Luhan and Junmyeon were now behind a wall, waiting for the group of Phoenixes to walk away.

 

     “What the hell, Luhan. You really wanna die early or something,” Junmyeon grumbled. Luhan nudged him and told him to shut up. “I’m thinking, Junmyeon. If you don’t shut your pipe it will be the end for both of us.” Luhan whispered angrily to Junmyeon who was muttering profanities under his breath. Some church boy.

 

Just then, a life buoy in a form of a boy walked past them.

 

     “KYUNGSOO!” both of them whispered in unison. The boy, Kyungsoo, quickly turned his head to find the source of the voice. “Junmyeon? Luhan? What the hell are you two doing here?” Kyungsoo whispered back, catching onto their little whispering act.

 

Luhan stood up, pulling Junmyeon up and getting closer to Kyungsoo. “Kyungsoo we kind of need your help like, I don’t know, maybe transporting us into our dormitory?”

 

Kyungsoo could only stare at both of them in disbelief. “I cannot believe the both of you,” Kyungsoo sighed, rubbing his hands over his face in frustration. Luhan and Junmyeon thinks having a Shape-shifter as one of their close friends was a good idea.

 

Kyungsoo held out his hands and the both of them only stared at him. “What?”  Luhan and Junmyeon asked, confused. Kyungsoo let out a sigh, “Just take my hand and I’ll transport you two idiots in, alright?” Luhan and Junmyeon grinned at Kyungsoo before each of them took his hand.

 

     “We owe you one Kyungsoo.” Junmyeon said before they were being transported into their dormitory.

 

A whirl of wind and a feeling of wanting to pass out later, the three of them found themselves at the circular room of the Fawn clan’s dormitories. “You two stay out of trouble.”

 

Luhan and Junmyeon just let out an awkward laugh. Kyungsoo though, doesn’t look one bit amused. “Are you not going to ask us why we wanted your help?” Junmyeon asked.

 

     “Knowing the both of you, you guys probably screwed some up with the Phoenixes,” Kyungsoo deadpanned. Before Luhan and Junmyeon knew it, Kyungsoo disappeared leaving the two of them speechless.

 

    “Man, that was so accurate. Kyungsoo knows everything.” Luhan said before both of them turned behind to see a group of students gathered around the door. Before they knew it, a worried looking Irene is marching towards them at full speed.

 

    “Luhan! I thought you were dead, the Phoenixes are looking for you.” Irene grabbed Luhan’s face and examined it, making sure he wasn’t bruised. Luhan swatted Irene’s hands away from his face and frowned. “I know they’re finding me, God, but there’s no need to scare away the first years,” Luhan grumbled as he walked to the front door and asked all the students around the door to sit at the circular room. A boy with tears still fresh on his face grabbed Luhan’s sleeve and mumbled, “Mr. Lu, they threatened to burn us alive!”

 

Luhan glared at the door momentarily before looking back at the boy with tears on his face. “Don’t worry, he wouldn’t do that. I’ll go talk to him.” Luhan patted the boy on his shoulder before walking up to the door and pressing his ear on it.

 

    “What do you want, Park?” Luhan spat, making the first years flinch. A snicker was heard behind the door and Luhan’s frown deepened.

 

    “Why won’t you come out and have a talk to us face to face? Not brave enough, huh?” The voice was obviously Chanyeol’s judging by the amount of arrogance laced in it. Luhan really wanted to punch this dickhead. Hard.

 

    “That’s kind of rich coming from you, considering you want to fight me, as an individual with your three friends. Scared, are you?” The first years were now watching him intensely, making Luhan give them a genuine smile before scowling when he heard Chanyeol’s voice again.

 

     “Don’t go all smart with me, you filthy Fawn,” the moment Chanyeol said that, gasps were heard and Irene tried to usher them back to the circular room but of course, it failed. All of them found interest in this Fawn-Phoenix fight.  

 

Luhan didn’t know why but that really ticked him off. He looked at Irene, who was giving him a glare, “Don’t do anything stupid Luhan.” Luhan just ignored it before pressing his ear to the door again, making Irene frown. “You want to fight, Phoenix? One on one? Tomorrow, 6PM by the Lochness lake. Don’t be late, Park.”  

 

The first years burst into gasps, making Luhan realise what he had just done. Holy ing . He was doomed. Now, Irene was holding his arm, making sure he didn’t do anything else beyond stupid.

 

     “Alright then. As long as you don’t chicken out. You know, being a Fawn and all,” Chanyeol chuckled. Before Luhan could retaliate, Irene put a hand over his mouth to shut him up. “Alright Chanyeol, just go,” Irene says before pulling Luhan away from the door. All that could be heard was a faint voice saying, “Can’t wait to burn his sorry tomorrow.” The sound of footsteps and laughter was followed after that.

