Of Thieves And Do Gooders

Hayden’s Point Of View

I hesitated when he--or she--told me to wake him--or her--up. Was he--or she--seriously going to fall asleep? I turned to look at Raymond--or Raven--and saw that he--or she--had already closed his--or her--eyes.

Alright this is getting ridiculous, until I know for certain, let’s just assume that Raymond is Raymond and that he is a guy. That way I don’t get annoyed at myself for sounding like a total idiot when referring to Raymond.

“Raymond? You seriously asleep?” I asked, keeping my eyes on the road ahead of me and only turning to look at him when he didn’t answer. Jeez, the guy fell asleep fast. I licked my lips nervously as I stole glances at him freely. Man, it sucked being this confused, and not knowing who he really was. Of course, I’d only known him a little less than a week, so I guess I wasn’t expected to know everything about him.

“Humph, but it would be helpful to know his damn gender…” I grumbled to myself and stared at the road again, finally, I decided if there was ever a time to try and confirm my suspicions, now would be the time, before I drove the car into a tree and killed us both.
I gently pulled the car over to the side of the road, wary to whether or not Raymond was going to wake up. Then, as silently as possible, I unbuckled my seatbelt and leaned toward Raymond. Next, I flipped open my cell phone, letting the blue light illuminate Raymond’s face. Now that I looked at it closely, Raymond did have a feminine face, a little too round and his jaw wasn’t as distinct. Then there was his hair color, it was a lot like Raven’s, now that I thought back to the picture I had seen, although it was a little darker now.

My cell phone light dimmed a little and I refreshed it by pressing a button. Then, I swallowed hard, feeling incredibly strange for what I was about to do. I tugged gently at the neck of Raymond’s sweatshirt and leaned over to shine the light downward.

My eyes widened and I jumped back with a yelp of surprise, dropping my cell phone--ugh, of all the fucking places--down Raymond’s sweatshirt. But hell, if you saw what I had seen you would’ve dropped the damn thing too! Seriously, if you’d known a guy for five days or so and then you suddenly saw that he had boobs you’d drop your damn phone. Trust me.

I froze, my eyes even wider than before as Raymond snorted into consciousness.

____________________________________________

Raven’s Point Of View

I snorted awake, when someone yelped some sort of swear word and then something dropped onto my stomach. I blinked in the dim light, realizing that the car had stopped. Confused, I looked to where Hayden was sitting in the driver’s seat, looking at me with alarm clear on his face.

I frowned, thoroughly confused and then I shifted my sweatshirt so that the thing on my stomach tumbled out into my lap. I squinted in the darkness and then my eyes widened and then narrowed again: Hayden’s cell phone. I held it up with a frown and held it over to Hayden, “What the hell was your cell phone doing down my shirt?” I asked warily, trying not to sound completely freaked out. What the hell did he do to me while I was sleeping? Hopefully he didn’t make it a habit of his to molest me with his phone…

Hayden seemed to stumble over his words for a moment and then he finally pointed a finger at me, shouting, “You’re a--a girl!”

The blood drained from my face at his words. “W-what?” I asked, trying to sound convincing, but I had a feeling that there was a good reason why Hayden’s cell phone was in my freaking sweatshirt.

“You--you have boobs! You’re a girl!” Hayden shouted, trying to clarify his thought process. And failing miserably.

Shit. He knew.

“Ahh. God damn it Hayden!” I yelled back, covering my face to hide my embarrassment. How many guys reacted that way when they saw boobs, seriously? “Why do you have to be so damn…so damn…Ugh! I don’t know! Why do you have to be suspicious and notice shit?” I demanded heatedly, throwing my hands in the air and swearing when I hit the ceiling of the car.

“What--if you--then you--” Hayden stammered and then took a deep breath to try and calm himself. Then, he spoke again, this time a bit more calm, “Your real name’s Raven, isn’t it?” Hayden seemed to be collecting his wits now, even though he was pressing himself tight against the window and as far away from me as possible.

