Principal Murray was beet-red and breathing heavily as he barged into his office's waiting room. After poking his head out of the entrance and looking both ways, seemingly checking if nobody had followed him, he pulled the door closed. 

I shut the book I'd been reading in my lap and cleared my throat. "Uh, Mr. Murray, are you okay?" 

Despite us having an appointment today to discuss my tutoring work, it appeared Mr. Murray hadn't expected anyone to be sitting in his waiting room. He jolted, almost leaping into the air. Whirling around, his wide eyes behind thick-rimmed glasses settled on me.

"Oh, Xavier, it's you." Mr. Murray clutched his chest and breathed out deeply before smoothing a hand through his thinning, grey hair. "I hadn't expected you here this early, bud! I thought you'd sleep in and were coming in the afternoon. Sorry, I'm a little—never mind." He forced a smile. "Thank you for being here, Xavier. We were thrilled to hear that would stay with us here at Pinewood school for a year longer."

I smiled. "I'm happy to be here too. Thanks for giving the tutoring job to me. I know I was far from the only one who wanted it." 

Honestly, Mr. Murray was helping me as much as I was helping him by offering me the job. My parents wouldn't let me freeload forever now that I had graduated high school and decided to delay going to college. I needed a temporary job, at least until I had decided what I'd do next year. Tutoring was perfect for me. Without bragging, I'd never had any issues with any subject in school, and I already knew every student personally. 

Mr. Murray's smile became a little more genuine-looking. "Please, the pleasure is all mine. You were one of our best students, and I'm very aware a strapping young man like you could've easily earned some extra cash anywhere. I know it disappointed Bob you didn't go to him for a job."

I laughed awkwardly. Breaking my back at Bob's woodworking shop didn't sound alluring, and 'strapping' wasn't quite the right word to describe my noodle arms. I wasn't as skinny anymore as I used to be, but the men who worked at Bob's shop had arms the size of my head. Which was actually a good argument to work there, as my friend Iris had told me, because I frequently complained I had to exercise more.

"I don't think woodworking is my thing," I said. "But I am more than ready to tutor students. So, if you can get me the lists of students, their subjects, and my schedule, I'm happy to start preparing classes."

"Yes, of course. I've already prepared everything. I'll print your schedule right away," Mr. Murray said. He walked to his office's door, but stopped and turned to me before entering. "Say, Xavier would you perhaps be willing to take on more... guidance tasks?"

I blinked. "That depends. What tasks are we talking about? I'm not educated to give psychological help or anything," I said. "That's more our school counsellor's domain."

Mr. Murray laughed nervously. "I don't think this is a job for Mrs. Brown... You know, kid, sometimes it's better for guys your age to have a peer as a buddy. I'm not asking you to be a psychologist. I just want you to keep an extra eye on a new student and make sure he's settling in well."

"A new student?" I repeated, surprised. "You mean someone from outside of Pinewood, then?"

New students in Pinewood's high school were a rare occasion. Sometimes, adults moved to our town, but usually kids were born here, or the movers were older and their children were already grown, too.

"Yes," Mr. Murray confirmed. "A young man who is only here for his senior year of high school. He moved in with his uncle Boris a few days ago. We weren't informed he'd be here either until the very last minute." Mr. Murray sighed deeply. "But, of course, we don't turn away a student seeking an education. Especially not if he's related to one of our own."

"Boris is his uncle? In that case, of course I will help him settle in," I said with a smile. "Boris always helps us when there's something wrong with our house. I'm happy to pay him back."

"Yes, well..." Mr. Murray hesitated. "No, never mind. Xavier, why don't you go introduce yourself to him? Oh, wait, but you need to sign our tutoring contract first before you get to work. I take it you've already looked at it?"

"Yes, it all looked fine," I replied with a nod. 

My mom had told me it was a pretty standard temporary contract. The pay wasn't great, but I didn't expect a huge pile of money from a small school for only a few hours a week. My parents asked little from me, anyway. Only that I helped in the house and bought groceries now and then now that I was eighteen.

"Great, if you could sign then..."

