"Rough night?" Asked Simone.

You looked up from your breakfast to see her blue eyes peering at you. Anxiety panged at your chest for no reason.

"Do I really look that tired?" You asked.

"Yeah."

"Thanks."

Simone took a long sip of her orange juice.

"It's not easy being on the night patrol." She told you, setting her glass down. "Sure we get to sleep in a little extra, but it's not easy. Not even worth the eye candy if you ask me."

"Why are you on the night patrol then?" You asked her.

"I'm head of second years, and I like to be good at what I do." Simone answered. "But it's not entirely my choice either."

"I wish we had more toast options." Said Theodore with a furrowed brow. The literal red head stood idly by your table, without a plate, studying his piece of toast. It looked rather burnt.

"There's a shortcut to the kitchens down the east corridor," you told him.

Eleanor suddenly arrived at your table and stood next to Theodore. For some reason, you felt apprehension curdle in your gut. Something wasn't right.

"What's gotten into you?" Asked Eleanor.

You stared at him for a second.

"Nothing."

The boy pushed up his glasses, raised an eyebrow at Simone and sat down beside her.

"Night patrol: does things to people." Simone said without looking up from her eggs.

"Yeah, I have a rough idea of where it is," said Theo, "but it's not worth the walk."

"Wake up earlier." Said Simone.

"I'm up the same time as you," said Theodore.

"Why don't you sit down?" You asked him. Theo took a big bite of his toast.

"Can't," he said with his mouth full. "Duty calls. Stay out of trouble now."

"He's telling us..." Simone remarked, shaking her head. Theo walked away to sit elsewhere for the morning.

"Wait what were you saying about not having a choice?" You asked Simone.

"I didn't tell you?" She said. "I'm at this school because I'm in an agreement with Lady Petrikov."

You could hardly remember what she even looked like. Unlike Sylabil who you'd seen every day, the head of the day class rarely made an appearance. In fact, the only time you'd seen her was at night.

"What kind of agreement?" Eleanor asked over his empty plate.

"Nothing too important," she told him. "But that's why I work the train trolley every fall. I do a lot of work here no one knows about."

"Hm."

You thought back to the girl with the jet black hair that served you on the train a few weeks ago. That was Simone.

It occurred to you how little you actually knew about your friends, despite how close you felt to them.

"How do the night students get to school?" Asked Eleanor.

Simone took another swig of her drink.

"Most of them live here full time as far as I'm aware." She replied.

"Eleanor," you said, "Where did you go last night?"

You almost forgot. But Eleanor hadn't.

"I was just about to tell you," he said, drumming his fingers on the table. "Cadere took me to his office."

"What did you do?" Simone asked. Was she excited or shocked?

"I don't know," he said, looking at both of you. "I was talking to y/n for a bit outside, I cut the corner because I heard someone calling me, and Cadere basically wanted to give me shit for no reason. I'm not even a night student."

Eleanor told you about his eerie run-in with Cadere.

"I wish people would stop comparing me to my brother." He sighed. "I know Maurice liked to get up to trouble but that doesn't mean I do."

"You did break curfew on the first night." Simone said.

Eleanor looked positively flustered.

"So did you!"

"I don't plan on doing it again!" Said Simone defensively. "At least not anytime soon..."

"Speaking of relatives-" Simone fished around in her pocket and handed you an envelope.

"What's this?" You asked. But you knew who it was from immediately.

"Must be nice to have someone care about you." Said Simone, leaning on the table.

The envelope was small and formally sealed- the extra things your aunt would always do; unnecessary, but thoughtful. Her familiar flowery scrawl read,

Y/n,
Hi sweetie! I hope you're having fun! Things are much quieter around here. I imagine you're either overwhelmed with studies or have made so many new friends you've forgotten all about me. What's the food like? Is it good?

I'm sorry for not writing to you sooner. You know how unreliable the post can be. And you know I don't like the post office. It gives me bad vibes.

Anyway, I know pretty soon you'll get used to things, but I wanted you to know that I miss you and think about you all the time and gosh! It's too quiet here. Write me back when you get the chance sweetheart. I hope you're staying away from boys.

Love love love,
~Your Aunt (who else?)

You smiled as you folded up the letter and slipped it into your pocket.

"Post came a day late, but it's always outside the dorms," Simone said. "I'm responsible for delivering it so I would know. You got one too Eleanor, I noticed you didn't take it."

Simone handed Eleanor a letter. He flipped it over and adjusted his glasses.

