Andreis was practically fuming as he stepped out into the hall. What had he done to make that boy hate him so much? Was it the eye comment...it had to be the eye comment. DAMNIT, his mother told him to make friends he should compliment people, was he even bad at giving people compliments? Well, it looked like that course of action had gone down the drain along with any last sliver of hope Andreis had that this school would be different...that perhaps here he wouldn't be bullied or ignored. All he wanted was one friend...that was it. Why did he always have to be such a loser?

He turned a corner and slammed into someone knocking himself to the floor. Shit...he had only been here an hour and he had already managed to humiliate himself twice in a row. He just lay on the floor a minute, hoping the boy he had run into would just quickly walk by and pretend he hadn't seen anything. Maybe he would kick him for bumping into him, wouldn't be the first time someone had done it to Andreis. Either way, he just closed his eyes, waiting for whatever was going to happen to simply hurry up.

To his surprise however he heard a soft voice. "Are you alright?"

He opened his eyes slowly, realizing a thin, elegant hand was being offered to him. He looked up into the face of the boy that was standing over him and his heart began to pound. The boy was tall and pale, practically white blond hair falling around his face. If someone had come up to Andreis and told him this boy was an angel he probably would have believed them. He took the boy's hand and he helped him to his feet. Andreis felt extremely small next to him. The boy could have only been a year older than him but he practically towered over Andries, not only that but...there was something about him that made Andreis feel like it was an honor for him to simply be in his presence. The boy spoke again, his voice still soft and gentle. "What is your name?"

"Uh...Andreis...Andreis Emsworth."

"Ah," the boy's gaze lingered on him an extra beat. "You are an Emsworth." With that he started to turn and leave.

"Err...you have very nice hair."

The boy stopped. Shit...why did he say that? He had really screwed this up hadn't he? The boy stopped however and slowly turned to him, a slight smile tugging on the corner of his lips.

"Thanks." And with that he walked away.

---

Andries wandered around the courtyard attempting to get some kind of bearing on where everything was, thanks a lot Mika Barton. He didn't start classes till tomorrow so he figured that he might as well try to get to know as much of the school as he could since his roommate was so willing to help.

"Hey, are you lost?" Andreis spun around at the sound of a cheerful voice. A boy was standing there, grinning. He extended a hand. "The names Charlie Hawkins, secretary of the student council and head reporter of the school newspaper, nice to meetcha'. And you are?"

"Um...Andreis Emsworth." Charlie laughed, giving Andreis such a hearty pat on the back that the boy had to struggle to not topple over from it. Charlie Hawkins...the name sounded familiar. Hadn't he been the one Mika said had found his roommate's body?

"Well that's a nice name. Did you just transfer here today Mister 'um Andreis Emsworth'?"

Andreis nodded. "Yeah, how did you know?"

Charlie chuckled. "I know everybody and practically everything there is to be known about this school. Who did Kane room you with? I'm stuck with a second year and honestly it sucks balls."

"Mika Barton."

"Pffft, Oh my God. I take it back! Second year Sylvester is practically a saint compared to Mika freaking Barton. " Charlie practically doubled over laughing before finally gathering himself up enough to continue talking. "Dude I am so sorry."

"He wasn't very nice to me when I first met him."

Charlie gave Andreis a slightly softer pat on the back.  "Of freaking course he wasn't! Mika is basically known as the school's resident asshole. I'm pretty sure I'm his only friend and even that is up in the air from his perspective. You probably won't have to deal with him for long. Mika goes through roommates the same way girls go through clothes. He's so intolerable that after a few weeks most boys go to the headmaster begging him to switch their rooms. I think the only person who managed to stay in a room with him for an entire year was Jaco..." he caught himself, a grin spreading over his face, this time with no emotion behind it. "Haha, I should probably quit while I'm ahead. Do you want me to show you around?"

Andreis nodded eagerly. "Yeah, that would be great."

Charlie grabbed him by the arm, pulling him along. "C'mon then. I know everything about this place. I'm a bit of a history buff. Okay so you see that fountain?"

Andeis nodded slowly.  "Yeah?"

"Okay, well there's a bit of a legend about it. They say a long time ago...there was this boy. His name was..." Charlie furrowed his brow, clearly trying to recall it. "Quely...Quincy...Quintin! That was it! Quintin Chambers! Anyways, he was part of this clique of boys. These kids were super rich, had everything handed to them and were bored as hell. I mean, what's there to do when you practically have everything? So one of the boys must have been reading a lot of Julius Caesar or something and got an idea. The boys decided they wanted to try and murder someone in their group, just to see if they could get away with it. They were all secretly jealous of Quintin so they picked him. They invited him out one night and each took a turn stabbing him. When they finished they buried the body right there, out in the middle of the courtyard to make a statement. They wanted the world to know they had done it and that they had gotten away with it too." He pointed to where the fountain was. "One of the boys convinced his father to build the fountain right over it so no one could ever find the corpse. Of course, no one knows for sure if it really happened but the story has lasted all these years. Then again, I guess that story is kind of dull now that we have a real, true to God murder here."

"Mika told me a bit about it."

Charlie's eyes widened. "Oh right! So not only are you stuck rooming with the ass of the decade but you're also sleeping in a dead boy's bed. Man, either the headmaster hates you or your luck is total shit."

Knowing his track record Andreis was pretty sure the answer was that his luck was total shit.

"Mika said you found the body."

Charlie nodded eagerly. "Yeah, rest in peace Jacob Shaw...or should I say pieces."

"Pieces?"

"Yeah. It was quite a shock really. I was going in to help clean up the church like I do every Saturday morning, I'm a good samaritan like that. When I walked in I saw a trail of blood leading to the altar and there was the head of Jacob Shaw."

"His head? Where was the rest of him?"

"Someone attached it the ceiling with ropes somehow. His blood was dripping down onto a big puddle on the floor when I got there. There's only one thing that they weren't able to find...the eyes. They're blaming it on the Wakefield ripper. That's his signature thing y'know, the Wakefield ripper always takes the eyes."

Andreis arched a brow. "You sound skeptical."

Charlie shrugged. "I am. I don't think it was him."

"Why?" For someone who had stumbled upon the dead body of one of his classmates Charlie seemed more excited about it than frightened.

Charlie leaned in, giving Andreis's nose a little bop. "I'm skeptical because when they found the body there were 14 stab wounds in it."

"And the Wakefield ripper doesn't do that?"

"Nope, but Quintin Chambers's murderers did."

"You don't think it could be them do you? When was Quintin Chamber's supposedly murdered?"

"150 years ago."