Den Lille Luftdatter

Adam pulled out the trunk he kept under his bed, opening it up to check the contents. Well, he called it a ‘trunk’ in his head, since it made it sound like it was cooler and had treasure or something. It was more like a small but wide basket with a lid on top. It was where he kept any of the ‘stuff’ he had that he wanted kept hidden. He'd put the flowery skirt and the makeup-whatever in there last night. And now that it was the morning after, he wanted to retrieve the makeup. 

Flynn meanwhile was in the middle of putting on his uniform’s tie in front of a nearby mirror. “What are you doing?”

“I still wanna figure out what type of thing this is,” Adam answered, showing him what he’d been holding. “Figured I could ask Scott at breakfast.”

The roommate raised an eyebrow, giving Adam a skeptical look. “You’re gonna ask him about makeup?”

Adam looked back at him, “What? Better chance he knows more than you or me.”

Flynn just shrugged, and that seemed to be the end of that. Adam found that he wasn’t the type to ask more than one or two questions. Besides, Adam had a point there, didn’t he? He only had older brothers, and Flynn was an only child. It wasn’t like they had their own sisters or close cousins they could ask or sponge up knowledge from. 

Adam tucked his trunk back under the bed, but not before looking at the skirt again, from the day before. He already had two others, though they had plain designs in comparison. There was an added sense of pride for some reason, knowing he had that in there now, along with the assortment of other random ‘girl objects.’ He knew it was wrong, but… the feeling was there.

But now was not the time to think about that. It was time to start another day of school. Push all those thoughts aside, and focus on living up to expectations.

 

---

 

The first stop Adam made was at a vending machine, the moment he'd gotten out the door. He took out some spare change, hit some buttons, badda badda boom! And out came a Red Bull and a small bag of sour gummies. He hastily returned to the door outside our dorm, just in time for when Flynn entered through, so he could dramatically hand him his promised energy drink.

“Wha-?! How did-?” He reacted, surprised.

“I work fast.” Adam simply smiled.

“Well damn, thanks for that…” Flynn cracked the can open. Some part of Adam hoped he’d save it until later, like when it wasn’t the literal morning before breakfast. But he didn’t feel like policing the guy. He did what he’d promised.

Flynn eyed the candy Adam held in his other hand. “And the bag?”

“A little gift, incentive. Making sure Scott knows his help is appreciated.” He answered. It would just feel wrong to ask for some kind of favour without giving anything back. He felt like he had an idea which sweets Scott liked, Adam tried to be mindful of that kind of thing. 

“Nothing for yourself?” Flynn asked.

“Eh, I’ll have the usual stuff when we get to breakfast,” Adam dismissed with a wave of my hand.

As they passed through to the dorm’s dining hall, Adam found himself greeted by the occasional passerby. “Hey Adam,” Joe waved.

“Hey Joe!” He smiled.

“Sup Adam.” Gil nodded his head.

“Sup Gil!” He returned the gesture.

“Morning, Adam.” Clay stretched out his hands in a yawn.

“Good morning to you too!” He greeted back.

“Hey Floyd, hey Jett!” Adam waved to the twins leaning against the wall together.

“Hmph…” They grunted back in his direction at around the same time, light scowls on their faces. It didn’t faze him though. That’s just how they usually said hello, in his experience.

It felt nice to be on good terms with people. It gave Adam the sense he was doing something right, even if the busies of boarding school life could be hard to manage. He always found it best to just be pleasant and get on everyone’s good side. That made them happy, so that should make him happy. Besides, some social groups had a habit of being rowdy anyway, teenage boys and all, and he rarely vibed with that. In some ways, his life was made easier like this.

Flynn went off to grab himself some food, while Adam scanned the hall for Scott. He’d usually stand out, sitting alone with those headphones over his bushy hair… Ah, there he was!

Adam sat down next to him, looking over at him expectantly. He made sure to smile as he threw the gummy bag onto the table.

It took Scott a good second to notice the person sitting at the table. He looked up over his phone, pulling the headphones off one ear. “Hey wouldya look at that. What’s the occasion?” He tried to keep his expression restrained with a casual smirk, but Adam could tell he had a glitter in his eyes as he looked at the candy. Good, looks like he'd been right on the money about his taste.

Adam sneakily pulled out the makeup he'd retrieved from his trunk. Scott usually sat in the corner, so where they were positioned, a quiet conversation like this was pretty convenient. “I was wondering if you knew anything about this thing.”

He let Scott have it, to which he just kinda looked at it. He took the cap off and eyed the brush inside. 

“I’m pretty sure it’s makeup, but like,” Adam gestured with his hands at it. “What does it do?”

While Adam's all-male family left him without any wisdom, Scott was a boastful guy, and once bragged about having an older sister before, and how he knew things about the fairer sex many guys at this school didn’t. In fact, supposedly she was in her last year at Marie’s, which made him a handy source if Adam was ever wondering about the going’s on over there. Scott would also never ask why Adam would sometimes ask about this type of stuff, which made things even more convenient. Lord knows Adam would never want to admit anything to other random classmates.

