Room 407.
From the outside, it might appear to be ordinary, just like any other room on this floor. It had the usual mahogany door, decorated with the standard number plate used for the sign. The off-white background of the hall seemed to be the same, too. Even the doorknob had the identical circular metal that you'd find in just about any other room in this building. But if you would look closely, the door was particularly showing an invisible sign, Beware!
Maybe they used an invisible ink to conceal the sign, particularly from the current occupant himself, but revealed the secret to everyone else. The other seniors had approached me about this at least three times during dinner earlier tonight.
Fortunately, Jayden and I were able to grab some food after almost an hour of waiting for the other students to finish harassing the canteen staff. Aside from the obvious gay warnings, the others had mentioned some other things, making KN someone who would pounce or shoot me dead out of the blue.
I hadn't seen KN during dinner, though. Jayden had mentioned that he usually skipped dinners and there were rumors he was eating alone in his room. Or rather, our room. This would be the set-up from now on. I had completely tossed aside the thought of transferring to another room, specifically Daniel's. That would be one insane idea, knowing what was behind these baggy clothes that I was wearing, and the danger of Daniel's sleepwalking, notably, to someone else's bed.
Daniel was definitely out of the picture.
As I was standing outside the door, I wondered if I should knock. Technically speaking, it was now my room, too. But for the sake of at least having some peaceful roommate relationship between me and KN, I knocked.
Twice. Thrice. A couple more times.
No one answered, except for the occupant of the room next door, who courteously told me he might not be around. Of course, I didn't have to be a genius to realize that no one was inside. I was just hesitant. KN did stare at my face a moment ago.
So, taking a deep breath, I grabbed the key from my pocket and slid it into the hole. Thud. The door unlocked. I took in another mouthful of air. I knew that whatever I'd do for the next few days would all be heading to oblivion, anyway. What was another event to start it all? Everything had to begin at some point.
To oblivion, and something a little after that. But just a little!
Pushing the door open, with all due courage needed, I found no one inside. It was dark, so I pressed the light switch on, locating it beside the doorpost. A room with a bunk bed on my left and a couple of study desks on the other greeted me.
Looking around, my eyes landed on the bed. Obviously, KN occupied the one below, since it was the one that seemed to be used. The covers were all over the place, and one pillow was barely holding its place in between the end of the bed and midair. What ever happened to tidiness?
Tossing back his pillow to the bed and ending its misery, I looked around the room some more. It was big enough to hold two people inside. I put my luggage beside the bed and started walking around. The bathroom was nice, but it was smaller compared to what I'd expected.
I went back to our room. There were papers all over KN's desk. I unzipped my bag and placed some of my things on my desk as well, still wondering where KN went. It was almost nine, and he wasn't back yet.
Well, if he was sleeping somewhere else, that would be okay. But it couldn't be possible. Regardless, he could camp out all he liked, and I wouldn't mind. In fact, I'd be so grateful.
After tidying my desk, I put all my clothes in my closet and made sure that I safely hid my personal belongings underneath a pile of shirts. I even prepared fake undies, just in case there would be an underwear inspection or things like that. You'd never know what could happen in a boys' dormitory. I was so proud of myself for preparing well for this endeavor.
Checking the clock hanging on the wall, I saw it was almost ten in the evening. Yet still, there was no sign of KN. I looked outside the window, seeing school security guards going around the campus and shoving the students back to the dorm. So where did KN go? Someone must have informed him that someone would move in with him tonight.
I blinked, another realization sinking in my thoughts.
Oh, right.
So maybe that was actually why he'd carefully examined me earlier. He must have heard that someone would move over, and that certain someone would be his new roommate. Obviously, that would be me—big bag, unfamiliar face, and the only senior transferee.
Why hadn't I thought about that earlier? Of course, nobody knew that I had chosen this room, since they all thought that the dorm's assistant director would hand me Daniel's key room without question. The rumor was more popular than what I'd imagined it to be. In fact, everyone knew about it.
KN might be curious why someone had suddenly decided to share a room with him. Next time I'd think of some random boy kissing me in an all-boys school, I should instantly disregard the idea. I heard from my sources that there had been no occurrence wherein he showed interest to the other guys, not something they'd known of. After all, he wasn't the type that went around and greeted everyone whenever, like Jayden. In fact, he just ignored all of them, mostly, ever since he had moved here last year.
