Raef had just been handed his Aptitude Ranking results and his house... Mantis!
"Huh?! Mantis?! There's no way!" he proclaimed.
The reason he was so upset was because Mantis was the weakest house!
"Don't feel so down," said a voice from beside him. "I'm in Mantis too."
Raef looked across at the guy. It was the blond boy he had seen earlier during assembly.
"I swear, I did better than to get put in Mantis!" Raef said.
"Even getting into Hare is hard, so don't beat yourself up," said the boy.
"Even still, I thought I could at least get into Snake," said Raef, who was clearly still quite upset.
"I get ya'," replied the boy.
Raef sighed. He was happy to be here, but this was disappointing.
"The name's Lycan," he said.
"Likewise, I—I mean, my name's Raef," responded Raef, embarrassed at his fumbling.
"Learn to speak, dude," Lycan retorted jokingly.
"Sounds like something I should know," he responded, temporarily forgetting about his disappointment with his house placement.
"Have you heard of the Crows?" Asked Lycan, switching the topic.
"The what?"
"It's a gang at this school."
"A gang?" Raef asked, intrigued by the concept of a gang at school.
"Yeah, it's powerful gang of students at this school. My brother started it."
"Your brother?"
"He started it when he was a second year. He's in juvie right now." The sentence he said grimly.
"Oh, I'm so sorry..." Said Raef, now feeling pretty down-in-the-dumps.
"Nah, it's fine. I was just wondering if you had heard of them." Continued Lycan.
"Oh, ok. You sure?" Asked Raef, not wanting to come off rude.
"Yeah, totally!" He said joyously.
"Hey, what class are you in?" Asked Lycan
"Room 53."
"Me too!" Chirped Lycan, happy with the thought of having Raef in his class.
A voice once again over the speakers. This time it was Mr. Beacon.
"Hello! Mr. Beacon here! Please head towards your assigned class, thanks!"
His voice was sharp and powerful.
"Well, I guess we're walking together." Said Lycan, enthusiastically.
"Yeah, I guess so."
The two began walking to Room 53 where they would meet their fellow Mantis classmates and their teacher. While they were walking, they spotted a tall, red-head boy standing over a beaten student, nose bloody from punches, in a small alley between buildings.
"Hey, you two good?" asked Lycan, trying to see if everything was okay.
"What do you want?!" Grunted the Red-Head.
"Just making sure nothing bad is going here." Raef cut in.
"Everything's just fine, here. I can assure you." He responded dismissingly.
The red-head turned back to the student on the ground, eyes wide with sadistic glee.
"We're just having fun..."