Chapter Text
“And here’s your lunch, along with some extra cash should you find it needed.“ Mr. Poole said, handing a small plastic bag meant to keep the heat to Henry Jekyll. “Being your first day of school, I expect a full days report on your activities and social circles.”
“I won’t miss a detail,” Jekyll said with a small smile. Poole had been homeschooling him for so long that it was almost strange to have him be the one to see him off for this new experience. Being the ‘rich boy from London’ may draw some attention as Poole warned, so he’d need to be careful falling into the wrong crowds.
While Poole would’ve been happy to continue homeschooling Henry, he had decided it was best that he try something new. Jekyll looked forward to the chance to meet new people, and try an experience he had only really seen in movies or read in books. With a bag on his back, he looked at the crowded school lawn ahead of him. There were people playing American Football, people running around, shouting, and all manner of things. Well, it definitely did look like the movies.
He glanced at a crowd of kids stomping on a flaming book and another group dancing. It seemed the school was chock-full of strange people of all sorts. He kept making his way through the crowd and into the building. At least with so many different kinds of students, he’d have a good chance of making at least a few friends.
The first bell rang, signaling everyone to begin heading to class. Jekyll searched for the room number, awkwardly walking in and looking for the teacher. Spotting one tall figure he walked up to her, swallowing his fear. Best to greet teachers as early as possible.
“Hey. I uh, I’m not sure if you got an email or something? But I’m the new student. Henry Jekyll.” He said, fiddling with his backpack strap. The tall girl just glared at him.
“Talk to me again and I’ll kick your ass.” She said, turning away. Jekyll’s cheeks flushed red as he realized he got the wrong person, noticing two people in particular chuckling at the interaction. He sighed, moving to settle into a seat in the front row. The girl who had laughed at him earlier leaned toward him.
“You don’t want to sit there. Kristen Hadley’s boyfriend is gonna sit there.” The girl said. She had light brown skin with darker brown hair pulled up in a messy ponytail, wearing mostly dark colors and makeup. A goth of sorts, then. And just as the girl said, a boy with curly red hair slid into the seat and began making out with the tall girl Henry had mistaken for the teacher.
He sighed and moved to another seat. The girl made a slicing motion across her neck, the boy behind her mimicking it. “Nuh-uh. He farts a lot.” Another sigh, another seat. Someone slid in before he could even try to think of sitting in it. It seemed like finding a seat would be his hardest challenge for the day.
He began walking around, turning his head for any empty seat, before backing up right into a woman holding a tray of doughnuts and a coffee, the drink spilling all over her. Jekyll gasped, hands flitting to his mouth, blinking away the embarrassed tears that were threatening his eyes.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” He exclaimed, going to help clean up the mess, trying to ignore the laughter of the other students as his ears turned pink. He hoped no one would notice his entirely flushed face.
“Aw, it’s alright.” The woman said, placing down her items and assessing the damage done to her outfit from the drink. A man walked in, inconveniently right as the woman was pulling off her shirt… for whatever reason. Jekyll shrugged it off. Must be an American public school thing.
“Ms. Norbury?” The teacher asked, and Jekyll noticed that the woman had been wearing multiple layers. So it had been an accident. Without much thought, he reached up and helped pull it down to cover her. After that, he continued attempting to fix his mess and push down his embarrassment. Who he assumed must be another teacher turned to the class.
“Alright, well, just so you know, we’ve got a new student joining us. He just moved here all the way from London.” He said. The female teacher looked around at the students before gesturing to the kid who had been sitting behind the helpful seat girl from earlier.
“Welcome!” She said, and the boy just looked confused. The teacher, seeing the confusion, tried again, finding a kid in the back corner. “Sorry, I meant welcome!” And she was greeted with another confused look. Thankfully, before she could try to welcome the entire class, the man pulled out a note.
“His name is Henry… Gecko.” The male teacher spoke, reading from the paper. “Henry Gecko.”
Jekyll rose his hand from his standing spot to bring attention to him. His last name was something most people struggled to pronounce, but none had ever butchered it that poorly. “Uh, hello.” He said. “That’s me. Uh, it’s pronounced Jekyll. Jeh-kull.”
“Ah, my apologies.” He said. The female teacher nodded.
“Well, welcome Henry J- Henry!” She said, avoiding his last name. It wasn’t even that hard to pronounce. With that, the male teacher left and the class was beginning, Henry found himself a seat and pushed all the embarrassing feelings so deep that he hoped to never find them again. It was just the first day. It’d get better.
