FicWad

Regret

Justain spat in disgust as he watched his parents drive off in their blue SUV without even a backwards glance. "Yea, bet rid of me, not going to change anything in the long run," he muttered. He started to stalk back toward the gates of the school where his bags were waiting beside a very stern looking woman, the Headmistress.

Justain Stewart was only sixteen but looked much older. He had worked hard to get his body built just enough to be attractive, but he was strong and he knew how to use the strength he had. That was one reason he was in this upper-crust prison. He shoved his hands into his pockets and sauntered up the drive. His hair was a dark auburn color that just touched his shoulders when it was allowed to hang loose. Most girls digged guys with long hair, at least that was his philosophy on the subject. His eyes were a strange jade green color which glinted with anger under long thick lashes. All in all Justain was a very attractive young man, something he had used to his advantage more than once.

The Headmistress smiled tightly at him when he did finally reach her. "Well Mr. Stewart," she said her voice was dry and had only the slightest hint of a German accent. "I believe we should get you settled and readied for your classes tomorrow, yes?" Without waiting for his answer she turned on her heel with military precision. She was a tall willowy woman with salt and pepper hair that was pinned back into a perfectly utilitarian bun on the exact center of the back of her head. Her half-moon wire rimmed glasses were on the very tip of her short nose. "Your uniform should be waiting for you in your room when we arrive. I will expect to hear from your teachers that you are dressed appropriately for class."

He rolled his eyes and followed her, his duffle bag slung over his shoulder while he dragged his trunk behind him with his free hand. 'This place is going to be just like juvi I'd bet my trust fund on it,' he thought as they neared the actual school building of Sigmund Fitzgerald Prep School. The school was huge; he could have placed his old high school in the school building of the Prep School. The building was made of red brick, and was historically accurate from the 1880s when it was first built. Along the front of the school were thirteen white Roman columns spaced across it. The lawn was perfectly manicured, the shrubs were perfectly square, and placed along the walk way were benches where good students would spend time outside studying.

'Bet those bushes make a great make-out spot,' he thought to him self with a grin as they followed the walk way around the outside of the school building and toward the dormitories. The girls and boys were in separate dormitories to preserve the 'virtue' of the students. The dorms were two smaller red brick buildings which had more of a house-like look to them. He could see some of the girls on the balcony of the Wright House. They saw the Headmistress coming and dodged back into the house. She shook her head and looked over her shoulder at him.

"You'll be housed across the courtyard at Mc Douglas House," she said as they crossed the manicured lawn toward the other, yet more masculine building. It lacked a balcony, but had a large L shaped porch along the front. He sighed in disdain as she led him up the three flights of stairs to lead him to his room. "You'll be rooming with a boy close to your own age," she said as we walked down a hall that had hard wood floors to a door that had his name along with his roommate's written in black letters above the door.

She stopped and turned looking down her sharp nose at him. "Seeing how you've already had supper before you arrived, I'm sure you won't be hungry. If you are Mr. Adams, your roommate, will be able to show you where the dinning area is. Please remember the house rules, there is a list on your bed reminding you of the rules, and get plenty of rest," she waited a moment and then nodded, walking past him her military grade boots clicking on the hardwood floors as she headed back down the hall.

He watched her leave and sighed as he opened the door to his new cell. The room was dark as he threw his bag in and felt along the wall for a light switch. The lights came on suddenly, making him curse as his eyes adjusted to the sudden change of light too quickly, temporarily blinding him. "What the Hell?!" he said as he stumbled into the door frame.

"Sorry about that," said the voice of his room mate. When Justain could see again he looked at his roommate and glared. The boy was possibly a year older than him, his hair was black and hung in his eyes, a thin boy that seemed to have never been out in the sun, nor seemed to find enough to eat, as he was thin and wraith-like.

"No worries," said Justain without much conviction in his voice as he started toward the bed that had his name on a place card along with his class schedule and assignments on it.

"Cool," said the boy as he flicked on the over head, giving more light to the room, which wasn't exactly large but had enough room for the beds to not seem cramped together. "I'm Upton Adam, welcome to Fitzgerald's," he said offering his thin hand to Justain.

