Chapter One:
It was another bleak and
dreary morning. The night rains had made the roads sleek with mud, and from the
way the carriage bumped and teetered dangerously on its journey, I knew without
a doubt that this trip was bound to be a long one.
I wrapped myself with the
black cloak securely, trying to will away the jumbled feelings of loneliness,
sadness and anticipation that filled my heart. It was my first time away from
home in over fifteen years and I could still hear mother crying into her lace handkerchief
as she waved goodbye to me. Father had been stoic, as usual, but I would never
forget the heartfelt speech of courage and strength that he gave to me the
night before my departure.
I had been accepted into
the
Money was no problem for
us. My father was the Chief Justice of the town and so we were held in high
regard. I am an only child and have been the pet and prize offspring of my
family. Anything I wanted, I would get. But I wasn’t smug or snotty-faced about
my position. Everyone who saw or knew me would tell you that I am a very
easygoing fellow. I love to laugh and have fun, but I also know when things are
supposed to be taken seriously.
My week of happiness and
excitement had soon been followed by a week of despair and misery. With a pang,
I had realized that I was going to be leaving a world I had come to fall in
love with over the years. The school year ran from the beginning of January to
the end of July and so for seven long months, I would have no close contact
with my family or friends. Many tried to cheer me up by saying that they would
visit. But it didn’t do much to ease the pain. I would miss my room and all my
prized book collections. I would miss taking my dog, Spot, out for his long
morning walks down the streets and around the woods. I would miss the smell of
fresh bread from the cook’s oven in the kitchen, or the cream tarts that my mom
was fond of making. I would miss seeing my father come home every evening. I
would miss listening to his voice as he talked about the cases he had presided
over for the day.
I would miss…my life.
Another bump on the road
had the horses neighing in protest and the driver mumbling soothing words to
them. I huddled closer to the window, peeking out through the dark curtains to
take note of my surroundings. We were on the second day of the journey and the
first few hours had been spent gawking at the sights around me in awe. Besides
going to Somerset for a few days to spend with my grandparents…and that wasn’t
even far from home, this was the furthest I had ever been. The trees seemed
different, the flowers richer and brighter, even the air smelled different.
It was still dark outside
as dawn was yet to break and so the soothing sounds of birds chirping in the
lush trees was a pleasant wake up call to my ears. I closed my eyes and
wondered what my new life was going to be like. I couldn’t help the feeling of
excitement that seemed to grow stronger with each passing minute. What would I
do when I get there? Who would my new friends be? What kind of teachers would I
have? Would they be as friendly as the ones back home? Do they eat differently
than I do? Where would I sleep? How could
I sleep?
“Almost there, Master Duo!”
Came the welcome cry that had me sitting up on my seat
in eagerness. I opened up the window and stuck my head out of it, feeling the
fresh cool crisp morning air against my feverish skin.
At first, I could make out
nothing, for it seemed like more and more trees were blocking our path. But
when we finally broke through the woods, the breathtaking sight of the early
morning sunrise dusting the horizon with its golden glow, greeted my view as my
gaze fell upon my new home.
With its turrets and walls of oldest brick, strong enough to withstand
the test of time, John Williams stood grand and tall amongst the many trees and
shrubs that surrounded it. My mouth must have been open for I was soon trying
to get rid of a leaf that had flown into it.
“It’s…It’s amazing…” I
gasped out weakly, my heart pounding even faster as I stared at my new school
in awe. We were soon down the long winding driveway and I could see the huge
gates that stood in our way. It was made of heavy wrought iron and twin
carvings of lions flanked its sides as we came closer. I could feel my skin
break out in a cold sweat, my hands clenched tightly on my lap as the gates
began to creak open as if by some unseen force. I
swallowed tightly and struggled to breathe evenly. I couldn’t possibly be this
nervous…could I?
The carriage continued
slowly along the long avenue, and through the trees, I could make out several
other buildings that must have housed either students or teachers as their
living quarters. I spied several boys, all dressed in the same outfit I had on,
which was a simple white shirt, black pants and the protective cloak. They did
not have hats like mine and I assumed that we were not supposed to have it on
at all. With nervous and shaky fingers, I removed it quickly, allowing my hair
some semblance of freedom. I ran fingers through my bangs and shook it quickly,
causing the long braid that fell to the small of my back to come over my left
shoulder. I idly wondered if my hair was too long for their standards. But the
letter had made no mention of hair lengths, so I had no right to be worried.