The first day was a bit of a blur. He tried his best to keep up but was often left in the dust from the lessons he hadn’t been a part of. And he found there were so many strange rules that needed to be followed, such as asking permission just to use the bathroom and having to wait if someone had already taken the pass. Plus, some teachers just said no. Apparently peeing was illegal in American public schools?
Some teachers got mad at him for being new. When he needed notes, they told him to put them away. Other teachers got mad at him for being a good student. Telling him not to read ahead or do homework in class. It was so strange to have all these things introduced to him at once. The least a teacher could do was be nicer about it, but no.
Lunch couldn’t have come soon enough. Then he regretted thinking it’d be a peaceful break period once he saw the sheer amount of tables and students. Where was he supposed to sit? It seemed there were a bunch of unspoken rules on seats, judging from his first class. Everywhere he looked, he was met with unfriendly glances and people making sure to cover up, hide, or use the empty seats near them.
Other tables that seemed somewhat more open to new additions were just filled with weirdos he really did not want to interact with. He couldn’t even bring himself to greet any table of people, deciding it was probably best if he just sat alone in a bathroom stall to eat. Poole wouldn’t be happy to hear about how awful his day had been. Maybe he’d just lie.
Upon his return, Poole greeted Henry warmly and asked him about the day. Jekyll gave a smile, probably too big to look real. “It went well!” He lied. If Poole could see through him, at least he didn’t say anything. Jekyll huddled up in his room, staring at the ceiling. It was just a bad first day. The second day would be better, he knew it. Well, he hoped for it, at least.
The next day appeared fast, with hardly any time to relax, especially when Henry was so focussed on worrying about the day to come. Still, he walked into the first class and mentally prepared himself. Maybe if he just blended in with the crowd, things would get better.
The first thing he did was grab a seat immediately. No more fumbling around. To his right sat the boy, and in front of that boy was the girl. Two faces he recognized… barely. He had just been calling them ‘the boy’ and ‘the girl.’ The boy had much darker skin that the girl, and black hair. Crimson eyes turned to look at him, and he leaned.
“Hey. Is that your natural eye color?” He asked. Jekyll had heterochromia, one brown, and one bright green. It brought a lot of attention to him.
“Uh… yeah.” He said.
“They’re gorgeous.”
“Oh! Thank you.” Jekyll said with a smile. Compliments were always nice. Then the boy leaned to Jekyll and stared him right in the eyes, getting a bit too close for comfort.
“See, this is why everyone loves heterochromia. It’s so cool. Should I get contacts?” He asked, looking to the girl, who just rolled her eyes, which seemed indigo in color.
“That’s Hastie. He’s almost too gay to function.” She joked, causing Jekyll to blush. Was this… flirting? He held back a choking cough from the revelation and turned through his notes.
“Well, nice to meet you.” He said. The girl twirled a piece of her messy hair around her finger.
“And I’m Justine.” She said.
“Hi, I’m Henry,” Jekyll replied, his smile becoming more genuine. He was meeting people! The day was off to a good start. “Uh, can I get some help with directions?” He asked, pointing to his schedule. Hastie took the paper, glancing at it and mumbling.
“Mmm, yeah, I think this one is in the back building.”
“The back building, yeah.” Justine agreed. “We’ll take you there, it’s hard to find.”
“Thanks!” Jekyll said, smile growing only wider. Was this a friendship blossoming?
Sure enough, at the ring of a bell, the two began to lead him through the hallway, shoving through the sea of teenagers and body odor.
Hastie scrunched up his nose as he kept reading Jekyll’s schedule. “You’re taking the highest level chem class? Why?”
“I like science,” Henry replied.
“But why chemistry specifically?”
“I like chemistry.”
Hastie chuckled. “Well, to each their own.” He said, taking a seat on the grass with Justine. Henry looked around, confused.
“Where’s the back building?”
“It burned down in 1987,” Justine said, an apologetic tone in her voice matching her half-smile. Henry kept moving his eyes around, looking for any teachers who might be watching.
“Won’t we get in trouble?” He asked, fidgeting with his thumbs. Justine just gave a dull confused look.
“Why would we get you in trouble? We’re your friends.” She said, causing Jekyll to smile so big his cheeks turned pink. So they were friends! He had friends. He didn’t want to skip class on only his second day, Still, he’d do anything for some friends, so he sat down in the grass and enjoyed the company of the two.