Justain threw his bags on his bed, crumbling up the neatly stacked papers and glared down at the hand that was offered to him, before taking it in a crushing grip. "Justain Stewart," he offered no other information about himself, and to his relief the boy didn't either.

One glance around the room confirmed his fear that his roommate was a complete and utter nerd. The bookshelves were overstuffed with books and notebooks, from the titles he could read from where he was standing most of the books seemed to be about conspiracies. The other guy's bed was a total mess, a mixture of blankets and clothing, and papers. There was a small dresser in the corner of the room that was probably intended for him, laying on the top of it was a set of uniforms, the dark blue pants, crisp white shirt, a blazer, and a tie. He cursed slightly; he hated ties, and started to unpack his bags.

"So, what brings you to this fine establishment?" asked Upton as he flopped on his own bed, jerking his head so that the hair was out of his eyes. He propped himself up on a thick book that was opened to a page about the Bermudas Triangle.

"I beat the crap out of a guy who asked me too many questions," he said glaring at the strange boy.

"Wow that must have really been a downer. You know," he said moving over to where Justain was shoving his cloths unceremoniously into the dresser drawers. "You might want to be careful what you say around here," he put his arm around Justain's shoulders and leaned forward to whisper in the new guy's ear. Justain tensed and tried to pull away, but the thinner boy was a lot stronger than he looked. "This place is nothing but a mirage! They're using the school as a cover, those ties... they're nano robots who learn when you wear them. One day they'll do the laundry and the nano-bots will jump off the clothing and build a rebellion!" Justain shoved him off.

"Okay, you're a freak," he said as the other boy stumbled and fell onto his own bed, "there's not going to be a robot uprising around here."

"That may be true," said the boy nodding sadly, "but this school is nothing but a cover up for something really unearthly! I swear I've heard people being tortured down in the basement where woodshop is. You don't have wood shop do you?" He jumped up quickly and yanked the schedule out of Justain's hands before the boy could stop him. He read over the schedule and sighed. "Oh thank God! But hey! Good news! You have Lit with me, too bad that is nothing but a cover up for the neo-Nazi's political campaign."

Justain jerked the paper back from him and shook his head as the boy kept on rattling. He flopped down on his own bed, it wasn't too terribly uncomfortable, and sighed leaning back, plotting his possible escape from this fancy hell.



It took Justain all of thirty minuets to place all of his cloths and belongings around the small space of his room. It was getting late and he threw himself on the bed. Upton went on to eat and Justain, finally had time to himself.

He let out a breath that he had been holding and started to finally relax. He closed his eyes, his hands behind his head. He hated this place, though he had only been there an hour or so. He hadn't seen any girls that interested him, his room mate was a total freak, and the Headmistress was a stiff old lady with a bad accent. His parent's might have felt like sending him to this place, to give him 'structure' they had said, might have been a good idea to them, but he knew he wasn't going to change. He wouldn't let this place change him.

He must have dozed off because he jerked awake and found the room completely dark and a large lump in the bed across the room from him. He groped for his alarm clock and knocked it off the table and onto his head with a curse. The illuminated numbers told him it was about five in the morning. Classes would start at seven. "No use going back to bed," he grumbled quietly as he sat up, his arms and back stiff from how he had slept. He apparently had not moved during the night.

He grabbed some cloths from his trunk, along with a towel that was provided by the school and started toward the showers that were at the end of the hall. It was a relief to step under the scalding hot water. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply as he tried to wake himself up more fully.

A quick memory of a dream caused him to open his eyes and look at the green and blue tiled wall, his mouth set in a frown. Something about someone screaming and then darkness. It had been a very involved dream and he couldn't remember much of the detail, and was forgetting more and more of it as the water continued to poor over his body.

Finally he climbed out and wrapped the towel securely around his waist; some of the other early risers were shuffling into the showers as well. He ignored them as he pulled on his boxers and undershirt. He listened to the idle talk as some of the guys talked about class, or girls, or whatever else they thought important, while he used a towel to dry his hair. He finished dressing, still trying to get his hair halfway dried, and started back to the room, almost causing a smaller boy to fall into the towel hamper as he pushed by him.

