Frank woke up at six AM. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, yanking his earbuds out of his ears. He'd fallen asleep listening to music last night, because he wouldn't have been able to any other way.
Ray was sitting at his desk, mumbling under his breath. He hadn't seemed to notice Frank's alarm.
Frank sat up and stretched. His back popped loudly. "Ow."
"Hey." Ray finally turned around, a friendly smile on his face. "Good morning. How'd you sleep?"
"Good, actually. It's surprising." Frank yawned again. "Sorry."
"No worries. Breakfast is in about two hours, but there's snacks in the common room if you need them. Bathrooms are at the end of the hall that the stairs aren't on."
"Cool, thanks." Frank got out of bed. "Where can I change?"
"Either here or there's changing rooms in the bathroom. People mostly change in their rooms, though, 'cause there's no stalls. I'll leave if you want."
"Uh, no, it's okay. Do we have to wear uniforms today?"
"Not for the tour. But wear shoes that are easy to walk in, you'll regret it if you don't."
"Rad." Frank got a random shirt, ripped skinny jeans, and his leather jacket out of his dresser. He slipped on some shoes and opened the door, peering out into the hallway. No one else was out besides a guy who looked much younger than Frank walking back to his room.
Frank made his way to the bathroom at the end of the hall. There were two doors, one with a toilet sign and one with a shirt sign. Frank pushed open the door with the shirt on it. It was a big room, empty except for a wall of shelves and lockers. There were a few other guys changing, but Frank's eyes were immediately drawn to Pretty Boy, who was buttoning up a shirt. His hair was hanging over his face in a curtain as he kept his head down, and his chest was almost as pale as the shirt he was wearing. He finished buttoning his shirt and slipped on a blazer.
Frank looked away quickly before he could get caught. He pulled his pajama shirt over his head and instead slipped on a band shirt. Nobody seemed to care, but he was worried about changing his pants anyways. He glanced around before chickening out and running back to his room.
Ray was still at his desk, but looked up when Frank came in. "Hey. Wanna finish changing in here?"
"Please."
"No problem. It's a little unnerving in there. Just let me know when you're decent." Ray stood up and walked out into the hall.
Frank closed the door and finished changing, throwing his stuff in the bottom drawer and then let Ray back into the room.
"All good? Showers might be kinda scary too, there's just curtains covering them. And there's not really a space to change, so if you change in there you either need to deal with slightly wet clothes or change out in the open."
Frank bit his lip. "I'll deal with the wet clothes."
Ray smiled. "I get that. It's- you have a lip ring?"
"Oh." Frank touched his lip. "Uh, yeah."
"Yeah, you're gonna have to take that out."
"What? Why?"
"And your earrings. Only girls and nb kids can have piercings, and even then nothing too fancy. Just studs. And no face piercings or anything. I mean...I guess you could get your bellybutton pierced or something. Teachers wouldn't see that."
"That's stupid. Who came up with that?"
"I dunno. This place is pretty conservative. You're gonna get a lot of weird looks today."
Frank sighed. "This place fucking sucks. I guess it's better than getting kicked out of every school in New Jersey, though."
Ray laughed. "Maybe."
Frank sat down on his bed and looked at his phone. "It's so early."
"Mhm. What time?"
"Six fifteen."
"Yikes. The tour isn't until nine, so you can do whatever you want until breakfast, at eight."
"Okay, rad." Frank almost asked if he could sit with Ray at breakfast, but stopped himself. "I'm gonna go get a snack from the common room, do you want anything?"
"I'm alright! Thanks for offering."
Frank smiled and left the room. It was kind of cold in the hallway. He wished he'd brought his jacket, but it wasn't that bad.
Five flights of stairs felt like way less when he was going down. Frank walked to the kitchenette and found a bunch of packages of mini muffins. He took one.
"Excuse me," a quiet voice said.
Frank turned around to see Pretty Boy. His brain short circuited.
"Could I get one of those?" Pretty Boy's thin lips twisted into a smile.
"Um, yeah." Frank handed him a package. "Sorry for yesterday."
"It's alright! I get it, first day nerves." Pretty Boy smiled. "I'm-"
"Hey! What are you doing?" A boy a little taller to Pretty Boy came over. He was taller than him, and had mousy brown hair. "Don't talk to...him."
Frank's jaw clenched, but he didn't say anything. Asshole.
Pretty Boy glared at the boy, but left with him anyway. Frank sighed and walked over to the stairs.
Ray was in the exact same position as when he left, hunched over a notebook.
"Hey, this might be a little personal, but what are you doing? You haven't moved since I left, it's been like five minutes." Frank closed the door.
"Don't worry! I'm doing something for my dad, we need statistics for the company and since that's what I'm best at in math, he gave me the job. I'm just calculating some stuff."
"Oh. Rad." Frank settled on his bed and ripped open his package of muffins.
They both did whatever until the same bell from yesterday rang. Ray shut his notebook and stood up, and Frank followed.
Clo was already in the cafeteria when Frank entered. She waved him over. Her hair was in braids today, but she was working on undoing them. Her formerly braided hair was now hanging over her back in cornrows.
"Hey." Frank slid on the bench across from her.
"Hello!" She smiled. "How did you sleep? The time zone is very different from the ones in America."
"Surprisingly well, actually. What about you?"
"I fell asleep around nine. We're an hour behind Paris, and I usually fall asleep then when I'm home."
"You live in Paris? That's awesome! Have you ever seen the Eiffel Tower?"
"Yes! My bedroom window faces it, and I go up there often. My family donated a lot to help it be built."
"Oh. So you're from a rich family?"
"Yes. This is my first year here, though. No offense, but I'm going to guess you're not."
"Uh, no. Definitely not. Wait, how old are you?"
"Sixteen, but I was struggling at my old school. What about you?"
"Seventeen. I was struggling too. I'm gonna be eighteen in October, though."
"Oh! That's soon, what day?"
"The thirty first."
"Halloween!" Clo smiled. "That must be fun. That's big in America, right?"
"Yeah, it's super fun to go around on my birthday and get candy and then come home and eat cake."
Their table started moving, so they got up and went to get food. Frank got french toast, and Clo got regular toast and cereal.
"Are you ready for the tour?" Frank asked.
"Definitely not. I'm scared to see the school." Clo brushed off her skirt. "I didn't dress for the weather, either, and we're leaving right after breakfast."
"I'd trade with you, but you would be able to see my underwear under your skirt. Also, I don't think we're anywhere near the same size."
She frowned. "I'm unhealthily thin, and I know girls starving themselves to look like me. It sucks."
Frank bit his lip. "Let's not talk about that."
"Alright. Why is French toast called that? We call it p- um, lost bread."
"You just corrected yourself."
"Pain perdu, lost bread, it's the same thing in different languages."
"Oh, okay. Why the fuck lost bread?"
She raised her hands. "Do I look like I invented the French language, Frank? No. No I do not."
They both laughed.