The next day Haru woke early feeling nervous, feeling scared. He glanced across his dorm towards the other bed, which was still empty. His roommate still had not returned, he had not met him yet.

Haru let out a sigh, sitting up and throwing the bedsheets back. He gazed out the window for a moment, towards the grounds outside.

There was a chill in the air this morning, but the sun outside was shining brightly through the mist. It was going to be a beautiful day.

Haru rose and dressed quickly, grabbing his bag and books and making his way to his first class, walking with his head down.

His classes were difficult, and he endured them as best he could, but still could not ignore the teasing stares some of the other boys gave him, the sharp comments of ‘rich kid’ as they whispered behind his back.

Needless to say, it was a great relief to finally leave for lunch, and he ran straight to the drama hall with a spring in his step, but with a tension around his heart. He felt growing trepidation with every footstep.

He felt nervous at first when he saw the hall was empty, lingering in the doorway for a moment before stepping in and moving close towards the stage.

A figure came out from behind the curtain then, hearing the sound of him enter.

‘Oh good you’re here’ Aubrey gleamed at him.

‘Um…what are you wearing?’ Haru asked uncertainly, glancing down at Aubrey’s body.

Aubrey wore a bright blue suit with a clean white scarf folded around his neck. Upon the suit itself were patterns depicting peacock feathers, and around his waist, almost like a skirt, was a great fan of feathers of deep green and blue. And at his wrists the fabric was long, frilly and white.

Aubrey brushed his black hair back, flicking it out of his face playfully.

‘Do you like what you see?’ Aubrey teased. ‘I’m pretty aren’t I?’

Haru pursed his lips then, eyes wide as he stared up at Aubrey on the stage.

‘Are you blushing?’

‘No!’ Haru protested. ‘I…I wasn’t.’

‘Whatever you say dweeb’ Aubrey teased.

‘Dweeb?’

Aubrey looked over Haru’s head as the doors to the hall opened again, and Sasha, Amelia and Ben came all came in at the same time.

‘Look we found him!’ Amelia called happily, hugging onto Ben’s arm.

‘Great we’re all here’ Sasha clapped. ‘Shall we begin?’

They started planning together, who would play as which character, positions of the actors and costumes and the script. It was a lot of work for everyone, but at this point they were still practicing and testing things out, seeing what would work and what wouldn’t. Nnothing yet was set, and as the others had fun messing around and playing with ideas, it was all Haru could do to keep a brave face.

When lunch was over, he didn’t go to his next class, instead he ran to his dormitory, which he knew would be empty. He knew he would be alone here.

He fell on the bed, hugging the pillow to him and sobbing, his cries muffled as his body shook.