By the time class let out, I was starving and miserable. Which, really, wasn't an uncommon state for me to be in. But it was unpleasant, so I waited impatiently for Hal to shove his things in his bag and get up from his desk.

              "Soup, soup, soup," Hal said as we left the classroom. "I'll fucking fight a ten year old for it. Watch me."

              "Who said you had to fight a ten year old for soup?" I said in confusion.

              "No one, but I'll do it," Hal said.

              "Alright, well, I support you in all your endeavors," I said.

              We walked along the paths to the dining hall, which was crowded with kids. Hal muscled us through the crowds in the downstairs hallway to the stairs. We went up, swiped our ID cards, and headed straight for where the soup was.

              There were no ten year olds at the soup, just three kids who looked to be maybe freshman. Constance Academy had kids from fifth grade through seniors in high school, and there was a mix of them in the dining hall right now.

              Hal shoved through them, and they opened their mouths to protest, but then realized it was an older Maroon with a scary expression. They thought better, and fell into line behind the two of us.

              Hal helped himself to a large bowl of soup before passing me an empty bowl to pour myself some. We left and grabbed trays, wandering around in search of something else to eat.

              "I want a wrap," I said.

              "Swear to god, if they suck at wrapping mine, I'm fighting," Hal said.

              We got in line and thankfully the employees properly wrapped our wraps. Hal led me through the crowds to our usual table, looking pleased at his soup acquisition.

"I'm sorry, should I go so you two can be alone?" I asked.

"I'm about to show this soup what this mouth do," Hal said, lifting his spoon.

"I see I've come at a poor time."

We looked up at the boy standing in front of our table. His Blue vest was somehow wrinkle free which I was positive he'd sold his soul to achieve.

              "How?" I asked, gesturing from my wrinkled vest to his smooth one.

              "That's classified," he said, sitting down at our table. "How's class going, Griffin?"

              "Oh, it's just dandy, Jordan," I said. "On the bright side, now I can keep Hal from constant detentions."

              Hal snorted. "You can't keep me from doing anything."

              I kicked him roughly under the table. "I have everything very under control at all times, Jordan."

              "Sam has it tough!" Hal hissed, rubbing his shin. "You little bitch."

              "Who, me?" I asked innocently. At his glare, I casually turned my attention back to Jordan. "How's life without me?"

              "Quiet," Jordan said. "But your seat isn't staying empty."

              "A new kid?" I said curiously.

              "From what I hear, we get a new kid tomorrow," Jordan said.

              "A new kid?" a Maroon girl asked as she came and sat at our table. "Blue or Maroon?"

              "Blue," Jordan said. "It'll be interesting, especially now that Griffin isn't there anymore."

              "Hello," I said in annoyance. "I'm still right here."

              "You know what I mean," Jordan said. "Cara, did you see Wyatt on your way over here?"

              Cara shook her head. "Nope. I was too focused on getting soup."

              "A woman after my own heart," Hal said.

              But I was frowning over at Jordan. "Why a new kid this late into the year?"

              "I don't know," Jordan said, shrugging.

              New Maroons were fairly common. If you got into legal trouble or your parents just didn't want to deal with you anymore, they tossed you in the Maroons. But new Blues were rarer, especially in the senior class. Most Blues joined before their senior year.

              Hal nudged my soup towards me. "Who cares? Just eat. It's not your problem anymore."

              "What's not his problem?" Wyatt asked, finally appearing at the table and taking a seat.

              "The new student," Jordan said.

              "Oh! Yea, I heard the seniors were getting a new student. That's kinda weird this late, right?" Wyatt said.

              "Who cares?" Hal repeated.

              "It's just interesting," Wyatt said.

              "You know what's interesting? The fact that this soup has been sitting in front of me for several minutes and hasn't been devoured yet," Hal said, and dug into his lunch.

              "Charming," Jordan said.

              We all took that as our cue to start eating. I watched as a group of Blues passed us, giving us dirty looks.

              There was no official rule against Blues and Maroons mingling, but it was a pretty strict social rule. If you wanted to fit in, you didn't mingle with the other side.

              It was a rule I'd broken when I was a Blue, but I'd gotten away with it back then. I'd gotten away with a lot when I wore that vest. Maroons risked severe punishment if they came after me, and Blues wouldn't dare touch one of their own out in the open. They preferred to bully you into compliance with social punishments, but those had never bothered me.

              Now I was a Maroon, though. That meant I wasn't safe anymore. The absurdity of social structure in this Academy gave me such a headache. Didn't these people get that it was just school?