“How the hell do you know that?” I snapped, glaring at him, still a little--okay really irked--that he had looked down my shirt, whether I was pretending to be a boy or not, wasn’t the case. I was still a girl and I didn’t like guys staring at my damn boobs!

“I, er, looked it up…I saw the article.” Hayden sounded apologetic and I scowled at him, trying to figure out what he was talking about. Then it clicked.

Oh…shit. I sighed in annoyance. “So you know who Raymond was,” I stated and sighed again when I realized I would still have some explaining to do. “And you know who I am.”

Hayden nodded. “I’m…you know…sorry about your brother.” Trying to look at my face rather than my chest that seemed to grow boobs overnight from his point of view.

“Don’t start that,” I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest, not wanting his sympathy, “Look, there’s just one thing I’m gonna ask of you. Alright?” I stated, being blunt.

“I…guess…” Hayden still seemed a little lost in his newest discovery.

“Just, don’t tell anyone. Got it?” I asked more softly, realizing frosty behavior wasn’t going to get him to listen to me any better.

“Jesus Ray--erm, Raven. I don’t know how I’m even supposed to do that, the Headmaster and--” I cut him short, reaching over to cover his mouth with my hand.

“Listen here Hayden. I’m begging you, something I don’t do often.” Hayden peeled my hand away and watched my expression, “If the Headmaster found out, would he even let me stay? I mean…I guess I don’t need to stay at the school, since it’s only been six days or so, but still, it’d be nice to hang around at least a little longer before I’m thrown out on my ass again. If the whole room mate thing bugs you, I could just get transferred to my own room…or something. You don’t even necessarily have to see me, I could avoid you pretty well if--” This time Hayden’s hand clapped over my mouth.

“Cool it,” he hesitated over my name, “Raven. If it means that much to you, I guess I won’t tell…but…God, this is weird for me.” Hayden drew his hand over his face and sighed.

I snorted. “Weird for you? Do you know how awkward it is to have girls calling me ‘Romantic Raymond’?” I leaned back in my seat, remembering my weariness.

Hayden chuckled a little at the name. “No more awkward than ‘Heavenly Hayden’,” he commented with a growl in his tone.

I snickered, “See, now that name for you is hilarious,” I stated with a slight smile on my lips. I had to admit, having someone else know my secret was more than a little relieving.

Hayden just rolled his eyes and then paused to look at me again. “I can really see it now,” he commented, almost muttering to himself.

“What?”

“I mean, that you’re a girl, I can see it. I can’t believe I didn’t before. And all the weird stuff you did, like not taking off your--” Aiden stiffened and turned to look out the window instead. “Oh. Never mind that.” I blushed, realizing he was remembering when he had tried to get me to take off my shirt so that he could bandage my lower back.

“Yeah. That would’ve been awkward,” I pointed out, looking out my window too.

“Yeah,” Hayden agreed and then shifted in his seat, starting the car up again. “We should probably get back to the school…” he murmured, pulling out onto the road again.

“Yeah,” I agreed, still looking out my window. Somehow, I knew things between Hayden and I were going to get a lot more awkward than ever before. Especially since I had already admitted to myself that he had amazing abs…and arms…and pecs…and shoulders…okay, so he just had an amazing body altogether. And he was cute. Undeniably cute. Alright, so it was probably more awkward for me than him.

But at least he had good taste in video games.

I had a feeling that this car ride was going to be a silent one, so I fished my iPod out of my pocket and hit “shuffle”, switching through the songs until it came to a song I wanted to hear: Aerosmith’s oh-so-popular, Dude Looks Like A Lady.

Thank you Aerosmith for your ironic song that applies to my situation.

______________________________________________

We had gotten back to the school in silence, both of us thinking about my situation, although I was more concerned with how much I could really trust Hayden to keep my secret. I only knew him long enough to know a few of the things he liked and disliked, not whether or not he was virtuous and trustworthy. So I had slept that night probably as well as Hayden did, and judging by his grumbling attitude in the morning, he hadn’t slept much.

“Morning,” I spat, annoyed as well, due to lack of sleep.