 

“What’s going on here?” Their head boy, Timothy Antonio, said, walking into the circular room. “Oh, nothing, Timothy. Just showing the first years around, of course,” Irene quickly said and gave him a smile.

 

     “Come along now. I have a few words to say to the first years,” Timothy said and the first years quickly gathered in front of the fireplace. Luhan nudged the dozing Junmyeon on one of the sofas and his eyes fluttered open.

 

     “What happened?”

     “The annual speech is starting.” Luhan took a seat next to Junmyeon who was now, fully awake. Timothy decided to take a seat next to them making Luhan rather uncomfortable. However, Timothy had to make it more awkward by placing a hand on Luhan’s knee.

 

    “Alright first years, first thing I would like to do is introduce myself. I am Timothy Antonio, you can call me Timothy and I am the head boy for this clan. Greetings to all of you!”

 

“The Fawn clan is the last ranked clan in this school if you haven’t noticed. Despite that, we’re the smartest clan of all. The Phoenixes are stupid, arrogant, stuck up bastards (“TIMOTHY!”). The Shape-shifters are alright though, they hardly speak to anyone besides themselves. The Faeries are alright too, just don’t mess with them and your life will be in peace,” he explained.

 

Although Luhan felt uncomfortable with the hand on his knee, Junmyeon and him always liked to watch their head boy give his speech because he does it with so much enthusiasm. It’s like, you have never felt enthusiasm unless you’ve met Timothy. “Alright first years, one more thing. When you learn how to use your powers, never use them on a Phoenix, ever. It will end up in a fight, you never want to fight with a Phoenix.”

 

Luhan felt eyes landing on him and he really just wanted to curl himself into a ball and hide forever.

 

“Off to bed, all of you -”

 

Luhan and Junmyeon stood up.

 

“- Except Luhan and Junmyeon.”

 

The first years stared at the both of them as they went up the stairs and Irene could only shake her head at them. Luhan glared at her.

 

As the group of students disappeared, Timothy turned to face the both of them. His face was unreadable and Luhan and Junmyeon wondered; was he angry?

 

Timothy cleared his throat, his gaze becoming more intense making Junmyeon gulp audibly. Luhan was trying to keep his face as straight as possible but it isn’t very easy with this much intensity.

 

    “So,” Timothy started, making the two boys sit up straight. “Do the both of you wanna join the fencing club?” Timothy put on a big smile which made the both of them relieved. “So?”

 

Luhan pushed Junmyeon to the front. “You know, Junmyeon has been writing to me over the summer about how interested he was in fencing. Maybe he would like to join?” Luhan smirked and Junmyeon’s jaw dropped. ‘How could you’ Junmyeon mouthed and Luhan winked at him. Timothy’s grin widened.

 

“Very well. Luhan, you may be dismissed. Junmyeon, follow me,” Timothy gestured Junmyeon to follow him to another room and Junmyeon turned around to face Luhan.

 

Suddenly, Luhan felt like his world was spinning and he quickly held the wall as leverage. He rubbed his head lightly. Why is he suddenly feeling like this? It’s almost as if-

 

oh.

 

ing Junmyeon is playing with his mind to make him feel light headed. Luhan just shook his head, he had no thoughts for revenge because maybe he deserved it. It’s only his first day of school and he’s already picked a fight with Park Chanyeol. He needed rest and that’s what he did.

 

He didn’t sleep well that night.

 

***

 

Luhan was still sleepy when he woke up.

 

“Wake up, you fool,” Luhan heard someone say and he fluttered his eyes open to see Irene hovering over him. Luhan frowned and slowly sat upright. Wait.

 

“IRENE, THIS IS THE BOYS DORMITORIES! YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED IN HERE!”

 

Irene stared at him in disbelief. “Look around you, Luhan,” Irene asked and Luhan did. No one was there. “Exactly, now get up. You’re going to be late for breakfast.”

 

Irene walked out, looking over her shoulder, “I’ll be waiting for you.” Irene turned around and closed the door. Luhan then got up and had a quick shower. After he was done with that, he put on his uniform and put on his shoes as fast as he could before dashing out of the boys’ dormitories and into the circular room, seeing Irene on a sofa reading a book.

 

“Alright I’m ready to go now.”

 

Irene jumped in her seat and quickly shut the book. “Damn it, Luhan. You shocked me,” Irene cursed and pushed Luhan aside to walk to the front door. “That was the plan, Irene,” Luhan muttered, making sure Irene did not catch it.

 

It wasn’t until Luhan had reached the canteen that he realised that he actually planned a fight with none other than the walking version of a .

 

“G’morning, Luhan,” Chanyeol sneered and pushed Luhan out of the way. Luhan wanted to control Chanyeol’s mind again but the smack at the head stopped him. “Don’t even think about it,” Irene hissed.

