"WOULD ALL STUDENTS PLEASE PROCEED TO THE RECEPTION, IN ORDER TO BE ALLOCATED THEIR LIVING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THIS ACADEMIC YEAR. THANK YOU.”

Well, that put an end to their conversation. “Bye, Diego…” Casper smiled softly as he raised his hand in a gentle wave. “Y-yeah…it was nice.” Roommates, this was the scary part. If it would be anything like last time, Casper was just about ready to throw in the towel. He would not share a room with a disgusting pig [i]ever[/i] again. Not if he had anything to say about it! But then again…he [i]didn’t[/i]. If he wasn’t going to live through this school, he’d have to live through another. Might as well deal with it, right? 

As Diego left, Casper remained for a brief moment, just to take a breath. This was it, the real start of the school year. He felt his body shivering slightly at the thought, his hands trembling just so as he squeezed his knees and clenched his teeth. [i]‘This is it, Casper. Don’t fuck it up…’[/i] Like that was avoidable. This boy attracted bullies like a vicious flame attracted moths, there was no escaping it. Though, it was rather hard to believe, honestly. Sometimes he still had difficulties believing that he was in the hole he had found himself in. This was a school for [i]freaks[/i]. Why was [i]he[/i] singled out? Well, that wasn’t quite true. That flesh beast that just passed by had to take a thousand times more punishment than Casper, even though he…it…was a teacher. There was that boy, as well. Casper couldn’t recall his name still, but at this point, it really didn’t matter. 

Getting up to his feet, his bright red converse clad feet, Casper dusted himself off from the grass and pulled the strap of his bag to place across his shoulder. With his eyes set on the ground, he started towards the reception area. He knew the way. As he walked, the boy would look up from time to time in hopes of spotting someone he liked. That someone was one of two people, really. It was either Diego or Mason, none of which were visible through the crowd. Also, it could be nice to take a break from talking with people for tonight. Casper had spoken more this day than he had all last [i]year[/i]. Okay, maybe that was a bit much, but he couldn’t quite remember any time where he had been so talkative. 

“H-hello…” The boy looked up at the receptionist. 

“Hello.” She returned, raising an eyebrow as if to wait for him to finish his sentence. 

“M-my room…?” He continued, seeing her typing something into her computer. 

“Name?” 

“Casper Hayat...” He never really liked his surname much. It clashed quite aggressively with his first name and had a distinct, arabic pronunciation on the H. Given the fact that Casper was fluent in Arabic, he could pronounce it with ease but hearing everyone else do it was just torture. Hay-jaat, Heyett, Hay-at, he had heard it all. The boy would refrain from revealing his surname too often, simply because he didn’t like the sound of it. 

“You’re with Diego Bellasquez, here’s the key.” She gave the boy what he’d need to enter his room. 

“D-Diego…?” He stammered as he accepted the key. Well, that’s [i]great[/i]! It wasn’t with Mason, but that’s okay. At this point, Mason had probably gotten a hundred other friends and had probably forgotten that Casper ever existed. 

“Yes, Diego. Is there a problem?” 

“N-no…m’am.” Casper gulped, taking a step back. 

“There’s a line!” She raised her voice slightly, forcing the boy away from the queue that was forming behind him. Damn, she was scary. 

Finally able to head to his room, Casper kept his eyes open for Diego. He hadn’t remembered seeing him before, and Diego didn’t know that Ruben was a teacher, something he should have noted if he was here last year, so he was probably new. Casper could find their room with ease, but he hoped that Diego didn’t have too many problems getting around.