No, I shouldn't give in to it again!

Ermand tried to pull himself up straight and walked briskly to the bus despite the pain that was boiling inside him. Later, it slowly faded away but it left him frail.

When Ermand got back home, he found Mrs. Chisel waiting expectantly for him. Her face bloomed like the white lily flowers that grew at the side of their doorstep.

"So, how did your first day go?" she asked.

"Better than I expected. I probably might have a lot of things to share till supper," he replied, placing his satchel on the wooden floor.

"I've prepared lunch. Although Jack, Jason and Helmuth will be back by evening, I'm with you to celebrate this. Get a quick bath and join me in the kitchen," she said before strolling into the kitchen.

"Okay," Ermand agreed.

After taking a fresh bath that drained off all the weariness in him and joining Mrs. Chisel at lunch, Ermand busied himself by perusing into the book of rules and regulations that had been delivered to him by the knockman.

A Knockman is a person who delivers packages by appearing at your doorstep and disappearing from there after all the delivery procedures are done.

It was evening but Ermand was still engrossed over the book. Mrs. Chisel smiled when she saw him sitting before a book and reading it very carefully because Jack would never do anything like that. Not even on his first day to school.

"I just hope Ermie doesn't follow Jack's path," she told herself in a low tone.

Jack was the one and only naughtiest and good-for-nothing son for the Chisels even though he cares a lot for his favourite people. Every week, the Chisels receive a knocketer from the college stating his exhibition of great amusement at college. Meanwhile Jason manages to prove that he's a good boy at college even though he doesn't score much at exams. She was expecting the same from Ermand.

"Back home!" Jack cheered, opening the front door.

On hearing Jack's voice, Ermand closed the book and got up from his chair.

"How did it go today?" Jack asked, his voice sounded curious.

"I've got a ton of things to tell you."

"Cool!"

Jack swung around to put his satchel on the creaky wooden table.

"No way you're going to spoil Ermie too!" Mrs. Chisel shouted from behind.

"What do you mean by that? I'm not spoiling anybody."

"I've received this year's first knocketer today, and it doesn't talk high of you, again!"

A knocketer is a letter received from a Knockman.

Jack wrinkled his nose, and his eyes shrinked deliberately. Ermand stifled a laugh.

"It's been only a few days after a week since this year started and they're already exhausted of you. Professor Derek Chestnut thinks you should be expelled. The faster, the better."

It was Jason who stood behind Jack with his hands folded.

"Expelled?" Mrs. Chisel gasped and glared at Jack.

"Oh, come on, he's adding fuel to the fire! Professor Derek didn't say that!" Jack bellowed, giving a deadly stare at Jason.

"I don't understand why you're scowling at me like that but let me tell you that you're in grave trouble if you're planning on continuing this," Jason shrugged and exited the room.

Jack climbed up the stairs, cursing Jason. Ermand tried to follow him up but Mrs. Chisel caught his arm.

"Ermie, dear. It's time you find your own way, don't let others guide you, it can get you in trouble or slow you down," she advised.

Ermand always listened to her, but this time he ran upstairs for Jack after nodding at her.

He felt constrained. He used to be free and happy, but now, something is restricting him. If Jack had not been in his life, he'd never even learned anything he knows now.

"Alone?" Ermand asked, he rested his weight on the cracked frame of the door.

Jack was lying on his bed and gazing at the ceiling, throwing a sponge ball onto the wall and grabbing it when it bounced back.

"You think there's a party going on in here?"

Ermand chuckled and walked near him.

"You can still be alone in a crowd."

"Are you being like Jason?" Jack shifted from the bed to face Ermand, who was sitting on a chair near to his bed

"I don't want to be anybody," Ermand muttered,his eyes were on the floor.

For a long time, silence ravelled between them.

"I heard rumours that you were creating a scene on your very first day?" Jack finally questioned, resting his head on his arm.

"Well..." Ermand leaned forward from the chair to get up. He didn't feel like disclosing what happened that day.

"I nearly fainted. Hey, are you not gonna eat tonight?"

"I argue with people, not food. I'm going even if you're not."

"That's what Jackson's known for," Ermand snickered and hurried after him.

The next day, Ermand and Jack rushed out of the Chisel's eyrie. Jack was late again, accompanied by Ermand. Jason was already waiting at the bus stop.

"Isn't it your Fresher's Day today? Wow! I remember mine, it was totally a blast. I nearly put a fire on Sneaky Simon's pants and it was...!" Jack guffawed with a reminiscent finger rubbing over the bridge of his nose.

"Hey, Chisel!"

The brothers turned back.

"Who is this blockhead?" Jack whispered to Ermand when he saw a skinny boy hurrying toward them.

"He isn't a blockhead. He's nice."

Odin hastened toward the brothers with a gray and worn out satchel clinging on his left hand. He gazed amusingly at Jack.

"You're Ermand's brother?" He asked Jack, gazing at him as his voice trailed off.

"If I am?"

"You look different from him."

"You expect me to look like a copy of him or what?"

"Nothing," Odin mumbled.

"My brain tells me he's not a good guy. Keep a close watch. I can see it on my very first sight. He's really getting on my nerves," Jack whispered.

Ermand brushed him off by returning a chuckle.

"Have you read the book of rules sent yesterday?" Ermand asked him in an excited manner.

"Who cares about rules if they're not worthy to look at," he muttered.

"I don't see that the rules were to blame," Ermand stated.

Odin smirked and climbed onto the bus lazily.

When the bus stopped before them, Ermand expected to see the rest of his friends inside but none was there.

They joined the dorm.

"So, did you move here, in Fingercut street?" Ermand enquired after they sat on one of the suitable seats for them.

"Yes. I didn't expect both of us would be in the same locality. I think that's pretty amusing. We could see each other whenever we wanted to."

"Yeah."

When the bus finally halted into the college ground, Ermand and Odin waited for the students of high rank to exit first.

"Enjoy, bro!" Jack slapped on Ermand's back from behind.

Ermand tilted his head in reply, rubbing his back where Jack had slapped him.

"Don't feel bad, but you don't look an inch of him. You guys are like day and night."

"Day and night are part of the same sky," Ermand replied and grabbed his satchel.

Ermand always hated that fact and when people point out the difference between them, it drowns him.

"True, my uncles are completely different from each other."

When they stepped out of the bus, both of them were dumbfounded at the whole look of the college. There were decorations everywhere. The whole building they saw the previous day wasn't the same that day.

"Whoa!" Odin gasped, enjoying the view.