“Yeah. Morning,” Hayden replied, unbuttoning his pants as he reached into his drawer for another pair of pants. Then he froze, whipping around to look at me for a minute, examined my face and then grabbed his pants from the drawer and trudged into the bathroom, his face a decent shade of red.

I snickered when the door closed, maybe this would be more interesting than I thought it would be. I raced to my closet and grabbed my own clothes, changing quickly and stumbling around the room to find my shoes. By the time Hayden was done in the bathroom, I was dressed and waiting on my bed, quite proud of my quick changing skills.

“So? What do we do until noon?” I asked as Hayden wandered over to his bed and found a shirt to pull on over his head.

“We go to the other classes,” Hayden said as if it were obvious.
“Right now we have English with Lilany for an hour, then math with Jager, then after that it’s proper Etiquette with the Headmaster. Then it’s scuba diving with Jager.” Hayden paused as he was pulling on his shoe, suddenly realizing what I had been dreading all along. “…Um…How are you…?”

“I’m not,” I replied firmly, “I can’t swim, the wetsuit would be too tight for me and I’m probably no good at scuba diving anyway. So I’m not going,” I said simply with a shrug.

“You can’t just not go,” Hayden protested, although I doubted he had an alternative solution.

“Really? Then what do you propose I do?” I demanded, sounding doubtful of any plan he might have had.

“Well, if you don’t go, then you’ll be punished for cutting class, it’s a bigger deal here, since the Headmaster wants us to have the best education. Maybe you could…umm…” Hayden had an embarrassed look on his face and I frowned.

“’Maybe I could’ what?” I prodded carefully, knowing I would probably be as embarrassed as him.

Hayden swallowed hard, “Um…you could, you know…just wrap your…your…” Hayden waved his hand in the direction of my chest, “You know.”

I looked down, then decided to diffuse the situation. “My boobs?” I offered, and Hayden nodded once. “That sounds like an awkward one-man job,” I stated with a growl then I saw the alarm on Hayden’s face. “Jesus, calm down, I said it would be awkward, I didn’t say, ‘Hey Hayden wanna see me half naked?’” I retorted, walking into the bathroom where the bandages were kept.

I wrapped my chest tightly and then cut the wrapping and tied it off. My breathing was a little labored as I came out without a sweatshirt on and only a T-shirt. “Shit, if I didn’t want to breathe I would have bought a corset,” I commented dryly, throwing my arms out wide. “Well? How does it look?” I asked, spinning in a circle.

Hayden examined me closely and then nodded his head several times. “Pretty good actually. I can hardly even tell,” he praised, already getting more comfortable around me again. Thank God. “So as long as you don’t mind not breathing, it looks perfect.”

“Alright, sweet. So when does English start?” I asked, grabbing my sweatshirt and pulling it over my head so that my painfully skinny girl arms weren’t as easy to see.

“Soon. It’s already nine, but class doesn’t start until nine forty-five. That gives you only a little time to shower,” Hayden commented and it took me a moment to figure out that that left me forty-five minutes to shower, which was thirty-five minutes too long in my case. Hayden was grinning at me and then it clicked and I glared at him.

“Oh. Ha. Ha. A girl joke,” I said, rolling my eyes and striding into the bathroom. Tch, as if all girls took an hour to shower. Maybe a half an hour if I had to shave, but jeez, that was a necessity and I wasn’t giving that up just ‘cause I was a guy, I felt horribly unkempt otherwise.

I took my ten minute shower with a triumphant grin in Hayden’s direction and then he led me out the door and to the classroom wing. Eww. School.

We were relatively early to class, considering Mrs. Killin Me was the only one in the class room. I glared at Hayden for such an occurrence and he merely shrugged taking a seat next to the door. I sat next to him, twiddling my thumbs as Mrs. Lilany glared at me.

“Something wrong?” I asked finally after a minute or two passed with her dark eyes on me.

“I can see such a seating arrangement being a problem. Mr. Frost, if you would take a seat by the window,” she said triumphantly when I glared back at her.

