.. crush on you .. — Elijah Who 

"Remind me, again..where exactly am I going?" Cory questioned, looking at his mother as he shoved his last item into his suitcase.

His mother looked over at him, her expression soft- yet her eyes full of bitterness. "For the last time, hun, we're sending you to a new school. Your father's idea. You'll like it" she told him, giving him a fake smile.

The young Latino boy chewed his lip. They were sending him away? Did he do something wrong? "Why? When will I be able to see you again?"

Cory gulped as his mother gave him an annoyed look, however  she still had that fake smile plastered onto her face. "The people there, they'll make you feel welcomed and help you" she said. "You'll  get to see us when we pick you up in three months" she told him, not even caring that her lie might hurt her son. 

Cory's mom paused what she was doing.   "However, you won't be alone"

Cory gave his mom a confused expression. "I won't?? Who's coming??" part of Cory was excited, excited to not be alone. But the other part of Cory was nervous.

"Do you remember Liam and Aspan?"

Cory's face lit up, and a big goofy smile appeared. "Of course I do!" The boy said excitedly. "Are They here??"

His mother shook her head. "No, but you'll meet them there"

"okay!" Cory exclaimed. Ever  since hearing that his old childhood friends were going to be here, his mood sorta, improved. Cory grabbed the rest of his belongings and sprinted towards the door, but not before giving his mother a sweet kiss on the forehead.

                                                                                            * 

Later on, Cory said goodbye to his father, and then his mother drove him to his destination. 

Cory sat in the back of the car, with all of his luggage. In the seat next to him was a brown satchel. In that satchel, was his most prized possession. His camera. Cory remembered that summer when he finally had saved up enough money to get the latest camera at the time. Ever since, his camera went everywhere with him. It was like a piece of his heart. It was a part of him.

                                                                                            *

After an hour or so, the car finally came to a halt. Cory said his final goodbyes to his mother, and then gathered  his belongings and stepped out of the car. He had to admit, the school was pretty fancy.

Tall, iron gates decorated in roses, surrounded the place. By the entrance of the gates, read a rather large sign that said:

                                                           SANTA ROSA PRIVATE SCHOOL

Cory smiled to himself, pulling out his camera and snapping a picture. The boy turned around to look at his mother, but she had already left.

Instead of letting this bother him or ruin his mood, he just kept smiling and continued waking.  In the distance, he could see two boys, around his age.  They must've been the boys he was excitedly waiting for.

"Hey!" Cory shouted, waving towards the others.

a boy with coffee brown hair turned to look at him and another boy with darker brown hair looked at him as well. The two smiled brightly as Cory approached them.

"Cory?" the coffee colored hair boy asked. Liam. He couldn't forget that face.

"It is in fact, Cory" the other boy replied. Aspen. 

Cory started to run towards them, setting his bags down just before he hugged both of the boys tight. "It's been too long. way too long"

Liam nodded. "Yeah. I would've preferred we got to meet somewhere else- and not this place"

"This shouldn't be bad" Cory reassured him. "We'll be here for a couple months and then I'll parents will come get us, right?"

If only he knew.

Aspen nodded. "I hope that's the case. If not, we really are screwed"

"Yeah you're right" Liam replied.

The three separated from their hug, though Cory wished They hugged for longer.

Aspen rubbed the side of his cheek, looking around. "Are we supposed to wait around or-"

suddenly Aspen was cut off as the large black entrance doors swung open, and there stood an older female dressed in black, as well as another boy dressed in uniform.

The lady walked over to them with the boy , smiling. "Ah, our new arrivals! Splendid!" She said with a smile.

"I would like to start off by greeting you all. I'm Mrs.Woodhouse and this here, is Mr.Adams. He'll be showing you around and making sure you understand everything" Mrs.Woodhouse looked over to the boy, nudging him slightly.

"Uhm, hi. I'm Cyrus Adams and I'll basically be your tour guide" he chucked "you guys are?"

Cory extended his hand for Cyrus to shake it. "I'm Cory. It's nice to meet you"

After Cory and Cyrus shook hands, Aspen was next to introduce himself.

"hi, Im Aspen" Aspen said. Cyrus smiled, looking over to the last boy on the left of him.

"And you are?" Cyrus asked at Liam, who at the moment was staring  off into space at Cyrus. After a couple seconds of no answer, Cyrus asked again. "Uh..hello? Who are you??" The male put his hand on Liam's shoulder.

"W-What??" Liam asked, snapping out of his thoughts. "W-Who am i?? Oh! I'm Liam!"

Cyrus chuckled at the male. "It's nice to meet you, Liam"

Cyrus was about to talk more, but was stopped by Mrs.Woodhouse. "Now, if you don't mind, I have very important business to attend to. Mr.Adams will show you around and bring you to your living quarters" she told them, before scurrying back inside.

Cyrus nodded. "So, shall we begin our tour?"

***

Cyrus and the rest of the boys wandered the school halls, taking in the gorgeous sculptures and the large and roomy classrooms.

