Justin sat, chewing the end of his pencil. Dr McKay had explained the English system to him and he knew he was getting off lightly. English kids had to do a weeks worth of exams. Two Science, three Maths and three English. He was just doing basic papers, one of each. Didn't mean they were easy though. He was working his way through the maths now. He had an hour to do it, no calculator allowed. Thank goodness this was the last one. 3 hours of exams and he was ready to drop. He'd played lip service to the tests, doing as little as he possibly could, rebelling against the fact he was having to sit them and the fact he was in the school. He'd been too shell shocked to say much to Mr McKay, but sitting on his own for three hours, well, his mind had been going a hundred miles per hour and the resentment was building up.
He was still chewing on the pencil and staring into space when the wooden door opened and a curly haired head popped round. "You're done." It said, before walking into the room.
Justin turned his attention away from the spiders web adoring the picture of the school's first pupils and focused fully on the interrupter of his sulking. He looked around 17/18, tall but skinny with dark brown loose curls making his head look bigger than it should be. "You what?" Justin snapped, annoyed to have been interrupted, he'd just managed to think of a good escape plan and now he'd lost track.
Josh decided to let the rudeness go this time, after all, Justin had just sat 3 hours worth of exams. "You're done, Justin. I have to take you upstairs to unpack and things before dinner. I'm Josh, your dorm prefect."
'What the fuck is a dorm prefect' Justin thought, but stood up reluctantly. Josh started talking as soon as Justin was next to him, explaining how normally they couldn't talk in the corridors, but because school officially didn't start till Monday, and today being Friday, the rules were relaxed. Josh took Justin up a back staircase to a thin corridor with solid wooden doors leading off it.
"We're in Sage. All the dorms are named after herbs or spices." Josh explained, as he opened the door to reveal a small living space with four doors leading from it. "This is our area. Only dorm members are allowed in each dorm, so any socialising is really done in the common rooms. There's a kettle and a little fridge and I collect subs once a month to keep things stocked up. Okay - through here." Josh opened a door to the right of the room, showing Justin a small bedroom/study with a shower and toilet through an alcove. "This is my room. If you have any problems, then knock, I'm generally available. Now, over here." Josh pointed to the other doors, "These are your rooms. 2 rooms, 2 of you in each room."
Justin looked at the simple rooms in astonishment. Small single beds with a bookshelf above them at opposite ends of the room, with desks in the middle. Wardrobes took up the remaining wall space. His trunk was in the middle of the floor, unlocked.
"Who's been through my stuff?" Justin asked, not knowing what was more annoying, sharing a room or the fact someone had been in his things.
"All trunks are inspected, Justin. It's procedure. Don't worry. Now. I'll help you unpack because everything has a place and if you don't keep it there, then. Well. Matey'll be on to you and you don't want that. She's a dear, but she's a daemon when ignited." Josh started unpacking Justin's truck, putting socks in one drawer, pants in another. Making sure trousers and shirts were hung up just so.
"Matey?" Justin asked eventually, he was sitting on his bed thoroughly confused.
"Matron. She runs the dorm staff and the sick bays. Rules the school, basically. You don't want to get on the wrong side of her, Justin. Look. I know this is a shock to you, being here. My dad works with yours and I kind of know some of the things what've gone on, but I'm not going to say anything, don't worry. You can make this work or not. It's a good school and I've got a good group in my dorm. This is my last year though and I'm not going to have some punk kid spoil it for me. Okay?"
"Fuck off." Justin snarled. Who the hell was this kid telling him what to do and where to put his fucking socks. They were his fucking socks. He'd put them on the floor if he wanted too.
Josh turned to Justin, anger showing in his eyes, but his voice calm and rational. "Justin. Look. I'm your dorm prefect. What I say goes. If you don't do what I say, then you go to the Prefect Council. They can get you sent to the Head, and you don't want that. Lose the attitude, Justin. You aren't in your street gang anymore, there's no one to show off to here."
Justin averted his gaze, looking down at the corner of the room. Josh mentally chastised himself. 'Way to go there, Chasez' he thought, 'alienate the new kid before he's even got his stuff unpacked. Spotting a well loved bear in the corner of the trunk he pulled it out and sat on the bed next to Justin, letting go of the toy as Justin grabbed it and held it close.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay. This is my first time as dorm pree and I'm learning the ropes too. Start over?" Josh asked.
Justin carried on sulking, his bottom lip pouting out, but tears forming in his eyes. "This place blows." He murmured, before the tears spilt over, running down his face. Josh just carried on sitting next to him, giving the comfort just by being close. Thinking to himself that Justin was going to have a rough year if he kept up the attitude, but at the end of the day hoping that what his dad had told him was right. That Justin was a good kid, but had got caught up with the wrong crowd. What had made him do that though, was what Josh really wanted to find out.
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