“Why not stay homeschooled?” Justine asked.
“I wanted the experience. Plus, figured it’d help me get more social.” Jekyll replied. Hastie chuckled.
“Oh, I think you’ll get pretty social around here, looking like you.” He said. Jekyll arched a brow.
“He means you’re attractive,” Justine said, causing another blushing fit of Jekyll’s. More flirting? He was most definitely not used to that. After a minute or two, Henry spotted a group of students in blue-topped uniforms running onto the field. Hastie scoffed.
“Oh my god, take a look at Dorian Gray’s gym clothes.” He said. Justine looked over and scoffed.
“Of course all the Flasks are in the same gym class.” She said.
“Who are the Flasks?” Jekyll asked.
“They’re practically royalty in this school,” Hastie answered. “They’ve got the looks and the smarts. Well, two out of three, at least. They are the most loved, feared, and respected members of the school.”
Justine pointed to one boy with blonde hair down to his shoulders, the locks bouncing up and down as he simply swayed and hummed with a rosy smile on his face during the gym class rather than doing anything. Jekyll watched him get hit in the back with a ball and not even flinch.
“That’s Dorian Gray. He’s the only dumb one in the group, and also the dumbest boy you’ll ever meet in general. Hastie sat next to him in English last year.” She explained. Hastie leaned over.
“I’m pretty sure he’s immortal. Dude refuses to age.” He said. Justine pointed to another boy with white skin and hair with pink eyes. The albino boy was busy on a phone call, giving side glances at all those who got too close to him, making them back up pretty swiftly. A ball nearly hit him in the head, but he ducked last minute, causing it to hit the person next to him instead.
“That’s Griffin. He’s a poor boy pretending to be rich. He knows everything about anyone. Somethings that shouldn’t even be possible. Some say he’s practically invisible.” Justine said.
“No one knows his first name. He’s just full of secrets.” Hastie said. Justine then glared at another boy who had black hair and blue eyes, round glasses over them. He had a smug grin on his face as a handful of students used their arms as a sort of throne for him.
“And that is the head of them all, Victor Frankenstein. You’d think he’s just another petty, stuck-up, egotistical, narcissistic, god-complex-having rich boy, but he’s so much more than that.” She said.
“He’s the real star of the group. Pretty, smart, and rich are all you really need, and he’s got them in loads.” Hastie said. Justine rolled her eyes and scoffed.
“Victor Frankenstein. Where do I even begin? He’s the guy everyone wants to be, and the guy everyone wants to be with. He’s always the king of every event, especially the Spring Fling. The King and Queen are immediately given the title of the student activities community.” She continued, practically spitting venom with each word.
Walking back through the busy halls of the school, Hastie handed her a map. “There, that’ll help you for other classes. We’ve labeled the cafeteria tables as well. You do not want to mess up there. Where you sit is positively crucial.”
After explaining each group to him, they went their separate ways, promising to meet back up for lunch. Jekyll got a school lunch this time, wanting to try it out over the same old home lunch stuff. We walked by, carefully avoiding rowdy students until one girl walked right up to him.
“Hey, we’ve got a newcomer survey for newcomers only. You seem like a newcomer, so can you answer a few questions for me, newcomer?” She asked. Jekyll glanced around awkwardly.
“Uh, no thanks.” He said, going to sidestep the girl, but she just stepped right back in his way.
“Aw, come on, it’s just a little survey!” She said, then a scoff came from the table they were nearest, and Jekyll recognized the Flasks. Victor looked at the girl with bored eyes and a small grin.
“Jasper, the boy said no. Everyone knows your ‘survey’ is just poorly disguised sex innuendos.” He said.
“And you were hitting on me just last week, you sleaze,” Griffin said.
“Exactly. You came to my party with Griffin, and now just a few short days later you’ve found another boy who wasn’t even interested in your survey in the first place.” He said, looking up at Jekyll. “Do you want to have sex with her?”
Jekyll gave a small shake of his head. “No thank you.”
“Then it’s settled. No means no, Jasper. I suggest you leave now. Buh-bye.” Victor said, Jasper huffing and walking away. Jekyll watched her go and then tried to make it to his friends, but was once again stopped. “Wait! Sit down.” Victor said, gesturing to the empty seats.
