"So," Ellie said brightly, turning to Alex. "Uh, I guess we should address the elephant in the room—"

"I'm trans," Alex interrupted flatly, cutting her off. "I was put here because of my birth certificate. No, I don't like it. Yes, I already hate all of you. Anything else?"

"It's not that bad," Olivia said, not looking up from her sketch. "At least we'll get to figure out what's been going on with us."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because nothing says 'mental stability' like being told you've got magic blood and need to leave your whole life behind to attend some creepy Hogwarts knockoff in the middle of nowhere."

Charlie snorted. "Come on, it's kind of cool. Don't tell me you're not even a little curious about what you can do."

"I already know what I can do," Alex said, his voice flat. "It's called ruin everything."

"Everything okay?" Charlie asked as he dropped into a seat across from her.

"Peachy," Alex said, stabbing at the unidentifiable mush on his plate.

Charlie gave him a look. "What happened?"

"What do you think happened?" he snapped. "I got shoved into the girls' dorm because apparently my birth certificate still decides who I am."

"Great chat, as always," she quipped, her voice full of forced cheer. Olivia was the kind of person who tried to be a ray of sunshine in a thunderstorm, even if it was obvious she was forcing herself to sparkle. She was also the only reason Alex hadn't tried to yeet himself off the planet last semester.

GUYS DID GPT ACTUALLY JUST FUCKING SAY 'YEET'  😱