Today, when I was skipping gym class, I tripped over a root and literally ran into boy in the north garden. I landed ungracefully in his arms, and then, with a girlish yelp I couldn't quite disguise, I jumped backward, tripped over the same bloody root, and landed on the ground with a thud. I was lucky I didn't bruise my tailbone.

"Are you OK?" The boy asked, holding out a hand to help me up. He was a tall, with wavy blond hair and blue eyes. He was--and still is--very hot.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I replied, taking his hand, and he helped me up.

"You have really small hands." The boy commented.

I forced a laugh. "Really?"

"You also have a rather girly laugh."

Crap. I thought, though I am pretty sure I wasn't thinking crap. I told my premeditated lie. "Yeah, I guess so. It's all because of my mother. She really wanted a girl, so she dressed me like one until I turned twelve." I laughed again. "It really sucks when you have girlish conditioned responses to everything."

The boy looked shocked. "Wow. I'm really sorry."

"And I'm sorry for running into you." I dusted off the back of my pants.

"What's your name?" The boy asked.

"Ethan Smith."

"Adam Carter." He stated his own. "I'm a junior here. You're a..."

"Freshman."

We said our good byes and went separate ways.



Later, when I was eating dinner with my small group of friends, I asked Neil, my roommate, about Adam Carter.

"What's he to you?" Neil said over his tacos.

"Nothing. I just ran into him today during fifth period."

"Isn't that gym class?" Edmund asked in his faint English accent.

"Yeah." Hans and Frans (German twins) confirmed concurrently. "It is."

"I wasn't feeling very well." I lied through my teeth. I couldn't actually tell them that I couldn't go to PE because I'm a girl.

"Well, Adam Carter is just the richest guy in this place." Neil said.

"I thought that was Edmund." I said sheepishly.

"I'm actually the fifth richest attendee at Lakewood Academy." Edmund corrected. "Elliot Hanson, Peter Gates, and Cornelius Blake are also in higher economic standing then I."

I'd like to take a moment here to talk about the four people I was dining with.

Hans and Frans come from a wealthy German family with "strong ties to the housing market" as they like to say. Neil told me that this means that they own over half a dozen houses. They both have light brown hair that could be called dirty blond, and they remind me a lot of Fred and George from Harry Potter. They definitely have that mischievous streak.

Edmund inherited the title of Baron of Devonshire when his father died two years ago. He's a sophomore, came from England a few years ago, and has been lying low in America. So far, I've never seen him act basely, and his brown hair is always brushed, his clothes always ironed, and his countenance is always perfect.

Yes, I go to a school full of rich kids.

And there's Neil, my roommate. I don't know about his past, other than that he came here to get away from his overbearing parents. He has dark hair, worn longer than school rules allowed (though no one seemed to mind) and eyes so blue that it seems almost unnatural, like he had sapphires implanted in his irises. He plays the violin, or, at least, he keeps one under his bed, and has an impressive collection of swords ranging from broadswords to katanas to light sabers.

Alright, back to the conversation.

"So he's the richest." I tried to scope Adam out in the dining hall, but couldn't find him. He hadn't seemed like a rich brat when I met him earlier.

Hans and Frans got up at the same time. "We're off." They said together and left.

After a short while, Edmund followed them out of the hall. I got up to leave too, having eaten my fill, but Neil grabbed my arm. "You stay and eat." He said, piling taco meat onto my plate and opening a large bag of Doritos.

"But I'm full." I argued.

"Eat." He pulled me back into my chair. "You eat so little. Like a girl. You're also really weak." He released my upper arm. "Maybe you shouldn't be skipping gym."

I ate until I felt like a balloon. I really will have to go on a diet when this is all over.