I don’t see who it belongs to at first. I take a step back and trace my eyes down the low, cobblestone fence curving around the edge of the driveway. Eventually my gaze falls on the gaunt face of a boy staring back at me, a long cigarette perched between his teeth. He has dark hair and eyes, and something about the way he looks at me … it’s like he can see right through me.
I don’t like it.
Almost as much as I don’t like the next thing that drops from his lips, and it isn’t the cigarette.
“You’re a girl.”
Chapter Two
I gawk at the boy in front of me for a moment, my mouth working like a stupid fish gasping for air.
“I … what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The boy nods once, pulls the cigarette from between his lips with two fingers, and lets out a stream of smoke. “Nice cover. You’re really going to last here.”
My shoulders slump forward protectively before I immediately force them back. Then forward again. Maybe it’s better if I look small and weak, lean into the girlish thing. I don’t know. I probably just look like I’m having some kind of seizure.
Whatever it is I’m doing, it doesn’t seem to convince him. He pushes himself up and away from the wall, folding his arms in front of his chest as he gives me another slow, raking once-over.
“Now, unless you couldn’t tell … since the rest of you seems completely out of touch with reality … that was sarcasm.”
“I … I … fuck.” This time, I let my shoulders slump forward and stay there with the rest of me. “I knew this was a mistake. All of it. Just one big fucking mistake.”
“Well, I’m not going to argue with you there,” the boys says, his eyes finally coming to rest on the mess of hair falling over my forehead. I self-consciously try to flatten it down a bit, but he suddenly waves his arms for me to stop.
“No, no, you’re doing it all wrong. Have you never seen a human boy before?”
He tuts loudly and shoving the cigarette back into the corner of his mouth, hurries over to start fluffing up the bits of hair around my face.
“Oh, my. You did this yourself, didn’t you? Don’t even answer that. Was there … did you have a mirror? Don’t answer that either, because I’m not sure which prospect terrifies me more.”
I stand frozen to the spot while this strange boy tousles and rummages through my floppy, wind-blown mop like it’s a delicate flower arrangement. Normally I’d never let someone this close to me, but right now … I just stand as still as possible and hope that, maybe like a T-rex, if I don’t move long enough he’ll just forget I’m here altogether.
After what feels like an impossibly long time, the boy finally takes a step back to admire his handiwork. While he doesn’t look exactly satisfied, he does look, at the very least, appeased.
“That’ll have to do for now,” he says, once again taking out the now long-extinguished cigarette and flourishing it like a prop in front of him. “Though the rest of you … ” He grimaces a little, wrinkling up his nose as he takes me in again. “That’s going to take a little work.”
For what feels like the first time in ages, I suck in a breath. “So, you aren’t going to turn me in?”
The boy raises an eyebrow at me. “And why would I do that?”
“I … I don’t know,” I stammer. “It’s a school for boys. And I’m, well, not a boy.”
“And I’m gay,” he says, nonchalantly. “Who’s to say you can’t be a boy if that’s what you want to be. Though, correct me if I’m wrong … that’s not really the whole point of this, is it? Because if I’m being totally honest, it sort of seems like you’re not actually trying to be a guy. Just, you know, a kind of caricature of one. The hoodie. Bad haircut. The excessive swearing.”
I let out a half-strangled laugh. “Actually … the swearing part might be the only real part of what stands before you.” I shrug. “I grew up with four older brothers. It sort of … it’s like breathing after a while.”
“So,” he says, nodding again. “If you’re not here to actually become a boy … what gives? Why Bleakwood and not, you know, Grandview? The girl’s school next door.”
“Oh god, please, I was wondering about that,” I say, my words tumbling over themselves as I finally start to register the fact that although my disguise has been found out literally within minutes of arriving, this boy doesn’t seem determined to turn me in. Not right away, at least. “Is it like this place?”
“You mean the most pretentious excuse for a boarding school ever? Except for girls instead of dicks … I mean boys … then yeah. It is.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and suck my lips between my teeth to bite them shut for a second. “I’m such an idiot.”
“Everyone here is, at least you’re smart enough to admit it,” the boys says, sticking out his hand. “I’m Rafael. Guess you really lucked out running into me first, huh?”
“I only wish you’d been there when I first submitted my application to this place,” I say, begrudgingly sticking out my own hand to accept his. “I’m Alex.”