I peeked around the front seat of the car, scowling. I wished my dad would drive faster. If he sped up just a bit more, flinging myself out of the car might actually kill me.

                Unfortunately, he slowed down even more as he turned onto a campus. The buildings scattered around it were sturdily built, the paths cutting through the grass neatly paved. A few kids scurried down them, running late for class.

                Dad checked the time. "That traffic didn't make us too late. It's a good thing we left early."

                Mom was peering out of the window. "It's such a lovely campus."

                It could be the loveliest campus in the whole world. I still didn't want to be here.

                Dad parked the car and he and mom got out. I wondered if they would forget about me, but then mom knocked on my window, shattering my hopes and dreams once again.

                I pushed the car door open and slowly got out of the car, leaning heavily on my cane. My leg was stiff from the drive, and I tried to stretch it out.

                "Take your time," mom said, pulling my schoolbag out of the car and handing it to me.

                I slid it on over my shoulders and walked up and down the sidewalk a bit, easing my leg. Dad kept checking the time, so I gave up stalling and started towards the admission building.

                My parents hurried to catch up to me and the three of us entered the building. There was a woman sitting at a desk who looked up as we approached.

                "Hello, checking in?" she asked.

                "Just sight-seeing," I said, wincing my dad elbowed me in the ribs.

                "Kai Humphrey," he supplied for me.

                The woman typed away at her laptop. "Blue?"

                "Yea," I said, looking down at my plain clothes in despair. I'd have to trade them in for the blue vested uniform of the Academy.

                The Academy was split by colors. The kids that were here for a strong education and to become well-rounded students wore blue vests. The kids who were sent here because they were delinquents or toeing that line wore maroon vests.

                And this is where my parents decided to send me. Fantastic. I couldn't even outrun a Maroon student if they decided to kill me.

                The woman printed out several papers and set them on the desk, sliding a pen to me. "I'll need you and your parents to sign those papers. I'll grab your I.D. and room assignment."

                She stood up and left the desk, going over to a filing cabinet. I slowly signed my name on the lines of the papers, watching the letters form and seal my fate here.

                My dad took the pen from me and signed the papers next, passing the pen off to my mom who also signed. She set the pen down and squeezed my shoulder reassuringly.

                "It'll be good for you to start over," she said, voice quiet. "This place will be a good chance for you, Kai."

                I didn't want to start over. I didn't want to come to some fancy Academy that also housed troublemakers. I wanted to go home and take a nap and not wake up until I was old enough to retire.

                The woman came back and handed me a manila envelope. "You I.D. is in there. You'll use that to get in and out of your dorm building, and you'll also swipe it to get into the dining hall. A map of campus is in there as well. Your room key and room assignment is in there. Your I.D. card also gives you special access to the elevators on campus."

                "His dorm room is on the first floor, right?" dad asked.

                The woman nodded. "Yes, we made sure to assign him a room on the first floor. I'll go get someone to take him to his classes and someone to take you to his room to move his belongings in. He's running late for his first class."

                She left the room, heading out of a door off to the side. I tucked the manila envelope into my backpack.

                "Kai, we're doing this to help you," mom said. "Please, stop looking so angry."

                "Oh, no, there's nothing to be angry about. You just switched me to a new school without caring if that's what I wanted or not," I said. "What could I possibly be angry about?"

                "This is a good school," dad promised. "And they keep the classes small so the teachers can work with students closely. You can get back on your feet here."

                I raised an eyebrow, watching him blush as he caught his own words. "Really? I can get back on both my feet here? I didn't know this place could work miracles." I gestured to the useless leg just barely managing to hold up my weight.

                "You know what I mean," dad said hastily. "It'll be a good place for you to start over and meet new people."

                "Please try to meet new people," mom practically begged.

                "I'll make friends with the Maroon kids. I'm sure plenty of them are drug dealers. Maybe I can get high enough to get through this nightmare," I said.

                "Kai," mom groaned.

                Before she could lecture me, the door opened and the woman came back in, followed by two men. She led them over to me and one stepped away to introduce himself to my parents.

                "Hi," the other one said, smiling and offering his hand to me. "My name is Mr. Hanson and I oversee the dorm building you're assigned to."

                I reluctantly shook his hand. "Hi, my name is Kai Humphrey and I don't want to be here."