Jekyll looked over to Justine and Hastie who were watching him watching them. He swallowed his nerves. Best not to anger the popular kids. So, he took a seat, eyes burning a hole into his food, trying to ignore the burning holes in his head from the staring his two friends were likely doing.
“Why don’t I know you?” Victor asked.
“Oh, I just moved here from London,” Henry said. “My… dad… homeschooled me.”
“Wait, seriously?” Victor asked. “You’ve never been to a real school before? That’s absolutely insane. And interesting. But you’re really attractive.” He continued, causing more blushing from Jekyll. He was going to have a heart attack from all this flirting and compliments he was getting. He really didn’t think he was anything special. Victor leaned over and tapped the button on Henry’s sleeve.
“This is pretty, are those your initial? HJ? Where do you get engraved buttons like this?” He asked. Clearly, the boy knew nothing of personal space.
“I’m, uh, not sure. Poole- I mean my dad- got it for me.” He said, pulling his arm away.
“It’s so fetch,” Griffin said, hardly looking up from whatever he was doing on his phone.
“Fetch is a made-up word, Griff,” Victor said. “You are the only one using it.”
“Which is why it’s cool.” He mumbled. Dorian Gray stared at him with big blue eyes.
“Why don’t you speak British?” He asked.
“Because it’s not a language, it’s an accent.” Griffing and Victor said in sync. Jekyll chuckled slightly at that. He had been hiding his accent so as to not get any weird looks.
“I’m trying not to stand out too much.” He explained, dropping the American accent. The three seemed semi-impressed by his vocal manipulation, turning to each other and beginning to whisper. During their private meeting, he looked over to Hastie and Justine who looked confused. Jekyll shrugged. He wasn’t sure how he got himself in the situation either. Then, Victor clapped his hands twice, bringing Henry’s attention back.
“Alright, it’s decided.” He said as if Jekyll was aware in the slightest of what they were discussing. “We don’t do this often, so be grateful.”
“Have lunch with us the rest of the week,” Griffin said, focussing off his phone for once. Jekyll tried to stammer out a rejection, but Victor just smiled and cut him off.
“Cool, we’ll see you tomorrow.” He said, a smug smile on his face. It seemed Henry had no choice in the matter.
“On Wednesdays, we eat in the science class!” Dorian said. As soon as lunch was over, Jekyll rushed off to meet his friends, telling them all about what had happened.
“Okay, you have to do this!” Justine said. “And you can tell me all the awful things Victor says.”
“Well…” Jekyll said, rocking back and forth on his feet. “Victor doesn’t really seem all that bad?”
“Victor Frankenstein is all that bad!” Justine said with a scowl. “He ruined my life!”
“Don’t let a pretty face fool you.” Hastie agreed.
“Why do you hate him?” Henry asked. “You seem to really hate him. Why?”
“Well, Victor started this rumor that Justine-”
“LANYON!” Justine shouted, cutting him off. Ah, so Lanyon was Hastie’s last name. “Hush, can we not?” She said, before focusing back on Jekyll. “This isn’t about hating him, it’s just… like an experiment! A social experiment.”
“What would we even talk about? I don’t know anything about them.” Henry said.
“I dunno, rumors?” Justine offered.
“Science. Victor and Griffin are so horny for science. Then just talk makeup and fashion with Dorian. He’s just there for the ride, it seems.” Hastie said.
“...Alright,” Jekyll said. “I’ll do the social experiment thing. Do you know where the science lab is?”
Chemistry class was the answer. It was the one thing Jekyll looked forward to the most, and also the science class the Flasks met up in, so he’d know exactly where they’d be meeting for Wednesday lunch. He happily took notes on the subject. At least chemistry didn’t hold any surprises.
That’s when the boy in front of him turned around, and Jekyll’s heart skipped a beat. The boy had lightly tanned skin with a few freckles dotting his cheeks. Curly blonde hair rested on his head, bouncing as he turned around. Deep green eyes stared at him, and Jekyll could hardly breathe. This boy was incredibly pretty.
“Hey, do you have a pencil I can borrow?” The boy asked, and Jekyll blinked away his thoughts, giving a shaky nod. He hadn’t had many crushes in his life, but he could tell right away what he was feeling. He handed a pencil to the boy and then focussed on his paper. The boy was probably straight anyway, he couldn’t get his hopes up. Jekyll pushed his crush down with a loud swallow, and tried to keep going through the day.