              Still, I ignored the looks we got as I ate. Jordan and Wyatt would have to endure the social punishments for sitting with us, and Hal, Cara, and I would have to deal with whatever else they decided to throw at us to get us to conform. High school was such a fun time.

              "Hey," Cara said, catching Hal's wrist as he tried to steal a slice of bread off her tray. "The hell do you think you're doing?"

              "Feeding myself?" Hal said.

              "Feeding yourself off my tray is a good way to lose your hand," Cara warned.

              "Oh for the love of..." I sighed and shoved my tray at Hal. "Here, I'm done eating. Take mine."

              "You barely ate anything," Hal said, narrowing his eyes at me.

              "I ate plenty," I said, gesturing to my few leftovers.

              Hal lowered his voice so Wyatt and Jordan wouldn't hear him over their own conversation. "And how stupid do you think I am, Griffin? I know you've been putting barely any food on your plate so it looks like you ate more than you did."

              "I'm a glutton. I wouldn't sacrifice my meals like that," I lied. Shit. How did he always catch on? At his look, I rolled my eyes. "Hal, seriously, did you see how much soup I had? That shit fills you up."

              Hal looked at the others and reluctantly let the topic drop, taking my tray to finish off my leftovers. I scooted closer to Jordan and Wyatt.

              "So you don't know anything about the new kid?" I asked.

              "No," Jordan said, shaking his head. "Just that they should be here tomorrow, and they'll be in our rotation." He paused, cleared his throat. "Uh, my rotation."

              "Still so weird," I said, letting his slip-up go. "Color me interested."

              "Me too," Wyatt said. "We got a new kid last year. She was really nice."

              "But you're not a senior. It's not weird to get a new kid in the seventh grade. The twelfth grade? That's uncommon," I pointed out.

              "Well, maybe this new kid will be nice," Wyatt tried.

              "They're a Blue," I said.

              Wyatt frowned. "So am I. So is Jordan. So were you."

              "My point exactly," I said.

              He scowled at that, but couldn't argue much. I leaned back in my chair, studying the dining hall. Groups of Blues and Maroons were separated at their tables, very few mingled together. This place sucked, that was for sure.

              We spent the rest of lunch talking casually, and watching Hal and Cara arm wrestle over a pack of crackers leftover on Wyatt's tray. When lunch ended, we parted ways, all heading to our classes.

              Hal looked like he wanted to say something once we were away from the others, but he glanced around the crowded hall and kept his mouth shut. Small miracles.

              The rest of the day passed similarly to the first half- the teachers would rile the students up against me, Hal would threaten someone, I sighed a lot, and life went on.

              By the time our last class dismissed, I was relieved. This treatment wouldn't last forever, but the first few weeks would be a pain in the ass. The teachers had never liked me as a Blue, and now as a Maroon, they could hype the others up to bully me. Honestly, I wondered if anyone at this place had an ounce of maturity.

              "Griffin!"

              I was so close to the door. So damn close.

              "Yes, Mr. Barker?" I asked, turning to face him.

              "I saw you zoning out. If I see it again, detention," he warned. "I will not tolerate your ego in my classroom."

              "It's really not my ego," I said. "I just already learned all this."

              "You think you're better than the other students. You always did. Hopefully being in the Maroons will be a reality check for you," he said.

              "Hey, pal, class is over. Bitch another time," Hal said, poking his head through the door and grabbing my shirt. "Go back home and drink yourself into oblivion as you stare from your paycheck to your student loans."

              "Can he afford to drink himself into oblivion?" I asked.

              "Like I give a damn?" Hal said, and yanked me out of the classroom. "Seriously, I don't know why you don't keep walking when they call your name."

              "I like to hear all the creative ways they threaten me and insult my ego," I said as we left the academic building and started down the path to the dorms.

              Hal tugged his Maroon vest off and stuffed it in his bag. "Too hot for that stupid thing today." He unbuttoned the sleeves of his white shirt and rolled the sleeves up to his elbows. Hal despised the uniform we had to wear here, but a trip to the Headmaster after he kept breaking the dress code forced him into it.

              We walked all the way back to our dorm building, heading up to our room. Kids were mingling in the hallway as they chatted with their friends, paying us no mind. The dorms tried to separate the Blues and Maroons, if not by building then at least by floor.

              Hal unlocked our room and we went inside, tossing our bags down. I scrambled onto the high-up bed on my side of the room and flopped against my pillows.

              "Wake me tomorrow," I said.

              "It's only the afternoon," Hal said.

              "Wake me tomorrow," I repeated.