                He just laughed that off though. "A lot of students are nervous when they first come here. A lot of them have never lived away from their families before. You'll adjust here, I promise." He held up a piece of paper. "I have your schedule here. I'll be walking you to your first class. You'll be excused from wearing your uniform for today, but you'll have to wear it starting tomorrow."

                "Awesome. Fashion," I grumbled.

                "Goodbye, Kai. We'll call you later to see how the first day went," mom said, hugging me tightly. "Please try to be social here."

                "Do your work and try to be outgoing," dad said, hugging me when mom was done.

                "We love you. We'll talk to you tonight," mom said before following the other man out of the building.

                Mr. Hanson led me out of the building as well and we started down the path together. He was eyeing my schedule.

                "Well, the dorm building has two students assigned to each section," he said, looking away from my schedule. "If you need anything or have any problems, they can help you. If they can't, they'll send you to me and I'll help you."

                "Can they help me escape?" I asked.

                He laughed again. "No, but maybe a few episodes of Prison Break could help with that."

                He was walking slow, probably trying to be polite for my sake. I tested my leg a bit and picked up the pace.

                "I know I'm crippled, but I'm not a snail," I said.

                He matched his pace to mine. "Now, you'll be in classes with Blue students only. But we have certain programs and study groups that mix Blue and Maroon students. I know some students are apprehensive about mixing in with that lot, but they're under stricter rules and the teachers here are fully capable of handling them and any situations they cause."

                "Great, so if they stab me, I'll be sure to comfort myself with the knowledge that the teachers will give them a stern talking to about the incident," I said.

                "They wouldn't dream of harming a Blue student. They have severe punishments here to keep them in line. They're here for their behavioral problems," Mr. Hanson said. "Don't let them intimidate you."

                We approached a building and Mr. Hanson led me up the side ramp. He held the door open for me and ushered me in.

                "This is the academic building," he explained. "We set it up so that your dorm is the closest one to this building."

                He led me down the hall and over to a classroom. He knocked before opening the door to reveal a fairly small class of blue vested students. They all looked at me curiously and I fought off an embarrassed blush. God, I hated attention.

                The teacher stepped over to us. "The new student, yes?"

                "Wow, is that why this is the first time we're meeting?" I asked in surprise.

                He held his hand out to me. "My name is Mr. Townsend."

                I shook his hand. "I'm Kai."

                "Kai is being excused from his uniform for the day. I'll inform his other teachers," Mr. Hanson said.

                "It's nice to meet you, Kai. You'll be sitting right at that desk there," Mr. Townsend said, gesturing to a desk near the door.

                I limped over to the desk and sat down, leaning my cane against it. Mr. Townsend and Mr. Hanson spoke quietly for a moment before Mr. Hanson left the room.

                "Class, this Kai," Mr. Townsend introduced. "He's new here. Please make sure you make him feel welcome at Constance Academy."

                The blush finally broke through on my face and I sank down in my chair as kids turned to look at me. Thankfully, Mr. Townsend started up his lesson, meaning I didn't have to actually say anything about myself or look at anyone.

                I suffered through the lesson, desperate to get this day over with. Well, actually, I was desperate to get this whole experience over with.

                Constance Academy was a prestigious Academy that took in kids from fifth grade up to high school seniors. My parents kept going on and on about how great it was, what kinds of kids had graduated from it, and how successful its Blue students were. It was expensive to go to, but it produced strong results to back up its tuition.

                I thought it was a waste for my parents to send me here. They'd spent enough money on me already after my leg was wrecked, and now they were wasting more to send me to some stupid Academy I had no interest in. We could've used that money to buy a dog and it would've made me a lot happier.

                When the class let out, I was relieved. I packed up my notebook and got to my feet, grabbing my cane.

                "Kai!"

                I sighed and limped up to Mr. Townsend's desk. He offered me a friendly smile.

                "If you're confused about anything, please feel free to come see me in my office and I'll catch you up on our lessons. The other students will also be more than happy to help you or let you borrow notes. You'll be excused from the quiz we have this week," he said.

                "That is the only good thing I have heard all day," I said in relief.

                "Also, please feel free to leave the room to stretch out your leg if you need to. That's why I sat you by the door," he said.

