The Deck High uniform is plain navy pants, white dress shirt, navy tie with golden pinstripes on it, and the navy blazer with the golden school emblem on the pocket. As the Joker prefect, I’ve got golden stars on my shirt collar and a cuff around my upper arm with a joker card on it.

It’s the first time I’ve ever been happy our school uniform has long sleeves.

I don’t like lying to my mom, but right now it’s dealer’s choice and I choose not to tell anybody that I’ve got the Black Mark.

The black X signifies that one either does not have a soulmate, or that that soulmate has already died.

It’s funny, you know? As a guy, you try to be nonchalant about those things, but I was really excited. Everybody I know has a soulmate. The ones that have already found each other are very happy. I guess I was looking forward to that kind of feeling too. I’ve never been a very emotional person – not really – and the idea that I could fall in love with the perfect person for me always represented an interesting idea. The idea that I would be extremely emotional over that person.

One time Jihoon broke his arm falling out of the ropes in phys ed. Seungcheol cried for almost an hour.

I guess I would have liked that opportunity, too.

But if it’s not meant to be, then it’s not meant to be, and I suppose I have to take life as it comes. I’m not really used to the idea yet.

My walk to school is mercifully short: down to the end of the street, five minutes down alongside the main road, and then up the street to the front door. Inside, I’m kind of wondering how I’m supposed to get through today with the emotional onslaught of knowing I’m going to be alone for the rest of my entire life.

“Hey, !” A heavy weight suddenly bears down on my back, pulling me out of the silent reverie: I scream at him, but he just clambers on like a ing koala bear. “Good morning!”

I sigh, give up, and hold onto his knees as I piggy-back the huge idiot to school. “Morning, Seungcheol.”

“Sorry.” Jihoon’s voice is soft but clear-cut as he comes up beside me. “My boyfriend is a loser.”

“That’s alright. I already knew he was a loser.”

“Hey! Ponies don’t talk!”

“Shut up, Seungcheol,” we chorus.

I carry the King of Hearts all the way to school before dropping him on his . “And watch the glasses next time,” I remind him, adjusting the round golden frames on my nose. “They’re not under guarantee anymore, you know.”

“So?” Seungcheol gets up like I didn’t just toss him to the curb and leans in. “So, so so so?”

“So, yo-ho, me maties yo-ho?” I try.

“Nice attempt. Let’s see it?”

“See what?”

“The Ovo!”

“What Ovo?”

“Yours!”

“My what?”

“Your Ovo!”

“My what now?”

“Stop teasing, both of you.” Jihoon shakes his head at both of us like we’re little children. “You, stop annoying the only person who can kick you out of the Prefect Five, I don’t want to marry a high-school flunkie. And you, stop avoiding the question and show us your damn Ovo before we jump you.”

I take a deep breath, pull myself up straight and put on my Prefect voice. “I would prefer it all much more if we could focus on the subject at hand. It’s the first day of school and I will not be accepting any teachers’ complains on the behaviour of my prefects like I did last year. Do I make myself understood, Mister Choi Seungcheol?”

Seungcheol’s excited puppy-dog face quickly sours. “I was only having a little fun.”

“Have a little fun outside of my school.”

“Your school?” Jihoon repeats. “Well isn’t that nice. Joshua has a school now Cheol, did you hear?”

“I heard!” The athlete dances around to leer with his diminutive boyfriend. “Amazing, isn’t it? Hasn’t even finished himself yet, and-”

A cold breeze rushes by, making both of them shut up, thank God. It makes my hair stand on edge but thankfully I’m no stranger to the feeling. I simply keep walking until I’m within a reasonable speaking distance. “Wonwoo, why are you not in uniform?”

The young man stands in full black with a black fur cape around his shoulders that reaches all the way to the ground. He wears his hair typically in a dark fridge over his forehead, and holds a piece of bread crust up for the raven on his shoulder. “I got here early,” he says slowly, the tone emphasizing how low his voice has gotten over the summer. “I guessed there was no point in changing, ‘cause my first period is gym.”

“You can’t come into the building with that animal,” I tell him, fishing out the key to the front gate from my bundle of keys. “You know that, right?”

“I’m not in the building,” he smiles serenely. He greets the other two prefects with that same calm smile.

Sometimes, Wonwoo makes me feel like I’m one of the ers in Fruits Basket. You know, that crazy lady who supposedly channels electricity? Or water? Or something? Wonwoo has that effect on people. The slow, crazy, almost vaguely Frankenstein-esque behaviour are what keeps him in ultimate power. He doesn’t even have to threaten anybody. One look from him and even teachers put out their cigarettes.