The carriage finally burst
out into the open and we were faced with a circular driveway, where a statue of
an angel holding onto a lamp stood in the middle of it. It was a beautiful
sculpture and it seemed to lend a surreal atmosphere to the dark building. It
was completely covered with climbing vines that gave it an eerie look. I
shivered, unconsciously, holding onto my seat in growing worry.
Our ride came to an
eventual stop as a young man, about the age of eighteen or so, walked out from
nowhere and approached us. He held out his hands for the reigns of the horses,
while yet another boy came around to open up the side of my carriage for me. I
was surprised by this display, for it seemed like we were being treated like
royalty. With legs that felt as stiff as boards, I stepped out of the buggy and
tried to smile at my helper. He gave no sign of recognizing my presence and
only responded with a light nod. He was wearing the same school uniform leaving
me to guess that he must have been an upper classman. His hair was just as long
as mine, and it was held in a neat ponytail.
A few words were exchanged
with the other boy who had the horses and turning back to face me, he asked
curtly. “Duo Maxwell, I presume?”
“Ye…yes…sir?” I replied
with a light stutter. I was already feeling foolish and I had my hands clasped
together tightly beneath my cloak.
But my discomfort didn’t
seem to matter to him, for he nodded again and motioned for me to follow. As we
walked towards the building, he began to speak. But he might as well have been
talking to a brick wall for all the attention he gave to me. He hardly glanced
my way.
“Your trunk will be taken
to your room or rather should be in
your room by the time you get there. I will be showing you around the building
and school grounds until you have familiarized yourself with the place. My name
is David Winters, and I am the assistant head boy for the school. Damien
Hodges…the head boy is indisposed at this time, so if you have any questions, I
will be here to answer them.”
As he spoke, I took the
time to glance at my surroundings. We were in the main hall and although
several students and staff walked around the place, it was relatively quiet. It
was still early in the morning, so I assumed that it was the reason for it
being so. Pictures of prominent members of society, including a large one of
the Queen decorated the stonewalls. Trophies and other accomplishments from
students and staff alike were enclosed in protective cabinets and they,
somehow, seemed to add more pressure to be the best student that I could
possibly be.
So engrossed in my
wandering thoughts that the sharp reprimand from David had me starting in
surprise. He was now a long ways ahead of me and apologizing profusely, I ran
to catch up with him.
The quick tour took me to
the dining halls, the classrooms, the gymnasium, study halls, the huge library
(I was already itching to get my hands on some of the books in there), the
teacher’s offices, the outdoor bathhouses and riding grounds.
By the time we were
finished, daylight had broken and more
students had begun to fill the premises. My stomach was beginning to growl,
reminding me of my lack of dinner the night before and breakfast. I couldn’t
walk another step if I had wanted to, but I didn’t want David to think I was
such a weakling. While he stopped to talk to yet another classmate of his, I
took the opportunity to lean against a wall to catch my breath. It was getting
a bit too hot for my cloak, but I didn’t dare take it off. I closed my eyes and
took a long deep breath, before opening them to find myself staring into ones
of darkest night.
I gasped in shock and
stumbled backwards, which turned out to be quite useless as I found myself
slamming hard against the wall behind me. I sucked in a harsh breath and
blinked away the tears that had sprung to my eyes. The pain was excruciating.
“Hmph!
Do you wish to kill yourself?” The boy asked with faint amusement in his tone
as he eyed my blushing visage. I felt like an insect under his thorough
inspection. It seemed as if he were appraising me for something. I took the
time to look at him as well. He looked like he was around my age, but the way
he acted made me believe that he might have been a bit older. His skin was a
strange olive color that reminded me of the pictures of Asians that I had seen
in my books at home. His hair was about shoulder length and jet black but it
was tied in a neat ponytail as well.
“Like what you see so far?”
He asked with a smirk, which caused me to darken with embarrassment. I lowered
my gaze and stared at the grass beneath my feet in seeming fascination, hoping
that he would leave and allow me some time for myself. I was really beginning
to get uncomfortable under the intense scrutiny.
Finally finding my voice, I
asked a bit desperately. “Is there something you wanted…?”
“What’s your name?”
I blinked at his rudeness
and fought the urge to tell him to apologize. “Shouldn’t I know yours first?” I
asked, happy to see that my voice seemed to be back to its normal tone.