              "Just get your homework done before you crash. If you start slacking, they'll really come after you," Hal said.

              "Wake me tomorrow."

              "Oh, for fuck's sake."

              A pillow slammed down on my face and I opened my eyes to glare at Hal across the room. He kicked a shoe off at me.

              "Get up. I'm not listening to your snoring while I do my homework," he said.

              "You're such a dick," I said, but sat up and knocked his pillow and shoe to the floor.

              There was a knock on our door. I groaned and jumped off the bed, my knees cracking as I straightened up.

              "You good, grandma?" Hal said.

              "Not at all. I haven't even graduated high school and my knees already crack when I stand up," I said miserably, trudging to the door.

              I yanked it open, and came face to face with the Headmaster's daughter.

              I could see the kids in the hallway watching curiously, waiting to see if I would get dragged away to the Headmaster's office. His daughter was giving me with a stern look.

              "Griffin Flynn," she said, voice authoritative. "We need to talk."

              "Alright, alright," I said, stepping aside to let her in.

              She shoved past me and entered the room, slamming the door. She clicked the lock, turned to face me, and slumped against the door.

              "God," she said. "I hate when they all stare like that."

              "Wow, I wonder what it'd be like to have students staring at you constantly," I said. "Constancely?" I looked to Hal. "Would it have been funnier if I said constancely?"

              "It would've been perfect if you just didn't open your mouth," Hal said. "What do you want, Caroline?"

              Caroline Constance was the Headmaster's middle child and only daughter. She was a year younger than Hal and I, and definitely not supposed to be in here right now.

              "I just wanted to know how Griffin was adjusting," Caroline said, looking to me. "I know you haven't been in the Maroons long, but how's it going?"

              "How do you think it's going? I pissed off everyone when I was a Blue, and now they have a shot at me," I said.

              "Like hell they do," Hal said.

              I ignored that. "It's just fantastic, Caroline. Really fantastic."

              "Sorry, Griff," she said. "Maybe I can do something?"

              I waved a hand at her dismissively. "Don't. If you get involved, they'll really be pissed. Besides, I doubt your dad would be happy if he found out."

              She frowned, but didn't argue. She might have some teenage rebellion in her, but she would never go against her father, and her father was the one who placed me in the Maroons.

              "Hey, you know anything about the new senior Blue coming?" I asked.

              "This again?" Hal said.

              "You, shush," I said.

              "I don't know much," Caroline said, shaking her head. "It was an unusual transfer, which is the only reason I heard anything at all. My dad asked me to check on the new guy at the end of the day."

              "Okay, well, now we know it's a guy," I said.

              "Dad told me his name, but well, uh, I wasn't listening," Caroline admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. "Sometimes he just tries to talk to me on the way to school and it's so early in the morning that I tune him out."

              "I do that when he talks in the school assemblies," Hal said. "Or when he talks at all."

              "You do that when any form of authority tries to talk to you," I said.

              "Why the interest in the new guy?" Caroline asked, cutting off the argument she could see brewing between Hal and I.

              I shrugged. "Jordan just mentioned something about it during lunch and I thought it was weird. That's all."

              Caroline checked the time. "Shit, I was supposed to find my little brother and meet my dad at the car. I've got to get going. I'll talk to you guys later."

              She started for the door, but paused. She turned to me, hesitated for a moment, and gave me a quick hug.

              "I'm sorry, Griff," she said quietly before releasing me and unlocking the door. She pulled it open and shot me a stern look as she stepped out. "Keep that in mind next time you want to give your attitude to the teachers, Flynn."

              "I'll tattoo it right on my brain so I don't forget," I said, shutting the door as she started down the hall, kids watching her go.

              "Homework," Hal said, kicking his other shoe at me as I headed for my bed again.

              "Fine, fine," I said, grabbing my bag and dropping at my desk. "You better do yours too, you hypocrite."

              "Yea, yea, I'm getting to it," he said.

              The two of us got settled and started on our homework. My mind strayed towards the new student and how unusual this was, though.

              I didn't know why I was so interested. I tried to tell myself it was just because it was unusual, but some part of me wondered if maybe I was a little jealous. I lost my spot at the top, and now this new kid would slide right in and take my old seat.

              Shit. High school was such a dramatic pain in the ass.

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A.N.- I know I said it would be once a week updates, but I decided to do two updates this week just to get the story going and introduce you guys to more characters (and bring back a certain character that everyone wondered about the disappearance of whoops).

As always, I would love to know what you guys think so far, and expect a weekly update from here on out!