Hey Romeo, Don't You Think You're Just a Tad Overrated?

"Come in!" I called as I repositioned myself on the bed.

The door opened slowly as Rachel cautiously stepped inside. "Hey, Aurelie, are you okay?" she said softly as she sat on the edge of my bed.

I raised my shoulders and dropped them heavily. "I overreacted," I admitted quietly. "I'm sorry."

Rachel smiled. "It's not just your fault. We're sorry too. I understand that it's hard to make this transition so soon, and especially into this school. We're sorry if we're pressuring you too hard. David just wants the best for you, you know."

I sighed. "I guess it's just that I've never been to such an elite school before. Whenever I did badly back in Maine, my mom and dad would always try to cheer me up and encourage me to do better."

"We can try harder too. You know, I've never been a mother before, and David's never been a father before. I can't have children, you see. So when we adopted you, even though you were a teenager, we were ecstatic," Rachel said.

"I'm sorry," I murmured.

"Don't be, hon. From now on, we're all going to try our hardest to be a great family, okay?" Rachel said.

I nodded. "Deal," I grinned as Rachel held her arms out for a hug. "Where's David anyway?"

Rachel frowned a bit. "He has an important dinner engagement tonight. How about when he comes back, we all do something together, since it's a Friday?"

I agreed.

Rachel stood up again. "Aurelie, don't worry. If you're having trouble with anything, you can always come to us for help. It'll take time to ease into the flow, especially since you're starting out as a junior." With a pause, she continued. "Will you be having dinner here tonight? Just the two of us? How does chicken teriyaki sound?"

"I think that'll be nice."

Rachel smiled again and exited my room quietly, closing the door gently behind her.

I breathed in relief and fell backwards onto my bed. I knew that David did what he did simply because he cared. I knew it was stupid of me to think that all he cared about was his reputation. I knew that being headmaster, he wanted me to shine for him. Right now, I was not only embarrassing him, but myself as well. From now on, I vowed that I would try my hardest in everything. And as much as I thought about it now, I realized that I was a McAllister. Maybe not by blood, but it was now my name. And I promised that I wouldn't let my namesake down.

Something in my closet moved. With a gasp, I realized that I had completely forgotten that I had shoved Cam inside when Rachel knocked on my door. I leaped off my bed and quickly jerked the door open.

Coughing, Cam scrambled up, kicking a stray pair of my jeans back into the pile of clothing that rested on the closet floor.

"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" I asked as Cam sank down into my desk-chair.

"I'm—" he coughed, "—allergic to dust," he managed.

I waited until his coughing fit had subsided.

"I heard your conversation with Mrs. McAllister," he said, his voice slightly hoarse.

"I promised myself that I would actually try now," I said.

"If you're going to try, you must know that you're entering that circle, right? From now on, you can't back out."

"I know," I spoke. I hesitated. "C-can you help me?"

Cam looked up, his dark eyes piercing. "You want me to help you?

I took a deep breath. "Yeah. Because, you know, as much as I try, I'm never going to be as smart as you or Lane or Brynne or whatever. But maybe with your help at least I could do better and—"

"Why don't you ask somebody else, like your boyfriend?" Cam suddenly interrupted, his tone harsh.

I flinched in surprise. "I-I—you're the only one that I know that's willing to help me," I finally admitted quietly, my eyes on my feet. There was a long silence.
"Fine," Cam finally said. His answer was so straight-forward that I snapped my head back up in surprise. His expression was unreadable. "Afternoon study-halls, in the library then?" he asked, standing up and getting ready to apparently climb out the window again.

"That's great," I said. "Uh, wait. What did you mean earlier, when you were talking about the school, you know. Uh, you said that I didn't know how you feel or something like that…"

Cam fell silent. "Maybe later," he said shortly.

I nodded timidly. "Uh, you sure you don't want to use the door? I'm sure I can sneak you past Rachel…"

Cam shook his head. "Nah. This is safer, ironically. And more fun, come to think of it. I like adventure," he flashed me a smirk as he swung himself from my windowsill to the rose trellis outside.

I quickly leaned over the desk and peered out the window. "And Cam…thanks. For everything."

Cam looked up from his descent down the side of my house. "Just…doing my duty." He jumped the last few feet, landing with a soft thump two stories below.

I sighed as I slowly closed my window, drawing the pale curtains across the dark glass again.

"Aurelie! Dinner's ready!" Rachel's voice drifted up the stairs.

"I'm coming!" I shouted, quickly exiting my room and skipping down into the kitchen.

____________________

Reagan's Dorm for Boys, Rm # 247

"Hey, Max," Cam said as he entered his best friend's room. Max was bent over his Latin textbook, struggling to conjugate the new verbs. For just a moment, Cam was thankful that he decided to not learn the dead language and its millions of verb endings, and instead opted for the course Government and Politics.

"'Sup?" Max looked up, stretching.

"Did Doc. manage to boost your grade?" Cam asked, making himself comfortable on Max's large, bean-bag chair in the corner of the room.

"Not as high as I'd like it, but yeah. Where were you earlier?" Max asked, facing Cam and pushing his textbook away.

"Uh, I was on safety patrol tonight," Cam lied quickly.

His best friend frowned. "Today's the second Friday of the month…you only have safety patrol on the first and third Fridays each month," he countered.

Cam bit the inside of his cheek. Trust his best buddy to memorize his prefect duty schedule. Usually, he would tell Max everything; the two of them rarely held secrets from each other. However, he didn't think Max would be too pleased to find out that he had been skulking around the McAllister house and even getting the nerve to climb up the wall to reach Aurelie's window. Which he still didn't know why he did. Cam rarely acted on impulse.

"Lane had a club meeting today. She asked me to fill in today," Cam said, hoping his lie sounded convincing.

Max looked at Cam suspiciously. "At first, I thought you went bowling with Roger and Adam and a few others, but then I remembered you hated bowling since it's the one thing in life you just can't do." He grinned.

Cam scowled and chucked a pillow playfully at Max. "Shut up. At least I can kick all of your asses in pool," he laughed.

"Ah, pool. That's such an old man sport," Max mocked. His expression suddenly shifted. "Is that just me…or do you smell like roses? Yeah, it's roses. Huh! You have a rose petal in your hair!" he pointed.

Cam immediately shook his head, and low and behold, a crimson petal drifted into his lap. "Uh, yeah. I was walking behind the theater, and I kinda stumbled off the path into the rosebushes. Dunno how it got into my hair though…" Cam chucked the petal into the trash can.

Max opened his mouth to question him further, but Cam quickly cut him off. "Man! Do I really smell like roses? Geez, I probably smell like a girl now! Do you have any Axe or something?"

Max laughed. "Go get your own, your room's next door anyway."

Cam stood up. "Yeah, I should probably leave you alone with your Latin verbs. Oh, and did you return your uniform yet? Coach wants it by Monday," he said from the threshold of the room.

Max yawned. "It's in the laundry. I'll get it tomorrow," he promised.

"Sure. When you're done, let's go hack Roger's laptop and check out that stupid game that he's been obsessed about the past week," Cam suggested as he exited.

Max's laughter followed him as he entered his room next door. "Awesome, I'm in!" he called.