The Roarhaven Institution - Skulduggery Pleasant School AU

Year One- Chapter Two

Skulduggery, Ghastly, Erskine and Hopeless laughed and roughhoused all the way down to the dining hall. Skulduggery hadn't had a group of friends before, and he was enjoying it. With these people, he felt he could say all the things he thought when he was with his parents. He didn't have to filter or limit himself anymore. He was finally free. Their antics put them immediately on the radar of the teachers and several older students who really could not be bothered to put up with some loud year sevens. One such student nudged his younger sister as they joined the queue behind the boys. "You stay away from those boys." Bliss muttered to China. China sighed and tossed her raven locks"You should really try reverse psychology you know. Everything you tell me not to do instantly becomes the only thing that I can want to do."

Bliss and China were new to the school but Bliss was already in Year Ten and did not trust anyone around his little sister. Their parents had wanted to send them to some prestigious religious school but Bliss produced a list of fifty reasons why that was a bad idea and even threatened to go on strike. So eventually they caved and sent the siblings to Roarhaven. China, despite only being at school for a day, had already begun gathering "useful" information and gossip on various students and faculty members. She normally would stay away from boys of Skulduggery and Erskine's calibre by her own will but Bliss' disapproval of them had sparked her interest. Now, she was determined to get to know them better. Even if it was just to spite him. So whatever Bliss was trying to achieve backfired spectacularly. Bliss was a tall and solidly built boy who returned any wandering eyes that found their way to his sister's slender figure with a glare that could curdle dairy. He was immediately marked as a guy not to mess with.

The siblings reached the front of the queue and grabbed their trays. The Welcome Back meal this year was roast beef. China fought off the disgust that rose to her delicate features as she accepted the rather sloppy food from the disinterested dinner lady. She finished getting her food before Bliss did, meaning she got to choose where they sat. She shot him a mischievous look as she made her way over to Erskine's table. The boys quietened instantly at the beautiful newcomer, but Erskine recovered his charisma in a blink. China fixed a dazzling smile on her face, "Sorry, do you mind if I sit? My brother's driving me nuts." Erskine grinned back, the others stared down at their food. "Not at all, the name is Erskine Ravel. And who might you be?" Before China could answer, Bliss had taken the seat beside her. She rolled her eyes "And so it appears you're harder to get rid of than I thought. The name is China Sorrows, this is my brother Bliss," Bliss glared at them. "I promise he's secretly glad to meet you. In fact, under the glare he's positively cuddly." Erskine's smile faltered slightly and somehow the atmosphere around the table grew even more tense. Everyone ate silently, their gaze flicking nervously between China and Bliss. Bored, China let her eyes wander around the room. Her fellow Year Sevens were fairly easy to pick out, they were either the small and nervous ones or the loud and overconfident ones. There was another table of equally rowdy boys, the table where her two roommates sat with four serious looking boys and a table of three weird goth kids. All together, a rather bland bunch. 

China pushed the food around on her plate until the teachers ushered them out of the dinner hall. She winked to Erskine, and waved her goodbye to a scowling Bliss. She shared a room with two other girls; Serafina Dey and Eliza Scorn. Both equally regal and equally a pain in the ass. However, they did seem to be the only ones at the school with a fashion sense to rival China's so she forced herself to be nice to them. Serafina was fixing her makeup and Eliza was praying when China returned to the dorm. She flashed a smile to Serafina and ignored Eliza. "You didn't sit with us at dinner, China." Serafina stated daintily. "No," China sighed, "I wanted to annoy my brother but the table I ended up sitting at was not as fun as I had imagined. Quite boring, really." Serafina snapped her mirror shut, "You need to sit with us tomorrow. We sat with the nicest boys, didn't we, Eliza?" Eliza murmured. Serafina sighed dreamily, "One of them was so tall, his name's Mevolent. He's such a sweetheart. Then there was Baron, he was a bit uptight for me but nice nonetheless. And Vile, he was odd. Didn't speak much, I would have expected him to sit with those goth kids but anyway. Then there was Nefarian, he was nice I suppose. Bit weird but then, who isn't these days? Oh and all their parents are influential religious figures! Isn't that great? A whole host of boys whom our mothers and fathers would approve of! And they were practically fawning over us! I'm sure I saw them throw a couple looks your way too." 

"Is that so?" China responded, not really interested. She'd seen the boys they were sat with, they really weren't her type. Although she knew Serafina was at least right about how her parents would approve. They, for whatever reason, didn't seem to think happiness was important in a relationship. Probably because it was so difficult for people like them to find someone as obsessed with the Faceless Ones as they were. The Faceless Ones were the state gods, ancient scriptures told of their terrible and great rule over the Earth eons ago before they were banished to another realm. Nut jobs like Bliss and China's parents seemed to think they should come back. 

The girls spent their evening reading and chatting lightly. Serafina would not stop gushing about that Mevolent boy. Even Eliza had found a boy, Christophe Nocturnal his name was, to obsess over. China found it quite tiresome. They talked about them all the way down to the shower block, and China knew they were thinking about them as they washed too. They removed their makeup, dried their hair and headed back to their dorm together. 

The girls floor was relatively quiet, laughs and muffled screams could occasionally be heard from the rooms but all together, nothing too bad. The boys floor was a different story. The girls were quite content ignoring the cacophony above them until it ventured onto their own floor. China looked up from the book she was reading as what sounded like a herd of elephants stampeded past her door. She looked to Serafina who appeared equally frustrated. She decided to pop her head out to tell them to shut up. She opened the door and was greeted to a shoe hurtling through the air to her porcelain face. It hit her right on the nose. She stood there and blinked. The boys who were in the corridor froze and looked at her in horror. She recognized the boys as the ones she sat with and the other rowdy table. A tall, dark haired boy was holding a lanky, ginger boy by the shirt collar. The scarred one was frozen mid wrestle with a boy with dark blonde hair. China opened her mouth, and gave them hell.