He looked a bit surprised
at my outburst and I was glad. I had to let him know that I was no pushover. I
didn’t want to have bullies attracted to me on the first day, after all.
“Hmph…at
least you have some spunk in you,” he muttered.
He pulled his hands out of the pockets of his pants and glanced somewhere to my
left. For a moment, I thought that David had returned to take me away, but the
boy seemed to wave at someone before turning those piercing black eyes on me
again. “I am Wufei,” he said suddenly. “Wufei
Chang. What’s your name?”
So, my guess was right. He
was of Asian blood. Seeing that I had no other option but to tell him, I held
out my hand for a friendly handshake. “My name is Duo. Duo Maxwell. It’s a
pleasure to meet you.”
He eyed the extended hand
as if I had offered him a snake to eat. He made no attempts to reach for it and
feeling even more humiliated, I withdrew and gave a light nod of my head
instead. A shadow soon fell across me and I lifted my head to stare at the
newcomer. He was taller than Wufei, but he had piercing green eyes that seemed
to sear through my soul. His hair was the same color as mine - brown chestnut -
and some of it fell before his right eye, almost making me wonder if he could
actually see through the long locks. Like Wufei, his gaze was disconcerting and
I was beginning to pray that David would come back to rescue me from the
scrutiny.
“His name is Duo Maxwell,”
Wufei said with a small smirk. “Ever heard of his family before?”
The newcomer’s brow knitted
into a light frown before shaking his head softly. “The only Maxwell family I know live in the North and they come from a long
line of excellent military men. You are not from that family are you, Maxwell?”
I blinked and shook my
head. His voice was strong and smooth. A voice that oozed with confidence just
like Wufei’s. Who were these boys? Were they his
classmates?
“We are second years,” the boy stated as if reading my thoughts. “My name is
Trowa Barton by the way. Nice to meet you.”
I was just about to hold
out my hand again, when he quickly dismissed me by turning to face yet another
boy that was making his way towards us. This one was about my height and had
chocolate colored locks that looked untamed. Sharp, intelligent blue eyes met
mine briefly, before turning away to glance at the two boys before me.
“I am going to get
breakfast,” he announced in a tone that left
no room for arguments. I gulped and wondered on just how many more boys were in
this…group. I wondered what or who he
was…
“His name is Heero Yuy,”
Wufei said with a yawn. “And he thinks he is the king of all of us.” He seemed
to ignore the cold glare that was thrown his way as he shrugged lightly and
spun away.
“Will you join us for
breakfast, Maxwell?” Trowa asked. “Or have you had any?”
“I…I don’t think I
should…David…”
As if on cue, the assistant
head boy approached us. He gave a light nod of acknowledgement to the boys
before turning his attention to me. “We are done for the day, Maxwell. Trowa
and the others will take you to your room when you are finished with breakfast.
The rest of the day is up to you to do as you please. Classes begin tomorrow
morning at eight. Good day to you and welcome to John Williams.”
I was hardly given the
chance to give a decent reply before I was left in the company of my new friends. Perhaps touching one another in
this school was prohibited for no one had made any attempts to even tap my
shoulder let alone shake my hand. Realizing that I was still staring at my hand
as if expecting it to grow wings and take flight, I only managed to catch the
brief murmured words from the other boys.
“….you don’t
think he will be roomed with…”
“…possibly. I heard that he
hasn’t been in school for the past…”
“…of all the unlucky
breaks…”
“…see how long he will
last…”
If there was one thing that
displeased me to no end, was the fact that people were talking about me when I
was right there amongst them. I struggled to contain my growing irritation as I
cleared my throat and asked in as calm a voice as I could manage.
“I wouldn’t mind having my
breakfast now.”
As predicted, this stopped
their conversation and I received blank looks for an instant. It was as if they
had forgotten that I was even around. Finally, with a sigh that seemed heavy
with exasperation, the one named Heero spun on his heels and began to lead the
way to the dining hall. “Well, hurry up then before they run out of hot
biscuits.”
Trowa and Wufei followed
his striding steps, while I kept up like a pup behind them. Every now and then,
one would glance back as if to make sure I hadn’t disappeared and then turn
back to share a quick but meaningful glance with his companion. This was really
beginning to aggravate me. There was obviously something going on and I was
determined to find out what it was.
But all thoughts of that
flew out of my head as we made our way into the noisy dining room. Boys were
beginning to fill the large hall. There were four long tables and chairs that
could sit about a hundred or more students. Flanking the room was another long
table that stood on a podium of sorts. There, the head master and his staff
made themselves comfortable as they waited for the bell signaling the beginning
of the meal to ring.