 

Luhan could only roll his eyes. “Irene why do you have to be like, the second version of my mom?” They reached their usual spot, next to Junmyeon. “What do you mean, I’m the second version of your mom? I’m hip!” Irene exclaims as she slams her book on the table.

 

    “Oh boy,” Junmyeon said as he tried to keep in his laughter. “Irene, this is exactly why you are the second version of my mom.” Luhan says, amused. Just then as if something popped into his head, he slammed his fist on the table.

 

    “My watch! I have a watch my great grandfather passed on to me!”

 

The whole canteen turned to face him at his outburst. “Mr. Lu, is everything alright?” asked a Shape-shifter prefect that was walking by. Luhan sheepishly shook his head as he realised the prefect did not look one bit amused. “Then be quiet,” the prefect scowled and walked away.

 

Irene could only shake her head.

 

     “So what is this about a watch?” Irene asked. Luhan look at her, confused and then again, he slammed his fist on the table. “The watch my grea-”

 

“MR. LU!”

 

“Sorry, Tom!” Luhan apologised and leaned forward. “I have a watch that my great grandfather has passed down to me and I left it upstairs in the dormitories,” Luhan said. Irene raised an eyebrow, obviously judging him.

 

    “You know, you should learn how to appreciate gifts,” Irene scolded, making Luhan roll his eyes. Definitely the second version of his mom. “Come on Irene, chill! He’s dead, he doesn’t care.”

 

Irene gasped and hit him on the head with her book. “Ouch Irene, that hurts!” Luhan said as he rubbed the throbbing spot on the back of his head. Damn Irene and her hard covered books.

 

Irene was staring at Luhan and it made Luhan very uncomfortable. “Why are you staring at me?” Luhan asked and Irene annoyed, rolled her eyes. “Go on and take the bloody watch! Class starts in 15 minutes, you -God- I don’t even know which insult to give you,” Irene said and muttered the last part to herself but Luhan, of course, heard it.

 

Ouch.

 

***

 

“Why must she be such a mom?” Luhan sighed to himself as he climbed the staircase to his dormitory room. Luhan told Irene and Junmyeon to head to class first without him to avoid anymore naggings from Irene.

 

Luhan unlocked the door to his dormitory room and quickly rummaged through his trunk. Aha! There it is, Luhan said to himself and wore it on his left wrist. He glanced at the time and immediately cursed.

 

8A.M.

 

.

 

***

 

Luhan ran through the hallway as fast as he could, he was even considering changing into his fawn form but it was too risky at school. He could get in big trouble if he was caught.

 

    “, , . Professor Bexley is going to kill me,”  Luhan muttered as he arrived in front of the classroom. He hated Astronomy.

 

He pulled himself together within 3 seconds and opened the door to a sight he wasn’t expecting to see at all. The students were gathered around in a big group, chattering loudly, not even realising that Luhan made his entrance. Professor Bexley looked panicked, she was raising her voice and asking for the prefects to usher the students out.

 

Luhan was trying to push his way through the group of students but, to no avail, nobody wanted to move. He managed to find Baekhyun, his Faerie friend, trying to push his way through as well. “What’s going on, Baekhyun?” Luhan asked, making the shorter boy divert his gaze towards Luhan.

 

Baekhyun’s expression was unreadable and everyone in the room looked as if they were about to die. “I have no idea. They just dropped to the floor with their eyes rolled back,” Baekhyun replied. They? So there was a group of them?

 

Luhan tip-toed to get a better view of the students that fainted and indeed, their eyes were rolled back, only the whites showing. Luhan shivered. Oh how it reminded him of a horror movie he watched once.

 

     “Now, now, students. Go back to your respective dormitories until your next class begins. Today’s class is cancelled,” Professor Bexley informed them and disappeared through the class’s back door with the other prefects walking right behind her, carrying the students’ body.

 

Luhan spotted Irene carrying one of the students and talked to her through her mind.

 

I’ll meet you in the circular room?

 

Irene turned around to face him and nodded. What the hell was going on?

 

***

 

    “So eight of them just, fainted?” Luhan asked Irene, who looked out of thought. She nodded anyway, making Luhan knit his eyebrows together. “What were they even doing that made them faint?” Luhan shook Irene slightly, making her jump.

 

    “I heard that they were in the gardens before class so Professor Bexley thinks that there must be some sort of poisonous pollen from one of the new plants.” Irene said as she ran a hand through her hair.

 

Luhan suddenly remembered something. .

 

“I don’t believe I have to fight Park Chanyeol in a few hours!” Luhan groaned out, making the first years jump in their seats. Irene gave them a warm smile before hitting the back of Luhan’s head. Luhan yelped.

 

Dammit Irene, all the bloody time.