Resistance - COMPLETE

Chapter 1

"Good morning, Daniel! Chef has breakfast prepared downstairs. Get a move on." a maid greeted Dan pushing his curtains open to let the sun in.

He felt the covers being pulled off him exposing him to the cold morning air making him shiver and curl into a ball. The maid's heels clicked frantically as she began to prepare his shower and get his uniform set out being sure to iron out all the creases. Dan reluctantly stood up pulling a robe over himself seeing as his parents would not accept him to come downstairs in only his boxers - his usual sleep attire.

After a quick breakfast and shower, Dan was dressed in his uniform and ready to go to his first day at his new school. On the way there, Dan was able to convince his chauffeur to drop him off a block away and made him promise not to tell his parents. Hopping out of the massive black Escalade limo, he tossed his backpack over his shoulder and walked towards his new school blending into the mass hoard of students gathering. The thing that sucked about moving schools in the middle of the year was that everyone already had their group of friends. Dan promised himself not to get mixed in with a popular crowd again as that didn't seem to work for him last time, but as he got closer his nerves got the best of him. Who's going to show him around? Or sit with him at lunch? Who is he going to talk to and laugh with during class and who is he going to hang out with after school? He shook his head to clear his thoughts and walked into school holding his head high. He stopped at the first door on the right to ask where the office was so he could register and hopefully get someone to show him to his first class.

"Daniel Howell?" A tall lady asked holding out her hand for a shake. "I'm Headmaster Alexander. Welcome to Highbrook Academy."

"Thank you." Dan nodded holding his bag tighter to him studying her.

She was shorter than him, though to be fair, if she was taller she would be terrifying. Something about the way she stood intimidated him. She seemed like she wasn't a force to be reckoned with. Her purple crescent glasses stood at the tip of her nose and her grey hair was pulled into a tight bun at the back of her head - not a hair out of place. She wore a dark purple business suit with matching high heels and held a file in her hand with 'Daniel J. Howell' printed on the tab in black ink.

"I believe you'll fit right in here, Mr. Howell." She began grabbing at Dan's arm to lead him out of her office for the grand tour.

The entire time, she spoke about the school's history and people of worth that attended before him. He stayed quiet, pretending to listen while he peeked in the classrooms seeing everyone either taking notes or participating in their labs. They stopped outside room 317 giving her time to smooth out her suit before handing him a sheet of paper and holding the door open. Dan held his head high like his etiquette teachers taught him and walked in to meet his new classmates.

"You must be...Daniel." his new teacher read from an attendance sheet.

"Yes sir." Dan replied giving him a small smile.

"Well Daniel, take a seat where you like. I'm Mr. Hayes and I'm your English teacher for this year."

"Glad to meet you." he mumbled shuffling to his seat hoping no one else heard.

The teachers and staff made it clear they know his parents and their influence, but he'd rather not have his classmates know. Dan sat near the middle on the left side and smiled at the students around him while they smiled and waved back - all but some quiet kid keeping his nose in his notebook. Probably an art student. Headmaster Alexander left after speaking with Mr. Hayes for a bit giving him time to get some things out.

"Hi Daniel, I'm Allison." One girl smiled twirling her hair around her finger.

"Nice to meet you." Dan smiled kindly grabbing a pen and notebook.

Christopher keeps getting mad at Dan because he never took notes during school. He actually ended up telling his parents on Dan and as much as he didn't want to, Dan figured he could jot down a few things. He could at least pretend to pay attention and have questions on books he's already read and sentence structures he constantly uses and practices.

"Nice accent. Where are you from?" She asked kicking her leg a bit.

"Reading."

"Why'd you move all the way up here?"

"My mum had a job offer so we took it."

Dan didn't really know why he was talking to her, though he guessed it could help him make friends.

"Sorry to budge in. I'm Chloe." the girl in front of him smiled.

"Hi." he smiled back.

Maybe making friends wouldn't be too hard after all. Mr. Hayes gave everyone a few minutes to talk while he gathered a summary of things Dan missed and would need to catch up on, though Dan was sure he already had done whatever his teacher could throw at him with Christopher. He tried his best to remember the names of everyone around him. Besides Chloe and Allison, he also met Tyler, Zachary, Alyssa, and Liam. As Mr. Hayes called the class to attention, everyone spun around and began to frantically take notes on what he was writing on the board and lecturing. Another lecture on Frankenstein. He had to have read that book at least ten times - though it was one of the better ones he's read. He analyzed it, written papers for it, and even memorized parts of it for Christopher so he found himself quickly falling into a daydream. Propping his head up with his hand, Dan drew lazy circles on his paper and thought about theater. For a brief moment, he wondered if this school had a drama club or some sort of stage production he can be involved in before snapping out of it.

"Daniel?" Mr. Hayes asked.

"Yes?" He replied perking his head up.

"Can you tell me what Victor meant when he said,'Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition'? I don't assume you've read it yet, but just based on that line, give me your best analysis." Mr. Hayes smiled genuinely at him.

Dan nearly had to stop himself from laughing. The amount of times Christopher had asked him this or the amount of times he referenced it was unbelievable.

"Well sir, I believe Victor is a bit biased, don't you? How can he give good advice to anyone after ruining his own life? That's basically what he's saying after all. Don't pursue anything and be happy with tranquility. I think that's rubbish. It's okay to have ambition as long as it doesn't involve assembling a giant creature out of dead body parts, bringing it to life, and abandoning it. Victor was so obsessed in learning about the secrets of heaven, that was all he cared about; injecting the essence of life into this gathering of parts and calling it creation." Dan replied picking up his pen to start tapping while everyone turned to stare.

"Very good! Well done Daniel!" Mr. Hayes almost sang making Dan blush bright red.

Did he really become teacher's pet? His first day? He sank in his seat deciding he'd have to not try as hard-though that wasn't exactly him trying hard at all.

"You're really smart." Allison whispered leaning over.

"Uh, thanks." he replied pretending to take notes again.

He kept his head down trying to inconspicuously look around to make sure no one would make fun of him and relaxed a bit when he saw no one seemed to care. He let out a sigh twisting his neck to crack it when he spotted a pair of light blue eyes gazing at him. The kid from before who'd kept his head down when he came in was full on staring at Dan making him squirm. As soon as the black haired boy noticed Dan caught him, he snapped his head back to his drawing turning a darker shade of red than Dan did. Dan smiled to himself hoping to at least catch the guy's name so he could ask his friends about him later.