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Did I mention I hate this school?” said Santa, slamming his plate down on the table.
"You may have mentioned it," Aou said, smiling. "What happened this time?"
Santa looked up from his dinner, not amused by Aou's smile. “How can you be so happy all the time, Aou? We’re literally being held here against our will.”
“Santa, I love you I really do, but you do know you’re not actually being held here against your will, you can drop out at any time”.
"Oh, smart idea! Maybe you should drop out and try stand-up comedy," Santa shot back sarcastically. "I’m sure your mom would love that news as much as mine would. How about we both drop out and see what happens?"
“Okay I get it, god, learn to take a joke” Aou replied rolling his eyes.
Santa sighed already feeling bad, “I’m sorry, I’ve just been on edge lately, I feel like no matter what I do, I keep getting in trouble, did you know asking to go to the bathroom can get you detention? I can’t even use the bathroom in peace around here.
"Yeah, but were you actually going to the bathroom, or skipping class?" Aou asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Does it matter?" Santa said, exasperated. "It’s a basic human right, and I still have to deal with Ms. Krit threatening me with detention for it!"
Santa scanned the cafeteria, the same four gray walls staring back at him. Two years of this monotony—of routines that never changed. His whole life had been spent obeying, avoiding trouble, pleasing his mother. And for what? To be locked away in this prison.
When he turned 18, he'd promised himself freedom. He would finally live life on his terms: make friends, take risks, savor the last fleeting years of his youth. But his mother had other plans. She'd enrolled him in the Ivory Academy, a place as prestigious as it was oppressive. It wasn’t just a school; it was a factory where parents sent their children to be molded into the perfect young adults.
Though Santa loved his mother, her expectations for him were overwhelming. She envisioned so much for his future, but all Santa wanted was to be himself. He didn’t want to wear fancy clothes or pretend to understand the conversations of the high-ups at dinner. He just wanted to hang out with friends and live like any other teenager. But now, here he was—trapped in a life where he couldn’t even use the bathroom in peace.
Turning to look back at Aou, Santa at least had him. They had known each other since high school, where they had been seatmates. Aou was the only person Santa would talk to and see occasionally. They became closer on inaugural day. Santa remembered arriving at the school, feeling anxious and not wanting to leave the car. His mother was too busy to see him off, so only his chauffeur was there. Stepping out felt impossible—until he saw Aou, looking just as lost. From that moment, they had been inseparable.
“What the hell is going on over there?” Aou whispered sharply, jolting Santa out of his daydream.
Turning around, he saw two prefects cornering a guy who looked terrified. To Santa, this was nothing out of the ordinary. Prefects thrived on what he called "harassment” using their supposed authority to intimidate other students just because they could, but today, Santa had had enough. He didn’t know what made him stand up and walk toward the scene—maybe it was the memory of almost getting detention for wanting to use the bathroom, or maybe it was the fear on the boy’s face. Whatever it was, Santa couldn’t sit by any longer.
“Hey!” Santa shouted as he approached, shoving his way between the two prefects. He positioned himself in front of the terrified boy, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.
“Um, who the hell are you?” one of the prefects sneered, sizing Santa up and down, barely holding back a laugh.
Okay, so maybe Santa hadn’t thought this through. He was shorter than everyone involved and feeling more than a little intimidated. Still, he pressed on.
“It doesn’t matter who the hell I am,” he shot back. “Don’t you guys have some other prefect-y stuff to do instead of harassing people just trying to have lunch?”
“Santa!” Aou shouted as he approached. When he got closer, he leaned in and whispered, “What the hell are you doing?”
Turning to the prefects, Aou forced a laugh. “Sorry, guys, he’s had a pretty rough day. This guy’s losing his mind, haha. We’ll be on our way,” he said, grabbing Santa by the arm.
“No!” Santa yelled. “I’m tired of people like them thinking they can walk all over us. Leave!” He crossed his arms, trying to look as menacing as possible.
“Or what?” the other prefect said, stepping up to Santa with a more serious expression.
Santa glanced around at the crowd that had gathered, silently praying that Aou wouldn’t just stand by and watch him get pummeled. Taking a deep breath, he stepped closer to the prefect. “Fuc—”
“Excuse me,” a voice came from his left. Before Santa could react, he was being dragged away by a stranger. Stunned but not questioning it, he silently thanked his rescuer—anything to avoid getting jumped by two grizzly bears.
He glanced back to see Aou profusely apologizing to the prefects.
“Hey! Don’t apologize! You guys are all a bunch of—” Santa started, but the stranger, clearly fed up with his antics, hoisted him over their shoulder mid-sentence.