Although, Scott seemed weirdly confused for a moment as he was looking at the object. As if he didn't actually know what to make of it. But still, he then put on a confident smirk and gave his answer. “This, my friend, is a nailcleaner.”

“A what?” Adam asked.

Scott kinda gestured the brush at his nails. “See how small these things are, it’s like, for cleaning your nails or something. Get all the trash and dirt off that sticks to polish and stuff.”

Adam nodded quietly, processing that information. Huh, the more you know, he had no idea there were things out there for cleaning your nails, or that polish was sticky like that even when dry. He'd assumed it was some type of makeup for the face, like the eyelashes or something. Goes to show just how much he really knew.

At this point, Flynn sat down next to them with a bagel and what had to be a half-empty can of the Red Bull he'd gotten earlier. “So watcha talking about?”

“Oh, Scott was telling me what a nailcleaner was.” Adam explained.

Flynn looked back at him skeptically, then shot the same look over at Scott. “That sounds like bullshit.”

Scott looked directly back at Flynn, wide eyes and deadpan expression as he opened his mouth. “I have never been wrong. In my entire life. Ever.” 

“See? He’s confident.” Adam pointed out to his roommate, before facing Scott again. “Well thanks for the help, Scott. I think I've learned something today.” Retrieving the nailcleaner, he put it deep back into his pocket. He'd sneak it back to the trunk in his room at the next opportunity.

Flynn took a bite out of his bagel, talking as he chewed. “This would be way easier if you just tried googling, you know.”

“What? No way!” Adam refuted. “I don’t want this kind of thing on the library’s search history! Besides, I’d need to know what it’s called first anyway.”

Scott opened his gummy bag, soft grin as he quickly picked out a piece to throw into his mouth. “No need to harp on the guy. It’s just business, really.”

Flynn didn’t seem like he had the energy to ask more questions, so he just sighed and shrugged, “Suit yourself.”

Scott rolled his eyes with an easygoing smile, evidently not caring about Flynn’s comment. “By the way, did you guys hear?” He asked, eyes wide.

Adam perked his eyes back up, “Hear what?”

“Ray got sent to the office yesterday. Everyone's talking about it.”

“Woah, really?” Adam gaped.

Scott nodded assuredly. “Really.”

“Wait, who’s Ray again?” Flynn asked, sipping from his can. “I don’t remember a guy with that name, at least not in our year.”

“We’re talking about Robert, Ray’s just a nickname.” Adam explained.

Flynn cocked a brow. “Him? Wait, but why ‘Ray?’ Wouldn’t a nickname be ‘Rob?’”

“It’s because he stings.” Scott pointed out.

“Because he stings,” Adam repeated, nodding to himself.

“Okay, but-” Flynn started, but then stopped himself, holding a hand over his head. “You know what, I just need to stop asking people altogether.”

“This is what happens when you don’t talk to a lot of people, you know.” Adam reminded him. He usually kept to himself in class at least, as far as Adam could tell. He didn’t seem the type to keep in touch with whatever drama was going on in a given week.

In response, Flynn just waved a quick dismissive hand at him. "Better than being the type of blabbermouth who cares way too much about this crap." He rolled his eyes at Scott.

Scott tapped a finger on the table, "Listen, these things are important. It's basically politics! You always gotta be up to date on what people are saying."

Flynn didn't respond this time, just shaking his head as he shifted his attention back to his bagel.

“Although, I wouldn’t blame you for not noticing with Ray.” Scott added. "His new bit's kind of a recent thing. Wasn't there last year.”

“So what’d he do? Insult someone again?” Adam asked.

Scott nodded, “Said something to Ms. Bass, they’re saying she left the classroom with tears in her eyes.”

“Jesus…”

“No one wants to say what though.” He shrugged. “Just probably something bad.”

Adam grimaced, “I think the whole bit has gone way too far if something like that’s happened.” Ms. Bass was a really nice teacher too, this was a new low.

“Apparently he’s not in that much trouble. But I bet he's not gonna be popular with the other teachers.”

Adam nodded, “Yeah, I could see that...” He hoped for Ray’s sake that this would be the end of his schtick. He seemed cool, but Adam didn't get how he and his friends thought weird insults were funny.

“This is why it’s always better to keep your mouth shut in class,” Flynn commented.

Wanting to get his mind off the subject, Adam looked back over the dining hall. He should get something to eat before he went hungry. “I’m gonna find some toast, I’ll be right back.” He told the two before standing back up.

Adam was just about to grab a plate however when he bumped into a taller figure. It took him a moment to register who it was, dark skin, short curly hair- Oh right, it was Solomon!

“Hey Sully! Good morning!” Adam greeted with his usual smile, pretending as if he hadn’t just possibly made himself an inconvenience by bumping into him like that.

In response, he sighed. “Please, it’s Solomon. And good morning to you too, Adam.”