Heero maneuvered his way
around the throng of boys easily, Trowa and Wufei doing much the same thing. I
was quickly swamped and could hardly breathe as I was crushed from all sides. Just
when I thought I had lost my companions, I felt a light tug on my braid before
I felt myself being pulled and roughly placed on a seat by the smirking Asian.
I blushed at my predicament and stared at my empty plate, not wanting to meet
the gaze of Heero or Trowa who were sitting across me. Wufei sat on my left and
chuckled.
“Don’t worry, you will get
used to the rush sooner or later.”
“Everyone wants to sit
closest to the teachers table.” Trowa explained softly. “You get the hotter
food earlier than those all the way down there.”
“And if there are any
extras… those who sit around here, get the ones that
the teachers can’t finish.”
I couldn’t help thinking
that this seemed like dogs trying to get extra scraps from their masters. I
wondered what would happen if I mentioned that and decided to forget about it
as the light sound of the bell was heard. Immediately, the hall fell into a
quiet hush as everyone turned their gaze towards the regal figure of the
headmaster. He began by welcoming the new first years, which included myself
and I was grateful that he didn’t make us stand up to be recognized. I was
really beginning to feel faint as the smell of hot biscuits and tea filled my
nostrils. The speech seemed to go on forever and it wasn’t until the loud cries
of ‘Amen!’ were heard, did I realize that I had completely missed the opening
prayers.
Hoping that no one had
noticed my blunder, I sat upright and licked my lips in appreciation as a long
line of cooks walked out with trays heavy laden with food. I watched with
growing hunger as the teachers were served first and just when I thought the
torture couldn’t get any worse, the servers finally made their way towards the students. I barely waited for my plate to be
filled with the delicious treats, before wolfing them down in record time. In
mere minutes, my plate was wiped clean and I blinked in dismay. I would need
some more, but it didn’t seem like any was coming.
That was until another
biscuit landed on my plate.
I raised my head sharply
and blushed heavily at the amused looks that came my way. To my horror,
everyone else still had enough food on their plates and had hardly begun to
eat. It was Wufei that had offered his to me.
“I don’t…I don’t really…” I
began as I tried to push the food back to him, but giving me a stern look, he
shook his head and snickered. “You eat it. You look like you need some more
flesh on that body of yours anyway.”
I muttered my thanks and
did as I was told. Several minutes later, most of the boys were done with their
meals and had begun to leave the dining hall, but my companions didn’t seem
like they had any plans to leave just yet. They were talking about some
upcoming cricket match against another school while I struggled not to fall
asleep. There was something so soothing about their voices that had me…
“Do you have a girl back
home?”
…jerking alert in complete
and utter shock. I knew I was blushing furiously as I gaped at the three faces
that were staring back at me. They looked…serious.
“I…I…” What could I say?
There was no girl that I really had a particular eye on. I only had a close
friend that I had known from childhood and her name was Hilde. She was sweet
and very tomboyish. I had never really entertained the thought of having her as
anything other than a friend.
“Well? Do you or don’t
you?” Wufei asked again with a slight hint of impatience in his tone.
“I have a…friend,” I
finally managed to croak out through suddenly parched lips. I did not like the
grave looks on their faces at all. It looked like something awful was about to
happen to me and I didn’t want to be a part of it in any way. I watched them
exchange another meaningful look and I almost screamed in frustration. Why
wouldn’t they tell me what was going on?
“So you are comfortable
with girls, right?”
I nodded at Heero as he had
asked the question. “I…yes…”
“Have you ever heard of…homosexuality?”
This time my jaw did drop
in shock. Of course I had heard about the forbidden topic. My father had tried
several cases where such people had been sentenced to death for displaying such
illicit behavior. The very thought of two boys engaging in such sexual
activities had me very hot and bothered. I had lost count of all the lectures
on the wrongs of those kinds of things, from my father. I swallowed tightly and
nodded. Somehow, I knew that something was about to be said that would change
my life forever.
Trowa leaned closer to me
and with that same grave look on his features, he said quietly.
“We are sorry to have to
tell you this, Duo…but your roommate…has…is…”
He couldn’t seem to finish
the sentence and noticing his discomfort, Heero finished it up for him.
“He is homosexual, Duo and
you have been chosen to board with him for the rest of the school year.”