"It's from Maurice," he said.

Eleanor read the paper and his grin widened with each line.

"What'd he say?" You asked. The image of the dark haired boy running after the train shouting at his brother was not one you'd forget anytime soon.

"Oh, well, nothing much," Eleanor chuckled. "He did say he sold all my stuff, buuut he's joking... I'm pretty sure."

You finished up your food, noticing that Eleanor was a bit quieter than usual. You assumed he was just tired too and the weird feeling you had before had almost entirely gone away.

But when Sophia walked into the dining hall, all hell broke loose.

"Where were you?"

"What happened?"

"I was SO worried!"

"She doesn't look injured to me."

The attention was clearly unwanted by the girl, who sat at the back of the hall and tried to say she was fine. It wasn't until Sylabil got everyone's attention that the chatter stopped.

"If I'm not mistaken, you all have class in five minutes."

You and your friends went to class as usual. You were starting to get into the rhythym- although a growing tiredness loomed over your day. And you couldn't help but feel bad for the first year girl.

It was bad enough being attacked. Now she had to be the center of attention too?

Eleanor spaced out the entire lesson. You handed him an apple like he'd done for you the first week of class.

"Don't skip breakfast like that," you chastised.

"Thanks y/n." He said.

You expected him to continue a conversation but he stayed quiet in his own world, and before you could ask him what he was thinking, the lesson began, and you could only wonder.

After class, you spent most of the time doing homework in the common room. You kept an eye out for Eleanor but he was in his room, according to Theo, who went to the library to buckle down and study. You didn't know anyone could be so careful and carefree at the same time.

Simone was pretty quiet, she didn't say much about the night patrol from last night.

"As long as those girls stay away from me, I'm good." She said. "Actually, all of them are quite a hassle."

"What about Belmont or Roman?" You asked, finishing a question. "I thought you liked them."

"Oh please," she said quickly. "Boys are just distractions."

After finishing your homework, a couple guys started a poker game in the dorm, and asked you and Simone to play. You didn't really know what was going on- at least, not as much as the other players.

It occurred to you after a while they probably thought it'd be easy pickings with you, but to your surprise, Simone cleaned up. Even Theo came downstairs to play and Simone was either really lucky, or really good.

Eleanor made his appearance by telling you it was time for supper. You told him he missed the poker game but he didn't seem to care.

After a relatively quiet supper, with Theodore insisting Simone was just lucky, it was time to go on patrol again.

It never ceased to surprise you how quickly night would fall.

Sylabil divided you into pairs again, and you were hoping to be with Simone, but you got paired with Theodore, which you were happy with. Simone got paired up with Eleanor and you could see it in her eyes that she was happy to be with someone she knew.

After everyone disobeyed the fundamental law of horror movies and split up, you and Theo went inside.

"Cadere is probably starting his lesson soon." Said Theo.

Unlike last time, there weren't any stragglers you could see. You were guessing everyone was already in class.

"We're managing the west wing, oooh, fun." He said. "Let's go."

You followed Theodore to the west side of the beautiful night class dorms. Old looking renaissance paintings hung on the walls amidst decorative drawers and the occasional flower vase.

Patrol was relatively simple. Boring, even. Just walking around, scoping out the place. Disciplining rule breakers- of which there were none except Theo.

You kept following Theodore's lead when he stopped at a door suddenly, and began to turn the handle.

"What are you doing?" You asked quietly.

"This is Roman's room." He said, his eyes intent.

"THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING-"

"SH." He whispered. "Relax, okay?"

You looked around with wide eyes. Surely there were eyes everywhere and you'd get caught and go to prison for the rest of your life!

Okay, maybe not, but still.

Theodore seemed to know exactly how to turn the knob, because with a few twists and a click- the door was open.

"I have business here." Explained Theodore without really explaining anything at all.

You were hesitant enough but your curiosity won over.

Roman's room was not what you expected. It had a warm colour scheme, but you could hardly tell because in the room, there was no light.

"What are you doing?" You asked. Not being able to see well was freaking you out even more.

You heard a few drawers open and close.

"Looking for something." He replied. You heard him hit his head.

"Ow."

You shuffled in place, unsure of whether to stick with Theodore or edge away from the situation.

"Found it." Said Theodore with quiet relief. "Huh..."

"What is it?" You asked.

"Roman really needs to clean his drawers." He said, picking something up. "Heh, can't say I blame him though, if I were surrounded by pretty girls all the time, I'd be getting nosebleeds too."

