I watched the sea of students in blue blazers with unease. They moved back and forth in the south hall, laughing, talking, and calling out to each other. All excited to be back at school among their friends. I tightened my grip on my satchel and stepped into the flow. I walked quickly. Various eyes met mine briefly before sliding away. I kept expecting someone to do a double-take and raise an alarm. I was an interloper. I didn’t belong here. These thoughts made my steps quicken. I just needed to get to my first class. Once inside, I’d be safe.

I knew that my fear was irrational. No one was going to point at me and call the guards. The students had no reason to do so. I was dressed like one of them, but it felt like a disguise. I wore the uniform, but I’d never be one of them.

This was Noble Academy, the most elite academy in the world. Only the richest and most powerful teens were ever admitted. Until today. I was neither rich nor powerful. I was enrolled because my family couldn't afford to send me anywhere else. If that wasn’t irony, then I’d get that question wrong on the SATs. I was admitted as special compensation. I was not here on any academic or athletic scholarship. I was here because my father fixed the toilets, and my mother cooked the food. They were servants. No, excuse me that wasn’t PC anymore. They were staff. Too bad everyone still treated them like servants. I would have rather enrolled anywhere else, but they couldn’t afford to send me to a different school. So here I was starting my first day at Noble Academy.

I knew the campus by heart. I'd been wandering through it my whole life, but only ever as a shadow. Noble was the only home I'd ever known, but I'd never felt like I belonged. Now I was wearing one of the navy blue jackets with the gold N embroidered on the front, right over the heart, and I felt like a stranger in my own skin as I slipped into my very first class. Most of the other students were already there, though they hadn't taken their seats yet. The seat in the far corner looked unclaimed. I slipped into it and stowed my bag. No one greeted me or made eye contact. They all knew each other. They’d probably known each other since preschool. I was a stranger. Someone to close ranks against. That was fine. I just wanted to be left alone.

Prof. Edward arrived a minute after me, arms overflowing with papers as he balanced a coffee cup precariously on top. His dress shirt already sported a coffee stain on the front. He was bald with a halo of wispy gray and black hair. His eyebrows were monstrous as if to make up for the missing hair on top. I suspected he purposely combed them up in the morning. He had taught at Noble for twenty years now. He liked red wine. Lots of red wine. I'd helped my father collect the empty bottles from his doorstep.

The bell rang, though no one paid it any attention. Prof. Edward made noises for everyone to settle down without actually asking anyone to take their seats. I saw him see me in the back, but he didn’t appear to recognize me. I wondered if he would recognize my parents.

A shadow fell across my desk. I looked up to find a guy frowning down at me.

"You're in my seat," he said.

He hadn't been in the room when I came in. From the looks of him, he appeared to have just arrived. Quite literally. He wasn't wearing a school uniform, and he had no book bag or satchel. He was dressed all in black with silver studs in his ears and a gold Rolex watch on his wrist. He had a great poof of curly brown hair and narrow blue eyes. He was handsome, but there was a malevolence about him that put me on edge.

"There’s no assigned seating," I said. I didn't want to give up my seat just because he told me to.

The smile that curled his lips raised goose bumps on my arms.

"I think you're mistaken. You see whatever seat I want is mine. So this seat is mine. If you want, you can sit on my lap."

Was this guy for real? I scanned the rest of the room for an empty desk, but all of the other seats had been taken. Where was I supposed to sit? His lap was not an option. I didn’t have much time to consider my next move, but my gut told me to not give in. Just because I wasn’t rich didn’t mean I was a doormat.

"No," I said.

"What?"

People were beginning to notice us while Prof. Edward took attendance.

"I said no. I'm sitting here, so ipso facto the seat is mine.”

“Is that so?” He grabbed the desk and flung it across the room.

It landed with a crash and all of my things spilled off of it.

“What’s going on?” Prof. Edward shouted.

I turned to the guy, my mouth hanging open in disbelief. My gut was now telling me that I was on my own.

“Get up,” he said.

He didn’t give me a chance to move. He leaned down and grabbed me by my jacket lapels and dragged me up.

“I will have no fighting in my classroom!” Prof. Edward shouted.

The guy turned and flashed a smile at the professor. From my vantage point of hanging from his fists, I got a good look at his canines. They were pearly white and looked very sharp. “Sorry, professor. There appears to be a shortage of seating, and I was discussing with my friend here the best way to rectify that.”

“I don’t believe I called your name, young man.”

“Oh, maybe that’s the problem. My parents only registered me this morning. I’m Damien West.”

My eyes widened at his name, as well as everyone else’s. Among the richie rich, the Wests were the richest. They were also the biggest donors to Noble Academy. Every other building bore their name West. It made giving directions difficult.

Damien turned back and gave me an appraising look. “I don’t believe you called my friend’s name either.”

“I skipped Sarah’s name since I could see she was here.”

So the old wino did recognize me.

“Well, Sarah needs a seat.”

“Yes, Sarah, please go get one out of storage, will you?”

I didn’t protest the injustice of having to get a desk and chair when I clearly had both. Logic was obviously no longer in play. Intimidation, violence, and wealth had chased it from the field. Damien let me go, but he had to lay it on thick by smoothing out my lapels and giving me a malignant smile. I backed away from him and out of the room. I was afraid to turn my back on him like he was a wild animal who would attack me if I looked away. Once I was out the door, I heard Prof. Edward begin his lesson. He wasn’t going to hold class for me. I would have to hurry if I didn’t want to miss too much. I knew where spare desks and chairs were kept. I went down the hall, listening to the muted voices of teachers from other classrooms.

So Damien West was in my class and he was a psychopath. Lovely. It shouldn’t surprise me. I had long ago observed that oodles of money seemed to give people license to lose all common sense and disregard decorum. The more money someone had; the less human they were.

Damien West was rich enough to be demonic. I wondered if that had informed his parents’ choice of name.