It was a rather sunny day considering the season of fall. Winter looked straight, confident. He was who he was and that was okay. Or at least, that was what he kept telling himself in order to try to fool everyone around him, as well as himself.
He had taken care of most things. A friend of his had helped him sign up into an all-boys boarding school. Knowing his circumstances with his parents, the friend hadn’t pried, and had just helped with fake ID as well as he could. Winter had the money for tuition, and as such, everything was in place.
Looking at the tall building looming in front of him, he felt like this was the right choice. Despite a lot of things that would definitely not go his way, Winter still felt like he was doing the right thing. This was were he belonged. He had fooled others before, so he would be able to fool this school as well. Actually, would ‘fooling’ even be the correct term? He couldn’t exactly be blamed for the XX chromosomes floating around in him. He didn’t choose to have hips. He had never once said he wanted boobs. So was ‘fooling’ really the correct word?
He just wanted to live as an ordinary boy. That was all. A simple dream, yet infused with profound happiness. Being just one of the guys, getting treated equally, a place where nobody knows him, away from his parents. This was what he needed.
With a deep inhaling, Winter moved forward. Being a transfer student in the middle of a semester would most likely get some attention either way, so might as well get it over with. Moving in a slouching way he had seen his guy friends move, he started walking. It wasn’t because he had anything against the way he usually walked, but today, it felt like he needed to make an extra impact. Something he had a talent for.
It wasn’t easy finding the office. It was a large and prestigious school, expensive too, and as such, it was a bit of a challenge to navigate through the big halls. Winter got a good look at the boys around him. All was around 16-19 of age, like him. It wasn’t that hard to imagine the time when he would be included in the foolery they were up to.
Ah, yes, his social gene was calling out to the fun, three boys were having, shooting wet paper balls to the trashcan. The joy it would bring him when he could join.
After walking around a bit more, completely forgetting his objective, Winter finally found a big office with the sign to match.
“Excuse me, I’m Winston Piers, but I’m just called Winter. I’m transferring here today” Winter said with a bit of uncomfortable tinges around his mouth, as he pronounced the fake name he had been give by his friend. He had asked for it to be as close to his real name as possible, mostly because he wasn’t sure he could get used to anything other than Winter.
“Ah, yes, Mr. Piers, we have been expecting you. Please take a seat right there on the chair, and I will be right with you” An uptight, assumed to be, secretary fiddled around with papers in a rush, as she pointed and talked. Mr. Piers, Winter smiled to himself. Yes, he was a Mr. indeed.
“If you will just follow me, here” she led the way, papers in her arms. Winter assumed it was his papers. Oh how he hoped the fake ID would hold up. Well, it already did, otherwise he probably wouldn’t have been able to get this far. Great, it was now. The big reveal.
“I will just go in and get the teacher, and then he will introduce you to the class, okay Mr. Piers?” The, most likely, secretary stood, once again fumbling with the papers. Winter looked around, trying to memorize the path from the office to the classroom, trying to get an idea of the basic layout.
“Mr. Piers. Is that understood?” She inquired, with Winter giving a little yelp at the sudden question. He knew he wouldn’t be able to get used to new names…
“I’m sorry, I was just in awe at the beautiful building, but yes, that will be fine” ‘Mr. Piers’ said, charming his way into the heart of the older woman. Clearly having a bit of an effect, she smiled, nodded and then went into the classroom.
Not long after, she came back, now with an elderly man in tow.
“This is professor Hartworth, he teaches history and anthropology. Professor Hartworth, this is Mr. Winston Piers” The two of them shaked hands, Winter giving a firm shake back, or at least, as firm as he could. He had learned rather early that a handshake says a lot about a person.
“I go by Winter” He said, letting his hand get an extra amount of strength as if to state his point as clear as possible.
“And you can just call me Heart, because I’m big and have a big heart” The elder man laughed. Winter liked that.
“Nice to meet you, Professor Heart” He said, a smile itching on his face.
“You seem like a great sport, Winst- Winter. Let’s get you settled in class” Professor Heart laughed at himself for almost making a mistake. Winter really liked this man.
The secretary had been left out, seeing as there was no job left for her. She just sighed at the two men and their exchange of pleasantries, and turned around.
Winter got followed into the classroom, standing there in front of twenty-something new faces.
Haha, so it begins, Winter thought as he heard him being introduced.
“This is our new transfer student, Winston Piers, please take good care of him, or I will add extra homework” Professor Heart said heartedly. The class started chuckling.
“Now, please tell us a bit about yourself”
With his best rough voice, Winter was now ready to make the best first impression he could manage.
“I’m Winston, but I just go by Winter, so please call me that. I can’t promise I’ll answer to anything else. I like sports, especially sports drinks” Winter held an artistic pause, accounting for laughter to arrive, and thus it did. After it dampened down, he continued.
“I’m looking forward to get to know you all. My record for paper balls in a trash can is 666. I won’t ever beat it since I feel like that was the right number to end on top, but I’ll welcome anyone for a battle anyway” Winter thought this was going well.
And thus, the second secret officially started.
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