“Of course,” I muttered, standing up and sulking my way to the other side of the room and falling heavily into a random seat.

I scowled as I sat and glanced over at Hayden, but he was already scribbling away in a notebook. Jeez. Serious student. I continued to scowl, then fussed with my desk, realizing that they all opened upward and contained school supplies. You know, notebooks, pencils, pens, erasers, paper, binders, markers, the whole bit. So I pulled out a notebook of my own and a mechanical pencil.

I scribbled quickly:

Hey. Wat r u doin?

Then I ripped the paper out of my notebook and crumpled it into a ball, realized Mrs. Killin Me was glaring at me, set the paper down and tried to look sheepish. I scribbled absently in my notebook, until I decided Mrs. Killin Me wasn’t looking, then I sat up straighter in my seat and lobbed my crumpled piece of paper in Hayden’s direction.

The paper ball hit Hayden in the side of the head and he blinked once in confusion then turned to glare at me. I pointed down to where the paper had landed and Hayden stooped to pick it up and read it. Then he looked at me like I was an idiot. He pointed toward the door and got up, striding out of the room. I quickly followed.

“If you wanted to talk you could have said something before we got into the classroom. Mrs. Lilany hates when people make noise in the classroom, before or during class,” Hayden pointed out, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “What’d you want?”

I shrugged. “I hate silence. And that room had too much of it.” I smiled sheepishly at him when he glared at me, then added, “How much longer ‘til class actually starts?”

“Ten minutes or so,” Hayden replied, glancing down the hallway, then leaning against the wall. “So…how old are you anyway?” Hayden wanted to know.

“Eighteen,” I said simply, suddenly wondering how old he was. “Why? How old are you?” I asked aloud.

Hayden shrugged and replied, “Eighteen. I just thought maybe you were a little younger than me.”

I don’t see why. I thought sourly and then asked, “Why would I be any younger?”

Hayden smirked evilly and then said, “I don’t know, I guess you just act younger, you know, less mature.”

“Pfft. Right, I’m immature, compared to Damion and Leon,” I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

“What about me?” I heard Leon demand from over my shoulder.

I stiffened, watching Hayden intently, who was still grinning evilly. God damn it, he had planned that! “Er…I was just saying how charming you were, you know, how quickly you picked up girls at that club,” I lied confidently and winced when Leon clubbed me lightly over the head--but still enough to hurt my wussy body.

“Yeah, right. You know truthfulness is a virtue, right?” Leon laughed and stood next to me, making me seem both skinny and small…which I was, but he emphasized it.

“Yeah, a virtue I don’t have. I guess that’s why I’m a thief, eh?” I joked, but my attention was drawn away from Leon when someone’s elbow lodged itself into the middle of my back, causing me to yelp and stumble forward--thankfully--into Hayden, who kept me from hitting the ground.

I felt Hayden’s arms tense up in anger and quickly pulled myself onto my own feet again, the pain in my back a shadow on my memory as I took in the face of the boy who had inflicted my pain. I glared at him as he disappeared into the English classroom, smiling evilly at my sneer.

“What the hell was that about?” I snapped angrily, rubbing my back absently.

“That was about Derek being a colossal asshole for the sake of nothing better than keeping up his reputation as an asshole,” Damion said knowledgeably as he magically appeared on Leon’s other side.

“Well I suggest we kill him now and rid the world of an unimportant future murderer. You know he’s gonna snap on someone,” I snapped, although the pain in my back was a little less than a vague pulse, no doubt I would have a bruise later.

I heard Leon growl and half expected him to live up to his name, sounding much like an angry lion himself. “That guy bugs me. Well, not me personally, he just annoys me beyond belief,” Leon snarled and I took a precautionary step closer to Hayden. If Leon was gonna go “Hulk smash” on anyone, I wasn’t going to be the nearest target.

Not that it did me much good, since Hayden looked like he had a hard enough time keeping himself from growling. “Looks like he’s back from England,” he demurred.

“Yes, and we’re all so happy to see his return,” A new voice commented sardonically.

I turned to see a boy no older than me with choppy black hair and depthless brown eyes.

