Mika and Andreis sat silently in their room. Mika was on his bed, his legs pulled up close to his chest with a book in one hand. Andreis leaned forward slightly, trying to catch a glimpse of the cover and practically fell off his own bed.

With a heavy sigh Mika finally lowered it, turning to glower at Andreis. "It's Paradise Lost."

"Oh," Andreis straightened slightly on the bed. "That seems interesting. Is it romantic? Sounds like it's about some hidden island or something."

Mika rolled his eyes, the seemingly permanent frown on his face appearing to increase.   "It's about Satan's rebellion on heaven."

Andreis rolled over on his side and watched Mika from his spot on the bed across from him. "Do you like it?"

Mika shrugged, he didn't think anyone had ever actually asked him if he liked a book he was reading before. Hell, he wasn't sure if even he had ever asked himself the question.

He glanced back to the page now. "Yeah. It's really good." He shut his eyes for a moment. "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven."

Andreis's eyes widened. "Woah. Did you come up with that?"

"No, it's a famous quotation from the book you idiot.'

Andreis nodded and then just continued talking, damn, did nothing put this boy off? "Oh, haha, right. I feel so stupid now."

"It's okay to feel what you are."

"What about the book makes it...y'know, good? " Andreis asked, propping himself up onto his elbows.

Mika shrugged. "Well, the story's depiction of Satan is what really makes it in my opinion. He's the most beautiful of angels and he's charismatic. He rebels because he believes that God doesn't deserve his authority as their ruler because the angels have been self-begot and self-raised. The cool part about it is how it paints Satan as a tragic hero instead of a villain."

Andreis nodded eagerly. "Yeah. My favorite book is similar to that actually, a creature that's always been painted as a villain by society takes on a heroic role."

Mika arched a brow, genuinely surprised Andreis was having a literary discussion with him. "Yeah? What book is it?"

"Twilight." Jesus fucking Christ...he should have known. "Hey, Mika why did you skip out on Jacob's memorial service?"

Mika closed his book slowly.  Looked like he wouldn't be getting the peace and quiet tonight that he had been hoping for.

"Honestly, I just didn't feel like it. I didn't want to see everyone crying and weeping over him like any of them actually gave a shit."

"Um...Mika?"

"Holy hell. What is it now?"

"Do you know anything about Eric Marshall?"

Mika practically dropped his book. "Why would you ask me about Eric asshat Marshall? Oh God, don't tell me you're interested in him and his brainless groupies?"

"Groupies?"

"Jesus, what the hell do they call themselves, the White Rose club or some shit. Listen, Andreis. I'm not going to lie. I don't like or particularly care about you at all but let me give you a piece of advice. Stay the hell away from them. That whole group is bad news."

Andreis sat up now, running a hand through his mat of blonde curls.  "Why do you say that?"

"Listen kid, I know that I don't particularly like a lot of people but I really don't like the White Rose club. They're just...creeps. They walk around the school like they're better than everyone else, like they can have anything their black little hearts desire because they're all handsome and smart and richer than God himself. They all pretty much worship Eric Marshall like he's a God which is weird and unhealthy as fuck if you ask me. Besides, bad things happen to people that don't make it into their club."

"What...what kind of things?"

"They only ever allow one or two people to try and be in it each year but the people who don't make the cut never stay much longer at St.James. One boy said he started getting nightmares ever since he failed their test and it got so bad he practically begged his father to let him come home, another kid kept finding dead animals under his bed, squirrels and chipmunks and shit. It went on for a month before he finally left the school."

"Don't you think you're being a little too harsh on them? I mean, you can't force someone to have nightmares, it was probably just a coincidence."

Mika placed his book on the desk beside his bed before falling back onto it. "I don't even know why I'm trying to warn you to stay away from them. It's not even like they would even give you the time of day if you tried to talk to them. Just forget about them Andreis. It's just a waste of time."

"Eric Marshall talked to me once."

"Sure he did, in other news, I'm the king of Spain!" Andreis mumbled something under his breathe that Mika couldn't make out. Screw it, if the kid wanted to waste his time with this strange infatuation with Eric Marshall and the White Rose club then who was he to stop him? Nothing would come of it. As long as he didn't get involved he was happy.

----

In the week that followed Andreis's curiosity about the White Rose grew into a full on obsession. It had gotten to the point that any time he tried to bring them up Mika would promptly put his fingers in his ears and start singing loudly until he shut up. Andreis came to notice that the boys had other privileges along with having their own reserved pew in the church. There was a table in the corner of the dining hall where only they sat, they would speak only to teachers, almost never to other students. Once he passed Kian, Fitz and Charlie putting up posters for some student run event up around the school. When Charlie saw him he waved, the others remained silent, not even turning to glance at him. A week turned into two and then three. Andreis had observed the members of the White Rose club so much that he almost felt as if he knew them. He knew that Robert Reed would always take tea with two lumps of sugar at noon and that Fitz kept a copy of Pride and Prejudice hidden behind a math textbook whenever he read in public. He had observed them heading to their meetings in the library late on Friday nights and he knew that Bentlee Mullins was always the first to come to meetings and that Norman Faulkner always liked to talk to him while his brother remained indifferent. There was an air about them at the school, like they were untouchable and unapproachable like gems in a museum behinds guarded glass. It seemed to Andreis like he was the only visitor to this museum that couldn't bring himself to look away and move on to the next exhibit. He needed to know more...he needed to sneak into one of their meetings.