Reagan Gideon Breckenridge
The girl whom Reagan had praised not long ago as a mediator suddenly got mad at him, on behalf of a teacher of all things. As if the councilor needed her to intervene! Apparently she was similar to Daria in that regard, and Ray wondered at the coincidence that the two of them would share a room. El’s comments on respect and intelligence drew an involuntary sneer from him, however; she was using an intimately familiar tactic on him. Ray had met more than his share of adults who thought they could model him into some perfect heir, and who meant to control every single aspect of his life with that exact same sorry excuse of an argument.
“It was a joke, and you are the only one getting heated here” he informed El with an eyeroll. “I’d need an acid-proof stomach to even consider it,” he muttered to himself, brushing loose fabric from the damaged part of his outfit. Ugh, this jacket was ruined. Just great. Reagan thought it was still better to keep the thing, however, as he wasn’t certain how much money his parents would be willing to shell out for non-essentials when they were still so pissed.
Reagan rolled his shoulders, and huffed at his friend rather than get fixated on another over-reactive person. “Not any weirder than Betty’s imagination,” he replied to Feier, shrugging. Nevertheless, he was glad for her teasing observation, and his smile showed it.
As the student, whose first name he learned was Helena – not just Hel – due to Betty’s mention, soon excused herself, however, so Ray left her to it. Instead, he listened to the councilor with mild curiosity. “Sounds like you get spilled more often that you’d like,” he commented, rising a judging eyebrow, though the sharp reply was tempered by an upwards twitch of his lips.
“So you’ve decided to put the three problem students in one room? Curious arrangement, but I’m sure you have more than us to worry about,” he said to Betty, amused.
“Yeah, I heard, we’re with August,” Ray chuckled at Fei’s enthusiasm. Her joy was invigorating, and the resulting uplift in his mood was enough for Ray to forget entirely about Daria and Helena. “Sure, let’s go over,” he agreed, pleased to be in the company of a like-minded comrade who also had the perk of exuding an aura of carefree fun.
“Hmm, that incident of his, huh?” he barked a laugh. “I’ll let August tell you all about it,” Ray promised, expecting that to go over well, if well was a synonym for hilarious. He sighed, eyes closing briefly, grinning at the nostalgic bliss one of the more memorable events at the Institute brought him. Teachers and students alike had resembled uncoordinated chickens in their attempts to fix the incident, but their endeavors were laughably pathetic. Not to mention how nonfunctional their preventive measures had been.
“Oh, hey, look at that cutie he’s talking to,” he whispered to Fei. “Isn’t that kid adorable? Makes me want to pinch his cheek or something,” he murmured, expression softening as he looked at the brown-haired boy chatting to the blonde. There was something alluring about the plain-looking lad, though Reagan couldn’t quite put a finger on the why of it.
They approached the duo just as the kid introduced himself as AJ. “Seems like a nickname,” Reagan noted neutrally, mildly dubious despite AJ’s claim. Ray considered himself an expert on nicknames, after all, and that didn’t have the ring of a full name. “That’s fine though. I go by Ray even though my folks named me Reagan,” he confessed, his tone making it clear that he did not find his name appealing.
“Anyhow, we came over to inform August here,” he nodded at the blonde, “that Betty just told us that the three of us are dorming together,” he revealed, gesturing at Fei, the blonde, and himself, displaying another of his open-mouthed grins. “Since we were all expelled from the Institute for causing shit and all that,” he conveyed the councillor's reasoning with a smirk.
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