Upton was awake and was changing into his uniform, trying to fix his tie with one hand while combing his greasy black hair with the other, all without a mirror. He looked over at Justain as he came in. "Make sure to make yourself perfect for Headmistress Black, she'll nag you, especially since today's your first day," he commented as he threw the brush on his bed and finished his tie.

"I think I can handle the old hag. Thanks," he said not entirely sincere, "What's for breakfast?"

Upton shrugged and pulled on his blazer, "Eh, whatever you can find in the slop bucket. They usually keep the leftovers from dinner for part of the breakfast."

"Sounds good," he said as he loosely tied his tie and pulled on his blazer as well, the bottom of his shirt hanging out. He tied his hair back with a rubber band and stuck the books he would need for his fist class under his arm. He shoved open the door to the room while Upton was finishing up and continued on with the crowd of boys who were tramping down the stairs.

His first conclusion was that most of the guys here had to be virgins because they all looked to be perfectly manicured snot nosed brats who thought it beneath them to do anything physical. He fell in line with the pansies and followed them to the cafeteria that was in the basement of the school building. He did finally see some of the girls. Most of them were the Mary-sues who he hated to be around, and some of them looked like they had been in plastic surgery ever since they could walk. He hated this place more and more.

He sat with Upton, who was apparently right about the food being leftovers. He found that the guy was actually pretty cool, when around other people. Upton was apparently one of the guys with the drama department and he had quite a following of some of the more attractive women in the school.

