L U C A

"Anyway, we should better get going now if we want to get to our next class in time," Nicholas said after a minute spent in silence, getting to his feet. "Shawn, it's okay if you want to skip it, you know. I'll help you catch up later. Get some rest for now."

"No, I'll be fine. I'm too cool to need rest." Shawn finally looked up with a smirk, but it didn't fool Luca. He could see the sadness that still glimmered in his black eyes.

Luca wished that he could offer him words of comfort, to wrap a friendly arm around his shoulders the way Nicholas had. But something was always there to hold Luca back, attached to him like strings, pulling at him every time he even thought of getting closer to someone.

"All right. Let's go, then," Nicholas said brightly, clapping a hand behind Shawn. The boys picked their bags and left the dorm.

They hadn't even taken two steps down the stairs that they saw two men carrying up a large wardrobe with great difficulty. The boys moved aside and leaned against the wall to their right, clearing the way for the movers. Behind them, three other men were carrying up a four-poster bed with silken curtains.

With a rush of fear, the realization suddenly hit Luca.

"Er... you guys go ahead," Luca told his friends once the movers had passed them by. "I — I forgot to bring my book. I'll catch up with you later."

Before Nicholas or Shawn could question him, Luca ran back up the stairs and to the third floor, where his dorm was. One look at the crowded corridor was enough to know that his hunch had been right.

He froze on the spot at the sight before him. The door to his suite was open, the hallway was filled with expensive-looking furniture, and at least seven movers were waiting at his door, arguing with a tall, bald man who had a thin mustache over his pale lips.

"... don't care if the door isn't big enough! Break the bed if you have to and put it back together after you've taken it inside!" the tall man was yelling. "Now move along! Chop-chop!" He clapped his hands together twice in authority. The movers growled to each other, though they obeyed the order either way and got to work.

Luca had known that tall man for as long as he could remember. Stanley had been working for his father for many years now.

Luca sighed to himself quietly, before taking hesitant steps up to him. "Stanley," he called him, catching the man's attention.

"Ah, Mr. Miller, sir! Good afternoon." Stanley's lips twitched up into a rare smile at the sight of him, giving the boy a small bow of his head.

"Hello." Luca tried to return the smile as politely as possible, but there was a more pressing matter at hand than small-talk. "Stanley, what is going on here? I didn't ask for... all this. I thought my father was only supposed to send my clothes' trunk." Luca looked again at the furniture around the hall, blushing when a few students passed them by and sent curious glances at him.

"Don't worry, Mr. Miller. Your trunks are here as well. Although they are still downstairs. I don't know why these men take so long to move them up here," said Stanley reproachfully.

"Trunks? As in — as in plural?"

"Well, of course, sir. You can't really run around in those homeless clothing of yours," he said, looking Luca up and down.

"But my own bed was just fine!" Luca shrugged in frustration. "And so was my wardrobe!"

"Oh, I'm sure they were," said Stanley, though by his sarcastic tone it was obvious that he, too, seemed to disagree. "It was your father's order to have these brought here. You must know that he only wants the best for you."

If he really wanted the best for me, he would've at least been there yesterday to say goodbye...

Luca wanted to say it out loud, but the words died on his lips, just as they always did. In his years, he had learnt to become fluent in silence.

"Thank you, Stanley," Luca whispered at last, forcing a little smile, "for going through all this trouble."

"It's always a pleasure, Mr. Miller. And not to worry; I'll make sure that everything is in order by the time you return," said Stanley delightfully, giving one last bow of his head before Luca bade him goodbye and went back downstairs.

At the entrance doors to the building, Nicholas and Shawn were standing, curiously staring at something outside. It took Luca a second to realize that someone was yelling at the top of their lungs.

"... ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE! GET THESE THINGS AWAY FROM HERE THIS INSTANT!"

"What is going on?" Luca asked as he walked over to where his friends stood at the entrance and he stole a glance outside, his eyes widening in horror.

Mrs. Hester — the always-angry dormitory manager — was standing outside, with her hands on her hips and her suitcases around her on the ground. As it seemed, she had just arrived at campus, almost at the same time as the truck which contained Luca's new furniture.