“Ah, it’s George, the unlucky roomy of Derek Fairborn. I’m surprised you didn’t lock the door when you heard he was coming back,” Damion commented sympathetically.

George grinned half-heartedly. “Yeah, I would have if he didn’t have a key,” he stated with a roll of his eyes and then disappeared into the classroom as well.

“Well, I feel bad for our little Raymond,” Leon ruffled my hair and I scowled, “it looks like Derek’s already made it his mission to torment you.” He sounded like he was joking, but I couldn’t have been sure.

“Great,” I muttered, my shoulders sinking in discouragement. “I’ve already made an enemy.”

And how the hell am I going to fight off a bully when I’m weaker than a dead twig and about as accurate as a hawk with no eyes? I thought sullenly, following Damion, Leon and Hayden into the classroom. I hesitated with a glare of annoyance, realizing that Derek Fairborn was sitting in the seat directly behind the seat I had chosen. Perfect. This was going to be a wonderful class period.

Every single word that Mrs. Lilany said throughout English class was subtly ignored by me as I brooded over the tiny little things Derek did behind me. Such as that insufferable tapping that moves the desk behind and in front of you. So my desk was vibrating the entire time and I swear to God he kept tapping my shoulder only to busy himself with something else just as I turned. Not to mention he had a piece of gum of which he snapped fifty-three times in one class period. Sure, most of these might not have been meant to annoy me, but goddamn it, it did. I felt like I was going to snap when the bell finally rang and Derek fled from the classroom.

I took a deep breath to calm myself and then stood up, yelping in surprise when I realized the top of my desk lifted with me, dumping my new literature book and notebooks onto the ground. My eye twitched in annoyance and I quickly found the source of my magic act: A thin piece of fishing line tied subtly to the knot on the back of my necklace string. Damn it.

With a string of colorful words finding their way out of my mouth, I untied the fishing line and dropped it inside my desk, then collected my books. I couldn’t even bring myself to smile when I discovered that Hayden, Damion and Leon had already grabbed all of my things off of the ground and held them out to me. “Thanks,” I muttered, already plotting my revenge against the cynical Derek.

If only I didn’t mind pain so much and I was actually a guy I would have beat the living shit out of Derek. Of course, I would need muscles and some sort of height to call my own in order to do so. Instead, I ran evil thoughts through my head all the way to math class, unnerving the other three with my silence and evil glaring--of which I tried to aim at the floor.

Mathematics was torture, considering everyone else in the class was already well on their way to Calculus while I was dwindling back in Algebra. Shoot me now, for I have proven to be the dumbest math student in the entire school.

Mr. Jager was pretty cool about it though. He issued me extra time to learn Algebra with him, although I reminded him that I had library duty for the next few days, so he agreed to start my extra lessons after then. Once, again, shoot me. Extra work and in math. Ugh.

Etiquette class came too slowly and when it was finally upon me, I realized that it wasn’t much better than English class. Headmaster Wilkins was a decent enough guy to have as a teacher, a sort of strange blend between Mr. Jager and Mrs. Lilany; as in he had an air about him that demanded respect, but he was also in a sense laid back. And etiquette? I thought it was all pleases and thank you’s. Man, was I mistaken, it consists of body language and remaining calm and cool, not to mention a bit of chivalry on the guy’s part--my part.

About half way through the class Headmaster Wilkins called for the class’s attention and spoke clearly in a dignified tone, “Allow me to remind you forgetful students as well as the new students that the Etiquette Ball will commence in two months, and thus I have only two months to teach you gentlemen how to dance, bow, use the right utensils with the right food, and be completely courteous when speaking to a woman.” I finally glanced around the room to realize that there were no girls in the class. Was this only a required class for the guys or something?

I snapped back to attention as Headmaster Wilkins continued, “You boys will be required to find a young lady to escort to the ball, and you will be her date for the night. You will dance, dine and dazzle your date, until ten ‘O clock that night, after that you will escort her to the girls dormitories and then go back to your own room. Any male and female room sharing will be dealt with severely, keep that in mind gentlemen.”