And that fact—his move last year—had landed him a spot on my Finn suspects. I did not know if my brother suddenly turned out to be gay. He never mentioned it. But a good detective should always consider all sides.
From what I'd heard, there were seven transferees last year: KN, Grayson, Austin, Christoffer, Micah, Daniel, and Luke Walker. At least that trimmed down the hefty number of fifty-three. Eating dinner with Jayden paid off. I got so much information without him getting suspicious, and me not having to sound that interrogating. Jayden was, without a doubt, the friendliest among the group.
As I was putting on my pillow covers, I saw KN's pillows again. I couldn't help but wonder if he really smelled like evergreen, or if I was imagining it all along. Looking around, I made sure that he wasn't in the room yet. But even if he wasn't currently present in the scene, I hesitated for a moment, thinking that it would be too weird to be found out in such a position. But a few minutes later, I picked up his pillow. No one would know anyway. Slowly pulling it close to my face, I smelled it.
Evergreen.
There was no doubt about it. As I was still thinking about how he had that smell, I heard a pair of footsteps behind me. Oh, shit. Realizing that I had left the door open, there was a high possibility that it was KN. And he had seen it. Definitely. I was so dead.
And as if to confirm my assumption, KN asked, "Is that my pillow?"
I jumped to my feet, throwing the pillow back to his bed. Why did he have to appear right now? A scream had escaped my mouth, and I could only hope that he didn't notice the very feminine tone I had used. It was a moment of impulse. I wasn't able to correct my voice at all.
Damage control, Fiona.
I had to do some damage control, before he would conclude that I wasn't a boy, which was insanely the truth. This was my second mistake of the night, and it was only my first night here. How much worse would it be tomorrow, or the day after that? I had to get my acts straight right away.
"Hi, Konstantino Nikolas!" I greeted him immediately, with a deep, manly voice, thinking that this distraction was the most effective way to drift the attention from my sudden mistake. I didn't want to sound impolite by calling him KN and sound all too familiar.
Most of the students here came from well-known families. I did not know how I should actually talk with them. Okay, so maybe the rest of them were pretty normal, and they didn't make me feel I should talk to them with high regards. But with KN, I wasn't sure. Oh, and I was still holding a grudge against him for scaring me a moment ago, even if he had his reasons.
"KN," he corrected me, almost right away, as he looked at me with utmost boredom.
"You don't like—" I was about to ask him if he didn't like being called by his real name, apparently pushing aside the pillow talk.
"I don't and back off, will you?" KN cut me off, shoving me aside. "And why did you smell my pillow?"
"I was just..." I stuttered, my face burning with embarrassment. I was just wondering if he really smelled like evergreen, or if I was only being delusional. How bad could that be? Maybe creepy, really.
"What?" KN demanded for a comprehensible answer.
"I was just wondering where the smell was coming from. Don't you smell it?" I covered up, pretending to smell something unusual around the room.
KN didn't seem to be convinced. He studied me closely. But this time around, thankfully, he wasn't doing it in the most literal sense. His eyes were the ones that were following my every move, and his face was not on mine.
What a relief.
Three minutes had passed with me looking around everywhere, and him still staring at me while sitting on his bed. I rearranged everything that was moveable and immediately put them back in their original positions.
Another minute passed by.
I long forgot the idea of starting a conversation with him, like asking why he smelled like evergreen. Okay, so maybe not that. Getting acquainted seemed to be impossible now, too.
I couldn't do this anymore. I really wanted to escape from his peering eyes. Grabbing my towel and a set of new clothes, I said, "I can use the bathroom, right?"
He nodded once, still staring at me with those dubious eyes. I cleared my throat and headed inside the shower, catching my breath the very minute I was out of his sight. I swore, he could be a psychopath, and I'd believe whoever said so in the blink of an eye. Oh wait, someone had already said that.
Opening the shower, I contemplated on my decision. Aside from a few leads, I hadn't felt that sibling recognition at all. This would be even harder than I thought. Finn, whoever he was, didn't seem to recognize me, either.
I lost track of how long I'd been taking a shower and dwindling in my thoughts, but my fingers clearly implied that it had been long enough for them to get wrinkled. Thinking that spending an entire hour in the bathroom might sound off, I'd finally went out and faced him again.
When I got out, I saw him searching for something on his desk. He made it even more chaotic than how it was a moment ago. As I was looking at him while drying my hair, he asked, "Are you a klepto?"