Sully had a habit of sounding a bit condescending like that sometimes, but Adam knew he was a nice guy. Good tutor too. “You gonna have some toast too?” He asked.

“Actually…” The taller boy began. “I was coming to find you. Headmaster Andersen had told me last night that he wanted to have a quick word with you today, up at his office.”

Adam's blood went cold, and he gulped. Shit, he'd almost forgotten about that! He didn’t expect the confrontation yesterday since the performance and stuff had been pretty late, but practically first thing in the morning?! He still didn’t even have any proper excuse ready!

“Adam?” Solomon asked, looking at me as if expectantly waiting for an answer. "You don't have to do it right now, of course. I believe he just wants a moment to talk at some point-"

“N-No problem!” Adam responded. “I'll just get it over with and go talk to him!”

The boy closed his eyes, “If you're certain. Just try not to-”

But he dashed and jogged by before Solomon could finish. Adam didn't want to make his grandfather worry, so better to head over right away. Adam grunted and mentally kicked himself! All he had to do was make his grandpa a tiny bit proud and he blew it! 

 

---

 

Adam creaked open the door. “Y-You wanted to see me, Gr-? Mr. Andersen?”

The Headmaster was sitting at his desk as he came in, perking up his eyes at him. “Yes, come in, sit down.”

Adam did so, anxiously straightening his back in the process, like the model student he should have been.

Mr. Andersen leaned his arms forward on his desk and just looked at Adam for a few seconds. “Come on, boy, off with that. You don’t need to act like that around me.”

He stopped tensing up, “R-Right, sorry…”

His grandfather sighed, taking off his glasses for a moment to clean them. “And no need for all that apologizing either.” He stood up, grabbing one of the other chairs on my side of the desk to sit down on. “If it wasn’t clear, I didn’t want to speak with you as Headmaster or a member of faculty. I wanted to speak personally as family, grandfather to grandson.”

Adam purposely tried to keep their eyes connected, even as he nodded. 

“It’s only about… yesterday. The thing with the choir. I came hoping to see you perform but… you weren’t there.”  He explained.

“Y-Yeah,” Adam answered. At this point, he could only shy his gaze away, feeling ashamed. “Sorry, I kinda just forgot. Slipped my mind.”

The Headmaster's head went down. “I see.”

“Sorry, it won’t happen again. I promise.”

“I already told you that you don’t need to keep apologizing boy, it’s alright.” He looked back up at Adam. “It just… makes me worried. Is there something troubling you? Distracting you?”

He adamantly shook his head. “No, no! School stuff is going great. Sully's been a good help, seriously.” He answered honestly. It was the truth. He didn’t like needing someone’s help like that, but he had definitely felt like he'd improved in class once he started having a tutor.

“That’s good, but I mean,” He paused. “Not necessarily your academics, but just how you are feeling. When I first suggested choir, that seemed to be one of the only ideas you liked. I’m just surprised by this…”

“Seriously, I just forgot.”

“I’ve been told you’ve also skipped several rehearsals. Is forgetting a regular occurrence for you?” He asked pointedly.

Adam frowned. So he'd heard that too, huh.

“Do you not like choir after all?”

“N-No, I do…” Genuinely, it was the only thing that actually jumped out to him as something interesting, just like his grandfather said, especially with all the options presented. Adam had always kinda liked singing and using his vocal chords like that. The actual rehearsals just got so uninteresting after a while. He felt like he already had everything handled, and actually attending the darn things were just boring wastes of time.

“Sorry, I was just being lazy. I’ll try to make it to more of them now.” Adam told him. Really, that was probably the main problem. All that skipping was what made it so easy to forget the performance coming up. 

“...Alright.” Mr. Andersen responded, though he sounded unsatisfied. “I just need you to know that... Well, I promised your mother and father that I’d look out for you. I take both of my roles here seriously. So many of the boys here are away from home, but you still have a relative to fall back on.”

He sighed as he continued. “Please, I want you to tell me if there’s ever anything wrong. I’m well aware I shouldn’t be giving you special treatment or anything of the sort, but sometimes I worry.”

Adam nodded. “It’s okay.” He didn’t have to. What was there to worry about? A Headmaster had way more on his plate, administrating a whole school like this. Adam couldn’t imagine what he had to deal with on a daily basis, compared to some dumb kid like him.

“Just don’t be afraid to talk to me, okay?” He put his hand on Adam's shoulder. “Promise?”

Together, they stood up. “Yes, sir.”

Adam's eyes drew to the cross in the corner of the office. The same cross on display in plenty of other locations on school grounds. He couldn’t help but wonder if God could see him right now. What he was doing, and how much of a liar he was being. 

Mr. Andersen smiled. “Like I’ve said, you don’t need to talk to me like that… Though I suppose I can’t keep arguing. Now hurry on to class, you wouldn’t want to be late.”

A part of Adam wanted to mention that he hadn't actually had time for breakfast yet, but he stayed quiet. Whatever, it'd all be less of a bother if he just hurried to class and waited for lunch instead.