“Be quiet. I’m helping you, so please don’t make it worse,” the stranger said firmly, turning a corner with Santa still in tow.
“Let me down! What do you think you’re doing?” Santa yelled, lightly hitting the stranger’s back as he realized, with growing alarm, that he was actually being kidnapped.
“Like I said, I’m trying to help you. Stay still,” the stranger replied, unfazed.
“Are you crazy? Let me g—” Before Santa could finish, the stranger set him gently on his feet.
“Oh... thanks,” Santa muttered, quickly smoothing down his clothes.
“Welcome.”
Santa looked up, trying to get a proper look at his rescuer’s face. But the guy kept his head turned away, the hood of his sweatshirt pulled low, making it almost impossible to see.
“And you are...?” Santa asked, his curiosity piqued.
“Perth” said the guy unfazed, “If your fine now, I’m leaving” he said and started walking away.
“Wait! That’s it? Don’t you want to know my name? You just saved me from those two idiots, and you're just going to leave like that?" Santa said hurrying to catch up to Perth.
"I don’t really care to know," Perth replied, not even glancing back.
Santa froze mid-step. People usually wanted to know him. It was almost always the other way around—him not caring to know them. Who does this guy think he is? Santa thought, bewildered.
Determined, Santa jogged after him. "Well, my name is Santa. You might’ve seen me around school once or twice. I’m pretty popular around here."
"Don’t care," Perth said flatly.
Ouch, Santa thought. This guy is seriously going to make this harder than it needs to be. Back in high school, Santa had been the talk of the town. Since he wasn’t allowed many friends, especially outside of school, people found him mysterious. But right now, Perth was really taking the cake.
“Well, you must care a little bit since you helped me back there,” said Santa, thinking out loud.
Perth stopped abruptly, causing Santa to collide with his back.
“Let’s get one thing straight,” said Perth seriously. “I helped you back there out of pity, not because I care. Got it? I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. This”—he pointed between himself and Santa—“ends here. Goodbye.”
Without another glance, Perth walked away.
“Jesus,” Santa muttered under his breath. “That guy really needs a beer or something.” Scoffing, he turned back to find Aou. But even as he did, he couldn’t stop thinking about Perth. There was something different about him. Everyone in this godforsaken school acted the same. Perth, though—Perth was different.
Walking into the courtyard, Santa noticed the crowd had dispersed, leaving behind only a pissed off-looking Aou and the guy Santa had tried to defend. From the expression on Aou’s face, Santa knew he was in trouble the moment their eyes met.
“Where the hell did you go?!” Aou whisper yelled. “And who the hell was that?!”
“That was Perth,” said Santa, flashing a nonchalant smile, trying his best to sound like nothing had happened.
“Perth? Who’s that?”
“He’s—” Santa began to answer, but Aou cut him off.
“No, Santa. You promised me you wouldn’t do stuff like this! Your mom would ship you to the other side of the world if she found out you almost got into a fight—especially with two prefects—over this guy,” he said, pointing at the bewildered student.
“Hey!” the guy protested.
“Listen, Aou. I’m sorry, okay? I’m just so over people thinking they can walk all over us. I wasn’t thinking,” said Santa, then added with a small chuckle, “but luckily, Perth was there to get me out of it, huh?”
“I swear to God…”
“Hey, um,” the guy interrupted, stepping closer to them. “I just wanted to thank you for the help. I owe you one—big time. My name’s Book, by the way.”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it! Someone had to stand up to those idiots,” Santa said, his voice tinged with renewed anger.
“Well, I’m going to head back to class. Seriously though, if you ever need anything, just let me know,” said Book. He jogged away, waving back at them.
“Bye!” Santa called after him.
Turning to look at anything but Aou, Santa muttered, “Well, I guess I should get back to class. Don’t want to get in trouble for the second time today.”
“Fine,” Aou breathed out with exasperation. “Just please be more cautious about who you pick fights with next time. If it weren’t for that Perth guy, we’d probably be in the hospital. Speaking of which—who is Perth? And why did he help you?”
Walking back to class together, Santa shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. He didn’t give much of a reason—just that he felt bad for me.”
“That’s… strange.”
“Yeah. I’ve decided, though—I’m going to befriend him,” Santa said, now happily skipping along.
“You’re going to befriend him?”
“Yeah, why not?”
Aou sighed, clearly unsure. “Why do I feel like this isn’t a good idea?”
“What’s the worst that could happen?” Santa replied with a careless shrug.