I felt my face pale slightly, “dealt with severely”? Oh man, he wasn’t convincing me to tell him the truth at all. I smacked Hayden’s hand away when he ruffled my hair, although I was grateful that he pulled me back into the present and out of my stupor of fright.

A hand shot into the air on my right and I turned to see that it was a particularly strange looking young man with greasy black hair and skin problems, looking more than a little disheveled. “And. The young women attending Shadowstep have been informed that they will accept any invitation they receive with the utmost glee. Since Mrs. Lilany has made the Etiquette Ball a required portion of the class, her students will also be attending the ball, so if you are unable to find a young woman without an escort, I will be happy to point you in the right direction.” The Headmaster stopped talking and the young man’s hand dropped down in obvious relief.

I turned slightly in my seat to see the rest of the class, all of the guys looked deep in thought, probably all considering who they were going to ask, I on the other hand, had no idea who I was going to ask. What if I just waited out everyone else? Until all the guys were done scrambling for dates, and then I would just ask the Headmaster and take whoever was left. Yes, excellent plan, since it didn’t really matter to me anyway, a girl was a girl, I didn’t care if she was pretty or not.

By the look in Hayden’s eye I could tell who he was going to ask, and I, being the amazing friend that I was, was going to have to help him somehow. Laura would definitely be a hard one to ask first, since every guy wanted to ask the new “hottie” to the ball, so I would have to somehow distract every other guy in the class.

With the Ball information thrown at us, Headmaster Wilkins went on to a longwinded explanation on the difference between a dinner fork and a desert fork. However, in the last ten minutes of class, Mrs. Lilany intruded on the class, asking for a moment with Headmaster Wilkins.

Instantly the room erupted with talking--well more so yelling and joking now that I consider the guy population. Ugh, too much testosterone in the room. As Hayden, Leon and Damion practically threw themselves to the back of the room to see who could lift the table for the longest time, I scribbled in a notebook, rolling my eyes at their stupidity.

Only when my notebook was snatched out from under my nose did I look up with a glare. My stomach tightened when I saw Derek and his two large friends hovering around my desk, making me feel incredibly small. So, I did the most logical thing possible that wouldn’t give away my “manliness”. “Hey, give that back prick,” I demanded, snatching my notebook away from him and tossing it on the desk as I rose to my pathetic full height.

Okay, so I didn’t exactly think that through all the way, and maybe I should’ve expected what came next, but my head was still trying to catch up with my body when I suddenly realized why my face hurt and I had been sent stumbling over my desk. Derek had punched me. I scrambled to my feet and Derek was laughing at how easily I had fallen down, when I threw myself at him and sent us both flying into a vacant desk. He was stunned at my retaliation, which gave me time to sock him once in the face before his friends caught a hold of my arms and heaved me onto my feet, giving Derek a chance to stand.

I threw out a defiant elbow and caught one of the two large guys in the face and one of my arms were free, so I tried it a second time, however, the other guy caught my elbow and bent it behind my back, causing me to cringe and yelp in pain. I looked up just as Derek took a swing at me and felt the blow connect with my lip and the portion of my cheek just below my eye. I flat out yelled this time, and kicked out wildly to strike Derek in the stomach before he got another hit in.

The fight had lasted about half a minute before Leon, Damion and Hayden came charging in, tackling Derek’s two friends to the ground and holding them there while I stumbled to remain on my feet, then I turned and socked Derek in the face a second time. He howled with rage and tackled me to the ground, adding both of our bodies to the pile consisting of Damion, Leon and Dereks’ two friends. We took random swings at each other, Derek making more success than me while Damion and Leon took well aimed punches at the other two, keeping them quite busy.

Derek maneuvered me on the ground so that he was on top of me, straddling my stomach when he reeled his fist back for another barrage of punches, however, he didn’t get far before Hayden yanked him backwards by his shirt and pinned him to the ground. “Dame. Lee,” Hayden said in a clipped voice, and his two friends instantly stopped, pinning their victims to the floor as well.