You didn't understand what he was referring to, but cautiously stepping back into the hall, you saw Theodore had a thick book, and was holding a handkerchief.

"We'd better scoot." He said to you.

"How do you know he won't catch you with that book?!" You asked. "And what is it, anyway..."

"It's rightfully mine, Roman wouldn't give it to me." He said, patting the cover.

Theodore shoved the tissue into his pocket and you continued along your patrol.

"I told you, he's mine."

You heard a sudden voice from upstairs. It belonged to a female and from the tone was not someone to mess with.

"It's not my fault he stopped paying attention to you."

You and Theodore rushed upstairs to see a white haired girl restrained against the wall by a brunette with waist- length pigtails.

"Hey- ladies..." Said Theodore. When the girls heard you come up the stairs, you could tell they softened.

"Shut up," the white haired girl said, to your surprise.

"Hey, don't talk to him like that." You said.

"If you think you can steal him from me, you're dead wrong." The brunette threatened the other student.

"Fighting is strictly prohibited under school rules." You told them.

"Yeah, what she said." Said Theodore.

"Ugh, nevermind." The white haired girl said. "The mood is gone. I'm outta here."

The girl brushed past the brunette and flipped the bird as she walked away.

The girl with pigtails turned her attention to you- and she was furious.

"How dare you..." She growled.

"Go back to class." Said Theodore.

"Who do you think you are?" She asked, stepping forward. "Oh wait- no.... you're the one they're all talking about."

An unpleasant smirk formed on the girl's lips.

"Just go back to class." You told her, a bit quieter than you intended.

"I'm tired of people telling me what to do," she said. "I'm tired of you day class kids telling me what to do."

"Go back to class." You heard a voice say. But it wasn't Theodore. You turned around to see Lucian behind you. He stood close and grounded, and didn't shift his eyes from the brunette.

"Lucian Lavendale... the biggest disappointment here to save the day."

"Leave... now." He threatened. You could hardly recognize his voice.

"Fine," the girl said. "I won't do anything to her... you'll do it yourself, won't you?"

And with that, the girl was gone.

"Not all the night class girls are as kind as they are cute." Theodore remarked. He straightened out his jacket.

You wanted to find amusement in your friend's words, but you could feel the rage radiating off of Lucian. He stood with clenched fists. You didn't think he had reason to be so upset but you figured there was more going on.

"Thanks," Theodore said to Lucian.

"Yeah, thank you Luci." You said to him. The tension in his shoulders softened a bit. He took a deep breath.

"You're welcome." He said. "Let's walk back down, I have half an hour left of my class and your patrol is almost over."

The three of you made your way down to the main room. You felt on edge after the encounter. You wondered who the girls were fighting over. Even though the white haired girl hardly had any expression.

"Who was that?" You asked Lucian.

"That's Leyla." He answered coldly. "She's a handful."

"I'll say." Remarked Theodore.

"Hey, why weren't you in class?" You asked your friend.

"I just got back from the library and heard arguing." He said. "I'm glad... things didn't... escalate."

"Y/n! Theo!" You heard Simone call. "It's time to go."

You touched Lucian's arm and smiled apologetically.

"Thanks again."

"Don't mention it," he said, beginning to walk away. "And y/n?"

"Yeah?" You asked as the rest of the patrol began to exit the doors.

"Stay out of trouble."

Walking back to your dorm that night, you wondered why you were so bad at taking his advice.

Eleanor and Simone were all ears to your story about Leyla and her fight with girl-Lucian.

"I think her name is Ebony." Said Eleanor.

"How do you know?" Asked Theodore.

"I think Maurice mentioned her once or twice." He said, stepping into the dorm. "How do you know her?"

"I wouldn't be a good night patroller if I didn't know the girls I'm patrolling." He said with an exaggerated wink.

"You're something else." Simone rolled her eyes.

You all made your way to your rooms as Theodore lagged a second to throw something in the trash.

You said goodnight to Simone, holding your teddy bear close. Through the archway window, you could see the night dorm across the lake under the bridge.

You wondered what they were learning, what they were doing. You and Theo could have taken the girl on but you're glad you had Luci to help.

Still... that night class was like a whole other world. But before you could ask yourself for the millionth time why it was so dark, you fell asleep. And this time, you had nothing but good dreams.

~
Lol idek it's 3:00am I love you
I'll edit it tomorrow haha

Whose past are you most curious about?

Night ilysm thank you infinitely for reading, you're a blessing
~Fanfunctional ♡