The Dorien Academy for Young Men

E

EquinoxSol

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Original poster
The only time Jem got any peace at school was during the winter holidays. Most of the students went home or on holiday, and there weren't any classes, so Jem had all the time he wanted to himself. Jem didn't like going home for the holidays, so he stayed more often than not, with all the other students whose parents worked a lot or who simply didn't want to see them. When he wasn't in his room, practicing his dancing, he spent his time wandering the school. Most of the doors were unlocked, and Jem loved to find hidden rooms or interesting things.

Dorien Academy had been built hundreds of years ago by an eccentric duke who was arguably crazy. He had put a countless number of hidden passages and rooms in the former castle, and Jem was certain that no one had yet uncovered them all. Still, he loved to try.

That day, a few days before Christmas, Jem was in the west wing, where the fine arts classes were. He was in one of the sculpting rooms, and was feeling along one of the seams between the stone bricks of the wall. He was certain that there was a catch in it somewhere that would open a hidden passage.

Holding his breath, he finally let it out when he finally felt the catch. His predictions were right! Smiling to himself, he pulled at the catch, and felt the wall give way. A plume of dust rose up to cover Oliver's face and clothes. Coughing, he reached up and wiped away the dust from his eyes but that wouldn't do anything for his black sweater and dark jeans. Sighing heavily, he peered into the sudden darkness in front of him.

Twisting his lips into a frown, he decided that he would need to come back with a flashlight. It was much too dark inside the passage to risk stumbling and breaking a leg or worse. Letting out a disappointed sigh, he stepped back from the abyss before him and did his best to brush the dust off of him before he left the room.

With that, he rushed back towards the dormitory wing, hoping that he had a flashlight somewhere in his room, or that his roommate had one in whatever stuff he had left.
 
John Thompson was the most popular and handsome boy in school, every man wanted to be him or was completely jealous of him. All the girls wanted to be with him, so much so that there are fan clubs dedicated to him from different schools.

Crowds were watching as the young and handsome man was at a tennis match with one of the best players from the school next door.
While the other boy was struggling, John's moves were perfect and elegant, with no break of sweat whatsoever.
The boy collapsed and waved his hand, letting everyone know that he was giving up, the audience clapped and John just stood there smiling.
 
Kole Kitzman was the typical 'bad boy'. He didn't care much for school or anything in that matter, which was why he was sent to this school.
His parents thought it would be best for him, but Kole knew it was just their accuse to get rid of him.
Kole may have done bad things but he had a soft spot in him. He didn't like to show people but he was into art. When he had no weed or coke to calm his nerves he would use art to release his stress instead.
Kole was heading to the west wing, which was where a sculpting room was. He would mostly into drawing and painting but he thought sculpting was pretty fun as well.
By the time Kole made it to the room an opening in the wall, like it was some sort of passage the just recently got founded.
 
As Jem walked towards the dorms, he was able to catch sight of the tennis courts outside through a window. There was a game going on, and, even from the third floor, he could see John Thompson wooing the only people crazy enough to be outdoors in the wintery weather. "Prick," he muttered under his breath. It was no secret that Jem didn't think highly of him and that he thought he was crazy. Playing tennis in the snow? Seriously? There was probably ice all over the court, not to mention the fact that it was below freezing outside.

Rolling his eyes, he continued walking, and soon was in his dorm room, digging through his drawers. Eventually, he found a small penlight in his nightstand, and when he checked, its batteries were good. Smiling to himself, he ran from the room, pulling on a jacket as he propelled himself towards the west wing once more.

When he burst into the sculpting room, he skidded to a stop the moment he saw some other guy in the room, standing before the secret passage he had found. "U-ummm..." he hummed softly, his hazel eyes immediately flying wide. "T-this isn't what it looks like..." He bit his bottom lip, knowing that he would have to come up with some clever lie in order to get out of this one.

As the other student turned, he immediately blushed and looked down at his shoes. Kole Kitzman. The guy Jem had had a crush on his entire life. A couple times, the ballet students would dance for the art students so that they could do gesture drawings, and each time, Jem would convince himself that Kole was looking just at him, and, more often than not, he would miss a beat or slip up and embarrass himself.

"Umm...sorry...I'm just..." he mumbled, suddenly shy.
 
Kole looked towards the boy then back at the passage. "Well it looks like a secret passage... if it isn't what it looks like then what is it?" Kole asked with a smirk. He was always known as a smart ass, it was his sense of humor.
"Hey! I know you! You're the guy who always messes up when we're trying to do gesture drawings," Kole pointed out as he laughed.
"But seriously, what is this thing?" Kole asked as he pointed towards the passage.
 