He entertained himself by listening to the conversations and looking over the new literature and history book that he had at his disposal. He was actually looking forward to the literature class as he and Upton started toward the grand stairways which lead to the upper class rooms. The inside of the school was a perfect recreation of its former glory when it had been a boy's university. He was slightly impressed that the hardwood floors and all of the walls were immaculate, a rich shine, but not slimy with wood polish.
"So you like history?" said Upton as they settled into the desks. He was between Upton and a large blond girl who had a couple of legal pads spread out in front of her. She was busily scribbling in.
"Like is a relative term," said Justain as he leaned back in the chair of his desk and sighed. The class room was small and was already filled. Upton nodded sagely.
"Too true," he said opening his history book and looking over at the girl on the other side of him. "Hey Chire, let me see your notes from last time." Justain had to dodge as the blond girl tossed the notebook across him and down the table to Upton.
She looked at him over the top of her glasses, "New guy? Nice to meet you, I'm Chire, what's your next class?"
Justain looked over at her, a bit taken aback at her forwardness, he was use to the bigger girls at his old school, who were introverts and knew better than to talk to him. "Uh... some thing like... coral... coral-" he said frowning, he had already forgotten his schedule for today.
She nodded, "Choral, you're in the Honor's Music Class, same as me. What do you sing, Tenor maybe?"
He looked at her confused, "Tender what?" He thought of what she had just said. ' Did she say Choral, Honor's Music Class?' He groaned, "Oh God, please tell me I'm not in some pansy ass singing class!"
She looked at him frowning. "Hunny, singing is more physical than anything you've ever done. I'm assuming you've never been through a real music class have you?" she smirked slightly. "Don't knock it till you try it." She was interrupted by the teacher, a tall man who was dressed in a three piece suite, a head of curly gray hair, with a matching beard.
"Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen. Today we'll be continuing our studies on the Assyrians, so if you'll all be so kind as to turn in your text to..." said the teacher as all the students hurriedly grabbed for their books and notes.
Justain had to quickly lean back to avoid having his nose taken off by Upton throwing Chire's notebook back across the table to her. He listened as the man started to rattle on about the ancient people, he watched as Upton idly doodled on his notes, while Chire made complete and totally accurate notes, almost word fro word of what the man was saying.
The entire hour and a half went by exactly the same way. He had actually tried to pay attention. The man was interesting, the way he worded things and how he explained some of the events made Justain pay attention, somewhat. By the end of class he was only half asleep instead of totally knocked out.
Upton sent him off with Chire to go the music class. The girl wasn't too bad to talk to once you got use to her. She explained some of the things that he had wondered about the school and some of the people in school. He did find out that Upton might have been well liked, but everyone thought him a bit strange. They climbed to the top floor of the school and headed toward the end of the building. There was a faint echo of music as they neared the doors and he frowned.
"So, how many people did you say was in this class?" he looked over at the girl, she was almost as tall as he was.
"Eh, about thirty-two, including you. We're a chamber choirs basically," she said as she pulled open the door. The room was circular and had sound-proof padding around the room. Straight backed chairs were set up in a half circle in front of a piano and a music stand. Doors to the left indicated that there were more rooms, probably practice rooms. Chire placed her books on a shelf beside the door and indicated that he do the same as she moved to join a group who were warming up.
He stayed over to the side while the music students, there were about fifteen, apparently the choir was divided into two classes. He sat back in one of the most uncomfortable chairs he had ever sat in. The students did a weird buzzing thing where they sounded like a bunch of motorboats, sighing, and the Do-Re-Mi thing that made him relive the horrors of the musicals.
He took the time to look over the people in the class, a few of the were guys the kind that he had made fun of in his old school, but he did have to admit it wasn't half bad to be in a class where there were mostly girls. There was a set of twins, two willowy girls both with wavy black hair. One's hair was short and kept in an edgy style while the other had hers tied back. They both seemed to be concentrating on the warm ups. He thought he glimpsed one of the twins looking at him, but before he could make a move on the girl the teacher moved it. 'Don't it figure? Try to get the old Stewart charm flowing and the teacher spoils it all,' he thought frowning as he stood to join the rest of the class so that they created a neat group facing the teacher. ________________________________________________________________________
Mr. Nickalson nodded slightly and then moved over to the piano as the girls took center stage. He sat at the piano and started to play a very intricate pattern to introduce the girls to their music and after a few beats they started. At first the sound was light and soft, but then it grew in intensity and then broke into two part harmony, Chire singing the alto part and Eliza the soprano.
Justain found the song boring. He couldn't understand it, they were singing in Latin or French or something. It was a pretty tune, but it was entirely too long for his taste, but he was able to get a good look at the twin with the long hair. He found that she really was attractive, he caught her eye a couple of time but she always looked away, her tanned skin slightly redder than before. He noticed that she was curved in just the right places, her hair was so dark that it had a bluish highlight to it from the skylight. He felt himself smiling as he leaned back, basically blocking the music out. Eliza was all he saw.
He was slightly disappointed as the music stopped and the two girls bowed, the class clapping politely for them as they stood. Some of the girls made suggestion, Eliza's sister commented the most. Mr. Nickalson called it quits for the day and dismissed class early. The boy sitting beside him moved over to the short haired twin and put his arm around her waist as they walked away laughing. Chire and Eliza were talking beside the computer while Mr. Nickalson started towards his office in the loft of the choral room. Justain checked his hair, fixed the blasted tie, loosening it rather than adjusting it to look neat, and walked over to where Chire and Eliza were.
