a point of striking up a conversation with at least one student at each station, so it would look normal when he got to him and starts breaking into a fire of questions out of nerves. 

Ian followed him to the first two stations, but then when he saw Kyle heading towards the climbing bars where Hal was hanging out with a red-head girl looking like they had no intention of changing stations anytime soon, Ian headed out to the station where Antonio was, mumbling.

Kyle approached Hal's station and got in line for the bars. It was by far the most popular station of them all. He stepped out of line, his face arranged into a bored look. He made himself look at where Hal and his friend stood, and noticed that his friend was watching him as he talked to her, and arranged his face into a look that said, oh, joy! Just the person I was looking for! His red-head friend nudged Hal when she realized he was walking towards them. Hal looked at him distractedly, his eyes widening slightly.

"Hello," Kylian said, smiling.

"Hi," the red-head said with a breathy laugh, a red flush creeping up her neck. Hal gave him a half smile, his posture guarded.

"I'm Kylian—"

"We know," the redhead rushed to say, her ears turning pink. "I'm sorry. Continue."

He smiled genially at her and turned his attention to Hal, hoping the boy would relax around him. "You must be...Carl? Hal?" He let out a mental sigh of relief at how calm and collected he acted. All the acting has finally paid off.

The redhead's eyes almost popped out, and the two friends stared at him bewildered. Hal nodded uncertainly. "Yeah. Hal Aldane," he said.

Kylian stuffed his hands into his pockets and grinned. "Yes, I met your brother earlier, uh, Lou. He told me about you when I said I was in your year."

The redhead nodded slowly. "Wow. So you just...recognized him? Just like that?"

Kylian regarded the redhead as he thought up a quick lie. "Apparently. Besides, Catalina always talks about you both. I've seen his in pictures with Catalina." He shrugged, half realizing that he jus made it known that he knew Catalina.

"What?" The redhead exclaimed. "You know—"

"Please," he rushed to interrupt, "please, she doesn't want to be known as someone who knows me."

The girl gave him a baffled look. Hal, on the other hand, wasn't too surprised. "What's wrong with knowing you?" Hal's friend asked, her color returning to normal, her expression still shocked. She looked at Hal and her eyes widened. "You knew?"

Hal nodded, smiling sheepishly, ducking his head. "Right. Yeah, she told me on the way to the nurse."

His friend raised her eyebrows. "And you just forgot?"

Kylian frowned. "Nurse? What happened to her?"

Hal didn't reply, he just turned his attention back to the gym floor. His friend replied instead. "She, apparently, twisted her ankle, although she looked like she ran into a wall."

"Is she alright, though?" Kylian asked, worried. And genuinely, too. Maybe the girl didn't know, but he saw the height from which Catalina had fell. It could have killed her. And he had really believed she had died up until she moved.

The girl nodded. Then as if realizing something, she held out her right hand. "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Delta. Delta Charles-Swallow."

Kylian took her hand. And being the gentleman and cheesy romantic he was and seeing how excited she was at the prospect of talking to him, he brought her hand up and gently pressed his lips to the back of her hand. "Pleasure to meet you." He gently dropped her hand. "But I already knew that from Catalina."

Delta blinked furiously, going red all over, as Hal let out a surprised smile, his suspecting expression falling away. He felt the flush of a great triumph. 

"I've seen you in pictures with Cat, too," Kylian continued. "Your name's come up a lot." Delta let out a little squeak, which she quickly swallowed and looked away.

Hal smiled up at him, looking more relaxed than he was a few seconds ago. He was thankful all his lies were working. "So are you really Cat's cousin?" Hal asked slowly, his voice low, so that no one else would hear it except them three.

Kylian nodded solemnly as Delta's eyes went wide again but didn't comment. "Don't you trust her to tell the truth?"

"Oh, I trust her whole heartedly," Hal said with a small laugh as if it was the silliest question on the planet, "but it's just that some people can..." he trailed off hesitantly.

Kylian raised his eyebrows. "What? I can take it."

"Well, some people wouldn't want to be known to be related to others. Like you." He shrugged. "Cat doesn't seem to want to tell me she's related to you."

"Don't worry. I'm a good guy."

"We can see that," Delta chimed. "Maybe even too much of a good guy."

Kylian chuckled. "I don't see what's wrong with that."

"Of course you don't," she mumbled.

"Kylian Castillo!" He heard his name being called.

Kylian looked back to the Captain, who was waving a boy away with insults on how weak his arms were as Hal nodded toward the coach. "It's your turn."

"And Hal Aldane!"

Hal frowned and pressed his lips together, trying to hide his surprise. Kylian grinned and held out his hand. "Together, then?"

Hal stared at it, chuckling as it was the funniest thing in the world, but hesitated in accepting it. He looked around and stopped, a smug look taking over his face. Kyle looked to where he was focused and saw Ruby Grove watching them with a stormy look. Hal smiled but smacked his hand away. He and Delta looked triumphant at the expression Ruby wore.

Hal looked over at Captain Hadstings, then at Kylian. "You're going to make me look bad, aren't you?"

Kylian winked at him, raising a hand to wave at Delta as Hal and Kylian started walking towards the Captain. He patted Hal's back. "Don't worry. I'll go easy on you."