I almost dropped my towel. "A what?"
"Something is missing," he paused, still looking at his things. "I placed it here..."
"You could have asked me if I had seen it, instead of calling me a thief."
"Are you?" he asked, staring right at me.
"No!" I exclaimed. "And why are you even accusing me? Do you have a proof that I took whatever you were looking for?"
"I was just asking."
"But it's offensive."
"If you're guilty."
"No, what you said was really offensive." I shook my head. "I can't believe that you're like this. You're even worse than what I've heard."
"What have you heard?" he repeated.
"That you're hard to get along with," I said, obviously holding back most of what I had actually heard.
"And?"
"What and?"
"Surely, you must have heard that I'm gay," KN bluffed, raising one of his eyebrows. "And I'm positive that you want to ask me about it right now."
I coughed.
Did he just read my mind? Not sure what I should say, I ended up shrugging my shoulders, as if I didn't know a thing, when obviously, it was the first thing I'd heard about him. However, he wasn't convinced. I guessed the news was more popular than what I could ever imagine. Even the object of the rumor was fully aware of it.
"It doesn't matter if you are or not."
"Of course, that's not the only thing you've heard of," KN added, before going back to finding whatever he was searching for.
"But are you really gay?" I finally asked, unable to contain it anymore. We just had an argument, I knew, but I was dying with curiosity. And he was the one who had brought up the topic. I might as well clarify it as early as now. "I'm just asking, since we'll be sharing the same room."
"They said so."
"But are you?"
He didn't answer.
"So does that mean you like guys?" I slowly said, figuring him out.
"I don't need to answer that," he replied.
"Do you have a boyfriend?" I asked him again, not considering the fact that he seemed to be uninterested in my questions. I couldn't help but be curious. It was hard to resist. An all-boys boarding school romance!
"What?" KN stared at me with utter skepticism.
"You know, if you have a..." I paused, wondering how I should say this. "...you know, a romantic involvement with—"
He sighed, a bit angrily. "I don't like guys. If you're nosy and worried about that, you can sleep in peace. I swear, I won't touch you. That's the last thing I ever want to happen."
I wouldn't want that, either.
"Um, then, could you possibly like girls?" I asked with extreme confusion.
"Nope," KN grunted, continuing his search for the missing paper among the pile.
"Then who do you like?" I carried on.
"Myself," KN simply replied.
"Yourself?" I echoed back.
"Yes," he answered. "Do I need to explain that, too?"
"No." I gave up. "It makes sense."
He shrugged and somehow found what he was looking for. I hadn't asked what it was, feeling that our conversation was already enough for the day. Getting up the wooden ladder to my bed, I heard him say, "I've been meaning to ask you..."
I looked at him, holding on to the last step. "What is it?"
"Did anyone tell you that you look like a girl?" he said in a matter-of-fact way. I nervously coughed, almost choking on my breath. Of all things to say, I wasn't expecting that. Not from him, anyway.
"Who the hell gave you the idea?" I asked with a rough voice, trying to look chill and assertive too, for a change. Maybe all guys loved being cocky. Who knew?
"A lot of things," he said. "And you look familiar. Have we seen each other before?"
"I don't think so," I replied. "If saying that you're not interested in guys, and then throwing that punch line worked for you before, it doesn't for me. Just turn off the lights when you're finished with what you're doing."
Gosh, I could sound this cool?
I climbed up to my bed. I didn't know why I said that, but it was the only way I could think of on how to avoid having the have-we-met-before conversation, which might end up with him identifying exactly where and when. That could probably lead to the ultimate revelation that I was a girl. After all, it was only this afternoon that I'd turned to a boy. So, for the most part of my existence, whether we'd met at the grocery or at the salon, I'd be a girl in that certain memory.
"I'm not hitting on you," KN said, a bit irritated.
"Do you have a sister?" I suddenly asked.
"No," he replied. "Why did you ask?"
"Then good night, Konstantino Nikolas," I muttered. Maybe I could cross out his name from my list. A greater part of me didn't want to believe that he was my brother. And he answered fast enough when I'd asked him if he had a sister, so he seemed to be telling the truth. But I guessed he could still stay on the list for a while until I was certain that he wasn't faking everything. Like the way Finn did before entering Corner Stone High School.
One could never be too certain.
FINDING FINN JOURNAL NO. 5
I have my primary suspects! Hooray! And my roommate's a weirdo.