I picked myself up off of the ground, only to have someone grab hold of my ear and speak loudly into it, “Mr. Frost. I’m not sure who has been teaching you the rules, but at Shadowstep Academy, we do not condone fighting.” Mrs. Lilany’s voice was even worse when she was raising it.

“Sorry,” I muttered, my lip pulsing instantly at the movement and I cringed. “I can’t help it. Sometimes I just want to punch someone,” I lied smoothly, I knew it was better to claim responsibility for the fight rather than pin it on my enemy. Besides, I was probably going to be punished anyway, why not take all the blame?

Mrs. Lilany turned me by my ear to face a very angry looking Headmaster Wilkins and I looked completely remorseful, although I wasn’t the least bit sorry about getting a few good punches in while Derek beat the living shit out of me. By that time, the other six boys were standing as well while the rest of the class busied themselves with a suddenly large amount of paperwork. Had they been cheering? I couldn’t remember hearing anything but my own breathing, which was exceptionally ragged at that particular moment.

“Sorry Sir,” I apologized quickly and continued to explain, “I started the fight, Damion, Leon and Hayden were just trying to break it up, you don’t have to punish them. I take complete responsibility for my actions.” I made sure not to mention Derek and his friends, they could come up with their own excuses, the least I could do was get my three friends away from punishment.

The Headmaster spoke very calmly, the frown never leaving his face, “I’m very disappointed in you Raymond. You will report for stable duty for the next two weeks. Hopefully, that will discourage you from any more fights. Derek, Glenn, and Joshua, you will be subjected to helping Mr. Jager train the Freshmen and Sophomores in combat training, you will act as demonstrations for the next week.” His eyes flicked to Hayden, Damion and Leon. “As for you three, whether or not you were trying to break up the fight is questionable, however, your participation in the brawl will be punished with three days of hall mopping on the first floor.” The bell rang and no one moved, they all thought better of leaving before dismissal. “You’re all dismissed.”

Everyone shuffled from the room, but as I picked up the notebook I had been scribbling in, the Headmaster stopped me, “Raymond, I suggest you see the school nurse before going to scuba diving class. You seem to have got the worst of the fight,” he pointed out.

I was pretty sure that was code for: “You look like shit.” But I didn’t say anything, I simply nodded and hurried out of the classroom.

______________________________________________________________

The nurse tried to reassure me that I didn’t look nearly as bad as some people had said. But I saw myself in the mirror and I looked like shit. Plain and simple. I wouldn’t sugar coat it for myself, since I didn’t expect any of the other guys to either. Conveniently enough, the nurse excused me from scuba diving lessons, informing me that my head was a little bruised from my several encounters with the ground, so I was confined to my rooms for the remainder of the day. Issued a little bit of rest before being active again.

It was a little past seven ‘o clock when Hayden came bursting into our room, striding over to me, he paused, looked like he was gonna hit me, and then sighed, rubbing his forehead instead. I scrambled off of my bed and stood in front of him. “What’s wrong with you?” I asked incredulously, trying to read the expression on his face, but it was a little difficult, mixed between anger and some degree of restraint.

“What’s wrong with me?” he repeated, his anger flaring up more evidently, “You are the one starting fights the first day of real classes and with three guys at least ten times bigger than you!” Hayden exclaimed, once again looking like he was refraining from hitting me. I had a vague feeling that he was refraining since he now knew I was a girl, which I was now thankful for, since I felt like I had been punched enough for one day.

I shrugged, knowing this probably only angered him more. “Sorry Hayden, I didn’t mean to get you in trouble. I just sort of…you know, lost it a little when Derek hit me,” I admitted, although I was still a little surprised at myself for continuing with the fight, considering I detested pain. And the throbbing in my swollen lip and the pending bruise under my eye was as good a reminder as any.

“What? You’re sorry you got me in trouble?” Hayden sounded a little less angry and more confused. “Jesus, Raven. Have you looked at yourself lately? I’ve never known a girl who wants to walk around with her face all beat up like that.” He gestured toward my face and I scowled.