Mrs. Hester was a tall and slim woman, middle-aged though never married. This was a laughing matter among some students, who said that no man would ever be mad enough to live in the same place as her. Luca must've been the only one who believed that Mrs. Hester had a sweet side to her, underneath all those frowns and scolding.

"And why can't we move these upstairs, Mrs...?" the truck driver asked for her name in his thick Irish accent, but that turned out to be a big mistake, for her face turned red at those words.

"It's Miss! Miss Hester!" She shouted furiously. She hated it when people referred to her as 'Mrs', but the students always did it anyway. "And no, you cannot move these ridiculous furniture upstairs! There are beds and desks in every dorm, which should be good enough!"

"Madam, we are under strict orders to deliver these to room 315! And we've moved some of 'em upstairs already!"

"YOU HAVE WHAT!?"

Luca went even paler.

Shawn turned to look at him with furrowed brows. "Wait... Luca, isn't that your dorm number —"

"Shh! Go, go, go, go, go!" Luca quietly pushed Nicholas and Shawn forward and out of the building in panic, hoping to sneak away from behind Mrs. Hester so she wouldn't see them.

They tiptoed away for a few feet, but before they could get away, they ran out of luck when Mrs. Hester heard them, turning around sharply. Her frown deepened as soon as she recognized three of her worst nightmares.

"You three! Get back here this instant!" she demanded indignantly, and the three boys froze.

But then, Luca surprised even himself when he suddenly yelled, "RUN!"

On cue, the three boys bolted away as fast as they could possibly go, laughing while they ignored Mrs. Hester's shrieks behind them, who had gone redder in the face, if that were even possible.

They only stopped running when they had reached the Berrington Hall, but their laughter didn't die away even when they had stepped inside the large and old building.

"That — was — awesome!" Shawn said between his roars of laughter.

Luca laughed along. For a minute back then, he had completely forgotten about his father, letting himself enjoy this moment.

They soon made their way to the next floor of the building, where their Literary Theory and Criticism class was to take place. The three boys shared many of their classes together, all of them majoring in Literature.

Although seeing as Isaac studied Latin and Arthur was a Philosophy major, all five of them only got together during meal times or in the evenings, when the world was wilder and the possibilities wider.

Luca, Nicholas, and Shawn took their seats somewhere in the middle rows of the classroom, though Luca made sure to sit beside the window, which had a beautiful view to the lake on the campus.

"Psst." Nicholas nudged Luca on the arm with his elbow, getting his attention.

"What?" Luca looked away from the window and back at his friend.

"Had you seen that girl before?" Nicholas asked in a whisper so nobody else could hear, his eyes fixed on someone a few rows ahead. "The one with long, blonde hair. I'm pretty sure she wasn't here last year." It was the same girl they had seen earlier that day.

"Oh, her." Luca nodded in recognition. "Yes, she's new."

Nicholas gave him a curious look. "Do you know her, then?"

"No, I don't know her personally. I know her friend, though. See the girl sitting next to her? The one with brown hair?" Luca spoke quietly as he pointed at the brunette girl, who looked exceptionally beautiful with her dark hair up in a high ponytail and a pink ribbon tied around it. She had big, forger-me-not blue eyes, rosy cheeks, a pretty face.

"Yes, I've seen her before. Who is she?" Nicholas asked.

"That's Nancy Green. She was in my music class last year — she plays cello," Luca explained. "I ran into her yesterday on campus when I'd just arrived. We got into talking, and Nancy told me that she had taken the summer term a few months ago for music lessons, and that she's got a new dormmate; the girl with long blonde hair that you asked about. Nancy said that apparently the new girl had skipped the first year for some reason, but she'd taken the summer term to catch up."

"Didn't Nancy tell you the new girl's name?"

"Her name is Eve Winters, I think," Luca said unsurely. "But Nancy said that the girl seemed really odd."

"How so?" Nicholas mused with furrowed brows.

"No idea." He shrugged.