Inside the school, the three boys noticed how different everyone was. People of every size, shape, and color. Everyone seemed different. The thing everyone had in common were the same plain uniforms and of course, their genders; As it was an all male school.

Cyrus lead the group to a large staircase, many students going up and down the stairs. "I'd like you to meet a friend of mine"

Aspen's eyes darted to tall boy with curly hair. "This is Samual Frezno" 

Samual flashed them a big smile. "It's nice to meet you, darlings"

Cory couldn't help but laugh at him. "I'm guessing , these are our new arrivals?" Samual asked. "would you like some help?"

Cyrus nodded as Cory took his camera out and began to take pictures of his surroundings. After a little while of Samuel joking around with the boys, Cyrus was afraid that they were running late "I'm afraid to cut this short, but we have to get going" Cyrus said.

"Oh, of course. Where to next?" Samuel questioned.

"I'm pretty sure the dorms are next" Cyrus replied.

"Then that's where we'll be going" Samuel said with a grin.

                                                                                            *

Cory, Liam, and Aspen followed their two 'tour guides' through stairways and hallways, and Aspen prayed to god that they would get to their destination before he collapsed from too much walking. "How are we not here yet?" Aspen complained 

"Patience" Samual told him with a playful wink. "We're almost there"

Liam groaned in response. "But you said that ten minutes ago!"

Both Cyrus and Samuel chuckled at that response

Soon enough, the boys were relieved that they finally made it to one of the dorms. "We're gonna have to split up. I'll take Liam to his assigned dorm, Sam." Cyrus told the boy, rummaging through his pockets to pull out a silver key, handing it to Samuel.

"Alright, good with me" Samuel replied, taking the keys from him. Aspen and Cory waved goodbye to Liam, hoping to see him later.

"Alrighty, welcome to your new living space. I stay here as well, but I will warn you, the people here can be pains in the ass" Samuel Warner them, putting the key in the key slot and turning it, swinging to door open.

Inside were five boys, most of them either sitting on the dorm couch, or somewhere scattered in the room. And to be honest, only a handful of boys seemed to be interested that they were there. "I'm here~" Samuel announced, entering the room "and with someone new arrivals!"

Cory and Aspen followed Samuel into the dorm, the foul stench of cigarette smoke attacked their noses. Aspen covered his mouth, "what the.."

"Oh, don't mind that" Samual said once he noticed the boys disgusted looks. "It's Jesse, he's not supposed to smoke since it's against the rules, but we aren't snitch's"

Cory's eyes darted to a boy who was sitting on the couch, a cigarette in hand. Cory felt his heart flutter.

"Do you have a problem with it?" Jesse asked bitterly, narrowing his eyes as he got up.

Cory quickly shook us his head. "W-Well n-no"

Jesse stood in front of the poor Latino boy. Jesse put the cigarette into his mouth, inhaling, and then taking it out of his mouth, blowing the smoke into his face. "then don't fuckung complain" Jesse said in a snarky tone, looking over to Aspen. "You too,, Dumbo"

Both cory and Aspen shared a look in fear. Samuel was quick to notice as he strolled over to Jesse, setting his hand on the boys shoulder. "Jess, please. Can you at least be a bit more welcoming? It's their first day"

Jesse glanced at Samuel, mumbling something under his breath. "Hmph..fine"

"Thank you" Samuel smiled, turning back to the boys. "Anyways, as you know that's Jesse. The fellas over there are Drake and Eli "

two boys waved before Samuel could continue on. "and lastly this is our boy Kyle"

(Author sneaks in joke)

The boy who both Cory and Aspen assumed to be Kyle, nodded. "Welcome to hell. We hope you enjoy your stay because there literally is no escaping"

Aspen gave him a weird look, raising his brow. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Jesse rolled his eyes. "Some of us have been here for a long ass time, hoping that someday our parents would come pick us up. But they never do- and we're just stuck here until we hit the legal age to leave on our own. It's hell"

"Your parents just ...leave you here..?" Cory asked.

"Mhm, they do" he started "they say they'll come  back for you in a couple months or a couple of weeks but they never do. Or they just walk out of your lives as you have no other place to go but this prestigious dump" 

Everyone went silent for awhile. No one knew exactly what to say and even if they had something to say, they didn't know how to put it. Cory thought hard about his question. "Do...you think my parents will come back? Come back and get me?"

Jesse looked up from the ground, almost looking shocked by the question. "Why...no. You aren't going home..they won't come back and get you. This is your new life" 

                                                                                         Authors note...

HOLA! Im impressed that you've made it this far?? Usually most people will stop reading half way through. ANYWAYS! I hope you did enjoy the first chapter. It was sorta kinda rushed but ya know what, who cares. I haven't fully introduced the characters but don't worry, the seconds&third chapter will have introduced All the characters. I honestly hate my writing and it's okay if you hate it too. It'll probably hurt my feelings but then I'll realize you right and then suck it up. BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME. Go enjoy yourself. Bleach your eyes because you have just read trash and have a good morning/evening/night.