Mr. Murray dipped into his office and swiftly returned with the contract and a pen. I accepted the pen and the paper from him, and after checking it was the same as the sample contract I'd received in the mail, I signed it.

"Thank you," Mr. Murray said, yanking the paper away the moment I lifted the pen. He chuckled nervously. "Now there's no escaping anymore huh? I'll store this safely in my cabinet... Oh, and while I do that and print out your new schedule, you can go meet the new student I just talked about."

I nodded. "Boris' nephew. Yes, sure."

"He's waiting in the cafeteria," Mr. Murray said. "His name is Aquila. But don't make jokes about constellations." Mr. Murray winced. "If you could just welcome him, and give him a brief tour of the school building, that would be great."

"Aquila," I muttered to myself, trying to commit the somewhat unusual name to memory. "Got it."

I stood, already thinking about what I was supposed to show Aquila. There wasn't much of a tour possible. With only a hundred students our school was rather small, and I didn't think a new student would be able to get lost. The hardest part of switching schools would be that everyone already knew each other and Aquila would have to worm himself into the group somehow. For some people that happened naturally and easily. For others, it didn't.

"I'll be right back," I told Mr. Murray while walking to the door leading to the hallway. "Think it'll take maybe fifteen minutes."

"Yes, yes, sure," Mr. Murray hastily replied. 

The last thing I saw before closing the waiting room door behind me was Mr. Murray's tense smile and a glint of an emotion that I couldn't quite place in his eyes. He'd been on edge from the first moment I saw him today. I'd have to ask again if he was okay after I finished showing Aquila around.

I walked to the cafeteria, which was the largest room in the school building, and held five long wooden tables. Colourful drawings created by students of all ages and various levels of skill were displayed on the walls. There was one guy with dark brown hair sitting at the closest table with his back turned towards me. 

Now, he looked like the kind of guy that should work at Bob's woodworking shop with his broad shoulders and height, which was notable even while he sat.

"Hi, you must be Aquila," I greeted the guy while I walked towards him.

I expected him to turn around. He didn't. There was no response, so I walked around the table to the opposite side to approach him from the front. "Uh, hello?" I repeated.

I got a response this time. Slowly, Aquila looked up. His sharp, amber eyes focused on me and a shudder went through my body. Aquila looked at me like he wanted me to spontaneously combust. No, disintegrate. Like my very existence offended him.

Aquila's sharp jawline and muscles made him look older than seventeen, but he clearly wasn't a grownup yet. I'd seen this reaction in others like him before: indignant and angry at the unfairness of it all. He was probably mad at parents for making him move to a town in the middle of nowhere for his senior year and was determined to hate everything and everyone. Some of the other teens who moved here had been the same, but eventually they all settled in nicely once they realised bonfire nights were a lot of fun and made some friends. Aquila lived with Boris, however. Maybe something had happened to his parents. Either way, I ignored his icy stare for now.

"I'm Xavier," I introduced myself. "Nice to meet you, Aquila. I'm here to give you a tour through the building. Not that there's much to be seen here." I chuckled. "And after that, I can walk you to your classroom if you want." I pointed at the paper schedule, which was on the table in front of Aquila and I assumed was his.

The moment I extended my index finger in his direction, Aquila's lips curled up in a snarl. He growled, literally growled, at me. The sound rumbled in my chest and sped up my pulse.

I lowered my hand, confused at Aquila's odd behaviour. "Or you know, if you want to walk there yourself, don't let me stop you."

Aquila's glare intensified.

I cleared my throat. "Uh, you seem tense," I said. "You know, we can do the tour another day and I just take you to your classroom. Can you tell me which one it i—"

Before I could finish my sentence, Aquila, who'd been sitting still as a statue so far, suddenly reached for the table with the speed of light. He snatched his schedule from the table. 

 Without ever breaking eye-contact with me, he started shredding it into tiny pieces 

I almost laughed at the childishness of it all, until Aquila got up. He looked like he could and wanted to pound me into the ground, and I was suddenly happy there was a wooden table between us.

With a derisive sniff, Aquila scattered the pieces of his schedule onto the table and floor like confetti. Then he turned around and marched out of the cafeteria, leaving me standing there alone and wondering what the fuck had just happened.