Jem's blush spread and deepened as Kole recognized him as the dancer who always messed up. "U-um, y-yeah," he mumbled, hating that Kole was laughing at him. "I-I'm normally good when I perform, the art room we always use is just really small, so I get tripped up easily..." He bit his bottom lip, glancing up as he heard Kole's next question.

"I, uh, found it...I kind of like to find stuff like this...the guy who made the castle, Duke Dorien, he, uh, left a lot of this stuff here...and it's sort of my hobby to explore these passages here, when I'm here during break..." He shrugged, pulling the flashlight out of his pocket. "I had to go find a flashlight, 'cause it's too dark in there, but...I was trying to explore in there..."

He looked up at Kole, blushing a bit still. "I'm Jem," he said quietly, hoping that he could somehow make an impression on Kole. Even if he wasn't into guys, Jem would want to at least be friends with him. "I-I shouldn't have left the door...thing open...I just thought no one who would come in here was staying at school during the holidays.
 
"I'm Kole," Kole introduced himself then turned back around. He put his art supplies down on a table and took a closer look at the door.
"So this is what you do during breaks when there isn't many people around anymore?" Kole asked as he shook his head. "Wanna see what I do when I'm all alone?" Kole took out a little baggie of marijuana. He smirked before putting it away.
Kole believed that getting high helps with being creative.
 
Jem's eyebrows rose as Kole showed him the little bag of weed. He had never smoked anything before, since all of his dance instructors always told him that it would ruin his lungs. Still, if Kole did it, then it couldn't be that bad. "U-uh, yeah...I...totally smoke...all the time...errr, not all the time, but sometimes," he lied, in hopes that Kole would like him a little more.

"B-but, yeah, I do this, also...I sometimes have dance classes over break, but they're optional, so...so I try looking for stuff like this...there's this one in the library that goes to another library beneath it that has a lot of books about summoning the devil...it's, uh, pretty cool..."

He gave an awkward smile before adding, "Do you want to go in there with me...? I...It will be nice to have someone else with me..."
 
"Sure why not?" Kole agreed to go with Jem. He then took out a cigarette and lit it up. He was a bit surprised this guy smoked, wouldn't the dance instructors say something to him about it? Kole only shrugged it off as he offered Jem a smoke.
"You want one? It's no weed but gotta save the good stuff for good times," Kole said with a smile.
 
Jem immediately brightened when Kole said he would go with him. Taking the offered cigarette, he held it between his index and middle fingers like he had seen countless others do. "C-can I get a light?" he asked, shaking a bit at the thought of smoking. He'd always been told how awful it was, and here he was, about to smoke. Still, one couldn't hurt. Licking his lips, he held out the cigarette in his fingers, hoping he didn't embarrass himself even more.

"Y-yeah, good stuff, good times," he echoed softly, glancing towards the opening in the wall. "So, uh, why are you at school over holidays...? I mean, most people want to get as far away from school as possible during break, you know?"
 
Kole lit up Jem's cigarette. He laughed at how nervous he seemed, guessing it was just because he wasn't much of a people's person.
Kole removed the lit cigarette from his own mouth, breathing out smoke as he spoke. "I'm here since my family decided to dump me here. I know it's just because They hate how bad I've gotten and needed me to leave the house." Kole looked back towards the opening in the wall as he put the cigarette up to his lips. "So do you want to lead the way?"
 
Jem smiled at Kole when he lit his cigarette. He lifted it to his lips, positioning it between them carefully before he inhaled. Immediately after, he began coughing, unsure with what to do with the smoke in his lungs.

When the coughing cleared, he straightened and, luckily, was still holding the cigarette. "Y-yeah, let's go," he said, and headed towards the opening. With his free hand, he took out his flashlight, and turned it on. Shining it in front of his feet, he saw that there was a aging, rotted-looking staircase that led into the darkness.

"H-here...I'll go first..." he said softly, not wanting Kole to fall through the staircase. "Follow, like, three steps behind me..." He tried again to take a drag from the cigarette, and didn't choke quite as much this time. In fact, it was...kind of nice, if he was being honest with himself.

Exhaling, he took a couple steps forward, testing the wooden staircase. It creaked beneath his weight, but it seemed to hold it. "Okay...we're good..." he said softly, making sure that the light was always in front of him.

Trying to make conversation, Jem asked, "So, uh...what classes are you taking, besides art?"
 
Kole followed behind Jem. He looked at the walls and stairs... definitely old.
"Um I'm taking music, science, math, history and english. I skip most of the classes though." Kole answered. He put his cigarette back to his lips to exhale only moments later.
"I need a drink..." Kole took out a silver flask that held alcohol. "So what classes are you taking?"
 
Jem glanced back as Kole said something about needing a drink. Seeing the flash of a steel flask, he turned back forward, deciding that he wouldn't ask for a sip. If he fell off the stairs because he was drunk, he would never be able to live it down.