“It’s not that bad,” I protested, for the sake of protesting, although I winced over the “b” in “bad”. Then, it suddenly dawned on me, Hayden was concerned, not about getting punished, but actually about me.

“You know, Raven,” Hayden began, wandering to his own bed and sitting down, “It’s not too late for you to tell the Headmaster the truth, he would probably understand, given the circumstances…” Hayden trailed off, seeing the expression on my face. The Headmaster made it very clear that he didn’t want coed roommates, and I wasn’t about to bring his wrath down upon me for a second time in one day. He sighed. “And what exactly do you plan on doing for the next two years? You’re just going to act like a guy until you graduate?”

I raised my eyebrows curiously. “What’s wrong with that plan?” I asked, it sounded like a pretty good plan to me, considering it was only the rest of this year and then the next year, then I would be on my own, stealing things my own way, just like I used to.

Hayden groaned and fell back on his bed, which made me feel like an annoying younger niece that was pleading him to play “go fish“ with. “You’re still impossible. Guy or not,” Hayden muttered, his arm draped over his eyes.

I rolled my eyes and then quickly changed the topic. “You ask Laura to the Ball yet?” I wanted to know and Hayden sat straight up in his bed.

“What?”

“Laura? Did you ask her to the Etiquette Ball yet?” I asked again, although I took that as a definite “no”.

“Er…no. Not yet.” Hayden blushed slightly and looked away from me.

“Dude, you gotta get on that, do you have any idea how many guys are drooling over her?” I commented and Hayden nodded sullenly.

“Yeah, yeah. But I can’t rush it, I’ll look too desperate,” Hayden murmured, making the sentence sound much like a complaint.

“Seriously? Jeez, do I have to educate you in the proper ways of girls?” Hayden looked at me hopefully, “Sheesh, this is going to be interesting. Of course you don’t know anything about girls. Well, at least no more than any normal guy.” I cleared my throat, “Lesson one: Asking her on a date quickly isn’t considered ‘desperate’, it’s cute, it shows that you actually have an interest in her, rather than all the other idiotic guys who are dancing around her waiting for the right moment. Confidence is a plus too, not overconfidence, but you know, the regular kind,” I informed him quickly and Hayden nodded thoughtfully.

“So, I should ask her soon?” he asked.

“Yes. Preferably tomorrow, you know, sometime in the morning, maybe? I don’t know, timing’s your choice. Then again, if you can find her tonight you should ask her then. Oh! At dinner! That would be perfect,” I snapped my fingers, grinning like a madman.

“Alright, should I just ask her, you know, in front of everyone?” Hayden was leaning forward on his bed, looking eager for information, which was completely hilarious to me.

I thought that over, “No. She doesn’t seem like someone who likes a lot of attention, you should ask her, um…in the hallway? And if you can approach her friends, and be completely gentlemen-like, make eye-contact with most of them, smile, then you can ask to talk to her privately. Undoubtedly you’ll see some exchanged looks and some giggling from her friends, but she’ll probably talk to you, most girls will,” I added the last sentence with a roll of my eyes.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hayden sounded indignant, which only made me laugh.

“Just what it sounds like,” I replied with a snort, “If you don’t mind my being frank: you’re cute, most girls already fantasize about you, so she’ll at least hear you out.” I paused and then added, “Despite what a girl might say, for most of them looks do count, they just don’t want to admit it and sound shallow, if you’re good-looking with a great personality, then they feel like they’ve won the lottery.”

I noticed that Hayden’s face was a slight shade of red, but didn’t say anything, since it was evident he was trying to keep his expression under control. “I see,” was all he said, but I was more than sure he took note of my mentioning his appearance.

I glanced at the clock, which read: 7:49 in red letters and then stood up. “Well? We going down to dinner or what?” I inquired, trying to lighten the mood, and loosen him up for talking with Laura. Hayden didn’t seem like the type to get tongue-tied, but he had known me as a boy before he knew me as a girl. So, what did I know? Hayden nodded absently and stood to follow me out of the room.