Chire greeted him with a curt nod, Eliza with a small smile and a pretty blush. "So, I guess you're really into singing to sing something that long huh?" he said as he leaned against the piano. Chire rolled her eyes and started to clean up the music that was left scattered among the straight backed chairs.
Eliza shrugged, "I love that song, when you sing it its really not that long. I'm Eliza Moorhead." She extended her hand toward him. He smiled and took it and with a flare placed a kiss on the back, smiling cheekily as she tugged her hand back from him.
"Justain Stewart, a pleasure to meet you. So, you've got a twin?" he said lamely unsure of what to say. She smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, stupid question. So, what do you do for fun? Surely you don't sing the entire time do you?"
She turned and helped Chi gather the music frowning slightly, "You don't like classical music?"
He shrugged, "Not really, I'm not too interested in listening to dead guys with bad hair who don't know a word of English. I mean, why sing something in another language when most people won't have any idea what you're saying. I find it stupid, that's all." He looked up to see both of the girls glaring at him as if he had just insulted them personally. Eliza gathered her bag and somehow wordlessly communicated to Chi as she stalked out of the choral room toward the main building.
Chi smirked, "Smooth Casanova. That's the way to get the ladies."
He glared at her and sighed, "What did I do?" He really had no idea what had made her so upset. Chi hefted her bag onto her shoulder and looked at him, adjusting the glasses so that they sat correctly, her eyes looked at him pointedly.
"Look, Eliza and me, we've been friends for a long time and I know of very few thing of that she thinks are important, and music is one of them. If you want to have a chance with her, I'd suggest trying to be a little less obnoxious about it," she turned on her heel with military accuracy and started toward the door.
Justain watched after her, and then remembered he had no idea where his next class was located. He grabbed his bag and ran after the girl, tapping her on the shoulder when he caught up with her, "Who said I wanted to have a chance with the girl? I mean, she's nice looking and all but I don't think she's my type."
Chi shrugged and continued walking; she took long purposeful strides, easily dodging the people who had stopped in the hall. He was learning to like her more and more, she did seem to be like some of his friends at home. She looked over her shoulder at him, tossing her hair out of her face as she did, "Look, I saw you eyeing her during the song. I may be fat, and I may be a loner, but I know about relationships and flirtation. You smiled, she blushed, she smiled you blushed. I was just trying to move things along you know? She seems to like you, but I would suggest an attitude adjustment."
He looked at her dumbfounded. He had met very few people who were that blunt about things like that. He stuttered a couple of times before he could come up with a coherent sentence. "Well, well maybe I will," he said lamely.
She smirked and continued walking, her pace gaining speed as they made their way down the hall way. It was growing dark outside as if it was about the pour down rain. A cold wind had started to blow hard on the north side of the school. Most of the people were hurrying to get inside of the class rooms and the main hall way to avoid getting drenched as suddenly rain started to beat heavily on the aluminum coverings. Chire showed him to his next class, the one right before lunch. "Sure you can find your way around?" she asked adjusting her skirt to keep it from blowing around her legs as the wind picked up.
He nodded, "Yea, straight through and to the left right?" She nodded and gave him an absent wave as she disappeared around the corner as he pulled the door open and walked into his history class. He frowned as he took a seat at the back, joined by the young man who was asleep during choral class and the twin with the short hair. He looked over at them, they were all but making out in the corner while the drone in the class room grew louder.
They finally took a break to breath and the boy looked over at him. "You're the new guy right? The one from last class?" he extended his hand toward him. "Yea, I'm Jackson James, this is Kendal Moorhead," the girl smiled, "so, where are you from?"
Justain took his hand and shook it briefly before leaning back in his chair. "North of here around Athens," he sighed, "it is always this... dull around here?"
Kendal gave a smile giggle and leaned around Jackson to talk to him, "Only during the week. The weekends can be pretty fun when some of the yuppies go home to their mommy and daddy. The teachers really don't care what's going on as long as no one's getting screwed or killed."
Justain nodded smiling slightly, "Can't wait for that then. You're that girls twin right? Eliza's sister?"
Kendal nodded and shrugged, "Yea if you want to associate me with her. Anyway, welcome to Fitzgerald, you'll have to come to the party this weekend."
Before he could answer the head mistress came in and called for silence as she started to take the roll. Apparently the old hag was teaching history as well as running the school. He sighed and made his table comfortable, his head pillowed on his arms, his book thrown carelessly in the floor under his desk. The class lasted only fifty minuets, at least, thankfully.
He drifted off to sleep, a sleep that was plagued with images of people twisted and disfigured into horrifying positions. He was half awake, he was aware that he had his hands balled into fists so tightly that his short nails bit into his skin. He gave a yell and jerked awake almost falling out of his seat. He found himself the center of attention as everyone was staring at him, some with smirks others with looks of uncertainty plain on their faces. Mrs. Black came over to him and frowned down her sharp nose, "Something the matter Mr. Stewart? You have an objection to learning about the Manga Carta?"
He looked up at her and shook his head, "Uh, no ma'am. I just, dozed off I suppose, had a nightmare." He rubbed the back of his neck as the woman stared down at him. She was intimidating, to say the least.
"Falling asleep in class on the first full day, Mr. Stewart, is not the proper way to make an impression on your teachers now is it?" she sighed. "Class dismissed," she said turning on her heel as all the students gathered their things in a rush. Justain along with them, he hid behind a tall black boy in case she had intended to talk to him after class.
He took a deep breath, happy to be free. There was something, however, that gnawed at the back of his mind. Why was he having nightmares? What did it have to do with him? And more importantly, why did he even care?