When he was asked what classes he was in, he said, "Umm...I take acting, physics, Literature and Composition, geography, and calculus...the acting's just because...well, I'm kind of girly-looking, in case you hadn't noticed. So, whenever any of the dance classes or whatever do a production with a girl character in it, I'm always the girl. So I take acting to help me learn how to be a girl...I dunno, it's kind of dumb..." He shrugged nervously, looking down and blushing. "You remember when the school did a sort of ballet version of Peter Pan? I was Wendy, and I had to kiss Rhys Peters at the end, because he was Peter Pan..."

Jem blushed, remembering how he and Rhys had been boyfriends for a long while after the last show, until Rhys graduated and went on to do Broadway productions. Shaking his head to force the memories out of his head, he took another step forward, and winced as it creaked loudly beneath his feet. Taking another drag of his cigarette, he found himself beginning to enjoy it, and added, "I dunno...wearing a weird dress sort of thing wasn't too bad, I guess. Just different..." He shrugged and focused on putting one step in front of the other.
 
"I didn't watch that shit... I was probably somewhere else getting high. Do you enjoy being a girl?" Kole laughed, only teasing the boy.
Kole took another sip from the flask and soon after taking a drag of his cigarette.

As though not listening to Jem's reply to his question Kole began speaking again. "Smoking and drinking? Probably not a good mix, at least that's what my dad always said. But I never listened to him, now my uncle on the other hand, is cool." Kole laughed. He took another sip before tripping and ending up falling down the stairs, taking Jem with him.
 
A scream erupted from Jem's lips as he felt Kole crash into him and they tumbled down the stairs. Jem fell head over heel down the stairs, and when they finally came to a stop, they were lying in about an inch of freezing, stagnant water. Jem groaned softly, his right shoulder hurting worse than anything he had ever felt.

"Fucking hell," he groaned, his clothes soaked through with water and the spilled alcohol from Kole's flask. He felt like he would have just one big bruise over his whole body. He lied there for a long while, working on getting the pain under control and of not feeling like he was dying.

Eventually, he sat up, his head pounding. "Fuck...Kole...I've got to get to the nurse or something, Kole...my arms really messed up..." He looked at the other male, pain lancing up his arm. He could tell it wasn't broken, but it still hurt terribly. "A-are you alright?"
 
Kole ended up banging his head pretty bad when he came down. He was only half aware of what was going on.
"I-I'm fine," Aside from the massive headache, Kole's knee hit the floor just as hard. "Sorry..."
Kole got up on his knees and shook his head. The room was spinning and he can tell he got a concussion.
"Damn.. I'm sorry," he apologized again, forgetting he already said sorry.
 
Jem groaned softly, glancing over at Kole while he spoke. "H-here, we have to get back up there...we both have to go to the nurse..." He shivered, suddenly freezing as the water on his clothes began drying. Finding his flashlight, he picked it up. However, the moment he did, the light flickered out, and no amount of cursing or hitting the flashlight against his palm turned it back on.

Trembling as he realized it was hopeless, he said to Kole, "W-where are you, Kole...? Say something..." He bit his bottom lip, gazing up in an attempt at finding the light. There it was, a slight light so very high up in the air. It would be nearly impossible to get back up the stairs and not fall back down the stairs.

Still, it would be better than dying down here, in the dark and covered in cold water. Fumbling around in the dark, Jem bit his bottom lip, and nearly tripped over Kole before his searching hands found Kole's face. "S-sorry," he said, trying to find his hand so at least they could stick together. "D'you have your phone on you? I-I left mine in my room, but...it would be nice to have a flashlight, if yours didn't get completely busted..."

Jem knelt beside Kole, comforted a bit by being close to him down here. "I-I'm sorry I dragged you down here..." he said guiltily, tears suddenly in his eyes.
 
"Don't worry about it." Kole said, not acknowledging the fact Jem's hand was on his face. He felt bad for the kid. He always seemed nervous or something, he had no clue it was because Jem liked him.
"And uh.." Kole felt around his pockets. "I don't have my phone..."
Kole was still feeling a bit off from when he hit his head but managed to get up. "Calm down and get up," Kole said to Jem.
 
Jerm nervously nodded, and pulled himself up to his feet, his shoulder protesting in pain. He didn't like the idea of trying to get up those stairs completely blind, but if that was what they had to do, then he would do it. Staggering around until his foot hit the last step, he knelt on it, and said to Kole, "Okay...I think it'll be safest to crawl up the stairs, so we don't fall again...we have to be slow, too...us falling might have weakened the stairs some..."

He bit his lip, looking up at the tiny stream of light at the top of the stairs. If they died down there, who knew how long it would take before someone found them. Trembling a bit at the thought, he took a few deep breaths before he said, "Alright, I'm fine...I'll go first, okay...?"
 
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