That first week passed in a blur, they only saw the nobles at a distance and that was how Aarav liked it. This way there should be no misunderstandings and certainly he would not be dropped into any undesirable situations.
"What are you doing?" Boren asked as they walked back to their dorms at the end of the week. Tomorrow the school year would start and honestly after the activities and interesting session he had taken part in, Aarav couldn't have been more excited. He genuinely wished his short stint in school in his last life had been as enjoyable, it would have changed his perspective completely.
After the rough start he had been worried it would be more of the same and he was mentally preparing himself to slog through, albeit with Boren by his side.
"Oh, just thinking about what I want to focus on. I really have no idea and everything appeals to me." Aarav replied to Boren's subtle nods. "You feel the same way?" Boren simply nodded again more definitively.
"I think that is best, it's not like they except us to specialise now, we just need to try everything. The academy was designed to give people the basics and shallow knowledge of a lot of disciplines." Boren's tone took on a lecturing quality.
"Haha, you might make a good professor with that tone!" Aarav teased. Boren grinned back taking it in stride.
The rest of their group was slightly ahead, Formica making faces at Badru who pointedly ignored them. Aarav hadn't seen a brother and sister combo before but it seemed their behaviour was normal considering how the rest conversed with them.
Seeing them made Aarav think of Ami somehow the situation had been different but he believed their relationship had been a little like theirs, he would have protected her from anything he had the power to. But of course the problem had been his weakness. Both his demons and the physical scrawniness he was plagued with.
"So, I suppose we had better hit the sack, tomorrow is going to be a big day!" Aarav finally commented, coming out of his reverie.
"Uhuh." Brown said distracted by the rest of the group. He was in dorm 4 while the rest were in 5 so he would be going in a separate direction as well. Originally they had thought to be roomed together but the size differential made it a problem. So instead Aarav had his own room, tiny though it was and Boren was sharing with someone else.
"Who are you sharing a dorm room with by the way? I didn't end up asking you. You should really get them to come out with us." For some reason Boren hadn't volunteered that information and Aarav wasn't sure why. Was he embarrassed?
"Oh, didn't I say? She is great! She has her own friends so probably wants to stay with them but I will definitely invite her!" Aarav did a double take. Looks like this world doesn't worry too much about rooms mixed with boys and girls. In his old world it would have been unheard of.
Some of Aarav's surprise must have come through on his face because Boren responded. "I forgot to mention it because I have only seen her in the evenings and we only really sleep in the room. Everything else has been outside and moving around."
Aarav was honestly having a hard time letting go of this mixed dorms situation. Where did they change clothes? It seemed crazy to him. Still it was clearly the norm and for now he was going to have to let it go.
But then the look on Boren's face told him something different. Was his cheek a little red? He is definitely blushing! It was slight but also noticeable. "Craden, what are you not telling me?"
Boren huffed and hummed, ignoring Aarav's question. Looks like I might need to let this one go for now. "Fine, if you don't want to tell me then don't but you know that you will have to tell me eventually."
The slime left it at that for now and Boren remained quiet. They reached the point of divergence where Badru, Formica and the rest went straight, Boren went right and Aarav left. They agreed to meet in the morning for breakfast and then they had mostly been split up for actual lessons as the classes were based on random selection.
Within fifteen minutes Aarav was in bed and asleep, the soft features of his bed swaddling him in sleep. His instincts told him to start digesting and absorbing the material of this bed, after all he didn't need the bed. But the idea of giving up the feather mattress was too much to bear. He would Consume it next time.
*********************************
The next day was as exciting as promised. First Aarav got up earlier than normal and tried to sneak up to Boren's room to see what all the fuss was about and realised that the whole floor was full of nothing but girls! Boren, what have you gotten yourself into? Aarav though to himself.
"Hi! Hmmm, I am looking for Craden's room?" Aarav asked one girl that was clearly on her way from the shower and drying her hair.
"Oh....oh!! A fairy! So cute!!!!" The girl squeaked as see turned properly to see Aarav. Aarav had to fight the irge to put his fingers in his ears at the squealing. "Um, hi! So do you go to school here?" She started playing with her hair. What is happening right now? Aarav was caught off guard by the girls reaction but knowing he couldn't easily back away and still find Boren he hesitated.
"Yea, go to school here. Craden's room?" He wasn't sure what else to say to this girl. "Do you...know where it is?"
She giggled for a second and Aarav though she was laughing at him but soon realised that what she was actually laughing at was his request. "Something funny?" He couldn't keep the annoyance out of his voice.
"Sorry, it's just tha-" before she finished there was the sound of a door slamming and suddenly Boren was there.
"What are you doing in here?" Boren asked as he almost barreled into Aarav in his rush to get out.
"Why are you in a girls dorm Craden?" Aarav countered and the younger boy blushed furiously to the sound of further giggles from the annoying girl.
Aarav quickly realised that some sort of mistake had been made and for some reason Boren had not come forward to sort it out. So boys and girls were kept separate for the most part but this was just a bit of bad luck.
"Why didn't you say something sooner? Surely we could have sorted it out." Aarav ask unable to keep his eyes from popping.
Boren cringed and replied "I went to see the one of the admin officers and they said there was no space at the moment but they would sort things put. For now I have to stay here. Otherwise..." He steered Aarav away from the girl and out of the building before continuing, "Otherwise I would bring unwanted attention to my situation and the wrong people could get alerted!"
Aarav sympathized but ultimately could do nothing more. How Boren ended up in these ridiculous situations was beyond him. The kid had such an unlucky streak.
On top of all that Boren was also incredibly accident prone. Aarav hadn't thought anything of it at the time but the more time he spent with the poor boy the more he saw it. Like this dark cloud hanging over his every mood and keeping him just slightly off kilter.
"What I want to know is how this happened in the first place. I mean the Headmaster knew you were coming, he should have taken special care to make sure you were situated and we were in the same room together. None of that happened!" Aarav asked, trying desperately to understand this messed up situation.
"I asked him exactly that! Even though I didn't see the point, things like this are always happening to me." Boren seemed a little dejected but quickly steeled himself and smiled. "Come on, let's get on with the first lesson!"
Boren began to briskly walk across the grounds towards the cafeteria, ready for some breakfast. By Aarav wouldn't let him leave so quickly, not without some explanation.
"Hey wait! I want to know what he said! come on Craden!" But Boren was far too quick in leaving Aarav behind. "Damnit!" When did he get so fast!