He followed the crowd up the stairs, his backpack carelessly thrown over one shoulder as he loosened his tie even more. He blocked out all of the noise as he thought about what had been in his dreams since his coming to the school. He had only been there for only a day, he surely could not be having nightmares so soon could he? And yet he was, involved and freaky dreams where he was seeing people in pain, screams that still echoed now that he was awake.
He was so deep in his thought that he didn't realize when he ran into someone. He looked up with a muttered excuse me until he saw who it was.
Upton and Chire were standing in the lunch line talking when he had ran into Upton, who smiled. "Hey, he lived through his first half a day without so much as a demerit. Good going," said Upton slapping him on the back with a bit more force than was necessary. "Heard you had a run in with the Moorhead twins." He glanced over at Chire who was chuckling slightly.
"Yea," he said grumpily as he joined them in the slowly moving line. Chire chuckled and looked at him.
"Eh, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Eliza can be a bit touchy when it comes to music. You can always try again. I think you might have another class with her," she shrugged slightly.
"Lady killer," said Upton with a nod. Justain rolled his eyes, he still didn't know what to think of Upton or Chire, but they were the closet things to friends he had here. They got their trays finally and went to sit in a little alcove of the lunch room. The food was considerably better than at public schools. It actually had taste. Upton and Chire, or Chi as most people called her, talked about some weird Japanese mafia which was supposedly taking over the south western states. He decided to spend his time scoping out the girls around him.
He did finally see Eliza as she and her sister sat with another group of girls, who looks suspiciously like a bunch of cheerleaders. He didn't think she would associate with that type, but hey, you never knew. If she was a cheerleader, it might make the game a bit more fun for him at least.
He stopped that train of thought almost instantly and frowned wondering why. He never had really cared about being polite and things along that line. Something was different this time however. He felt, embarrassed, and slightly disgusted with himself for thinking that sort of thing. He saw that Chire and Upton were looking at him oddly. He realized that he had stopped with his fork half raised to his lips.
He coughed, slightly embarrassed and looked at them, "Uh, brain fart, you know how those are."
Upton nodded, "Ah yes, you know I read a study that the sudden pause in thought is actually created by a Soviet War Machine which interrupts the brain waves and causes a pause in normal day to day activity. You know, actually..." Chire covered his mouth with her hand and shook her head.
"Everything okay Justain? You look kind of pale. You're not getting sick are you?" she said frowning slightly.
Was he seeing things or did he actually see a glint in the girl's eyes when she looked at him, and the frown was a bit too upwardly curved, or at least to him it was. He shook his head and flashed a winning smile. "I'm good. No worries," he said with a lot more confidence than he actually had. "I guess I'm just getting use to things around here. Don't worry about it."
The rest of the meal was eaten in silence as Chire pulled out a thick book and started to read it with Upton reading over her shoulder. Justain stared at a point just above his plate, deep in thought. Could Upton the space cadet be right about something interrupting his brain waves? He shook his head figuring it far too far out to be true. From what he could tell about Upton the guy was a nut case.
He happily went back to his dorm room when he found out that his next two classes, which were taught by the same lady, were cancelled because of a family emergency. He threw his books on his bed, only to shove them off again so that he could flop down, shoes and all to stare at the ceiling. The room was darker than normal, he hadn't bothered to flip on the light and the storm was finally getting stronger, it was almost pitch black outside.
He laid there thinking about what had happened to him. He felt something, not quite real, yet too real to be his imagination, tugging at him, wanting him to get up and follow it. He shook his head and stubbornly turned onto his side, covering his head with his pillows. A flash of lightning illuminated the sky, and the room, and was closely followed by a roll of thunder. He jumped slightly, and then cursed himself for being such a baby.
He felt himself start to slowly doze off, but he felt as if someone or something was watching him as he did. There was a general feeling of unease as suddenly, everything in his subconscious went black. He was floating in blackness, his arms and legs weighted down by something. He felt as if he was upside down, then right side up, then one way and another. He felt as if he was being torn apart and then. Nothing.