                "I don't need special treatment," I said, feeling my irritation spike. "Would you give special treatment to a kid with a leg cramp?"

                "I meant no offense. The option if there if you need it," he said, unbothered by my anger.

                "Yea, I don't," I said and left the room.

                I checked my schedule and found my way to my next classroom. The kids in there were almost the same group as from Mr. Townsend's class, but I guess that kept us in groups so the teachers could get to know us.

                "Kai Humphrey?" the teacher asked, coming up to me.

                "Did my lack of uniform give it away?" I said.

                "I'm Mrs. Petrie," she said, shaking my hand. "Your desk is right there."

                She guided me to my desk, making my irritation spike again. I was crippled, not blind.

                "Class, this is Kai Humphrey. He's new here, so please make him feel welcome and help him if he has any questions," she announced. Fuck, was this going to happen in every class?

                The answer was, unfortunately, yes.

                My next class involved the same thing. My teacher shook my hand, took me to a desk near the door in case I needed to get up and stretch my leg, and announced me to the class. The class was going to have my name permanently ingrained in their brains by the time this day was over.

                By the time my third class let out, I was relieved to get a break. I hurried along to the dining hall, my relief turning to dread as I spotted the stairs that led up to the dining area.

                I looked over to where the elevator was and steeled myself. No, no way. I was annoyed at all the attention I'd already gotten from my teachers about my leg. I didn't need special accommodations. I could make it up a set of stairs.

                I followed the crowd of kids to the stairs and waited until it was almost completely empty before starting the journey up. I went slow, clinging to the side railing as I dragged my leg uselessly behind me.

                It began to ache halfway up the stairs, fighting against me. But it was too late to head back now, and I was determined to reach the top of the damn stairs.

                I put a little too much weight on my bad leg on accident, nearly losing my footing as it started to give out. I threw myself towards the railing that split the stairs down the middle, and hit someone before I managed to grab it.

                The kid wobbled, nearly losing their balance and just managing to catch himself on the railing before he fell. He let out an irritated noise as he righted himself. He was wearing a maroon vest, which sank my mood.

                "The elevator is down there, crip," he said, nodding at it. "I can shove you down the stairs if it'll help you reach it faster."

                Not in the mood for assholes, I whacked the kid in the legs with my cane. He yelped and jumped away, nearly losing his balance again and catching himself on the railing.

                He glared at me, looking offended. "You're an angry crip. Have fun dragging yourself up the stairs."

                He hurried away before I could hit him again. I glared after him, but gripped the railing and dragged myself the rest of the way up the stairs.

                By the time I had my lunch on a tray, my leg was throbbing. I found an empty table and managed to set my tray down and grip the edges just before my leg gave out. I fell into a chair and leaned my cane against the table, rubbing my bad leg.

                Fuck stairs. I was going to fist fight all the stairs.

                I looked up as someone kicked my cane, watching as it clattered onto the floor and rolled away. The kid from the stairs looked at it in surprise.

                "Whoops, my leg slipped," he said.

                "When I get that back, I'm going to bash your head in with it," I growled.

                He smirked. "Sassy crip. And a new kid! Not even in uniform yet and already making enemies! I'd guess a Blue." My glare confirmed that and he laughed. "Welcome to Conversion Academy, newbie."

                He kept on walking without a glance back. I got up and grabbed my cane, sitting back down and setting it across my lap.

                Conversion Academy? What the hell did that mean? Was he just stupid enough that he misspoke instead of saying Constance Academy?

                Still, it was only my first day here, and I'd already made an enemy. Great, awesome job, Kai. This was clearly going to be a great schoolyear. Welcome to Constance Academy.

------------------------------

A.N.- Alright everyone, this is the third Conversion Academy story, but it can be read as a standalone book! (The other two are titled "Conversion Academy" and "The Only Faith")

I'm not going to lie; this book might start out a bit slow because I struggled with it. I deleted over 50 pages of work before finally settling on the draft I'm posting now. I hope you'll give it a chance though, because I've worked hard with this story.

Please, let me know what you think so far! And for those of you who read CA and/or TOF, how do you feel about seeing the Academy in the POV of a Blue?

(Cover made by KoalaMuffins. Thanks to everyone who made a cover, I'll be posting them all!)