The Cedar Point College for Troubled Youth (For CleverFox)

[Lys]

The rain had just subsided as 20 year-old Felix crossed the damp campus, trying to avoid as many puddles as possible, seeing as she had just been issued new dress shoes for her uniform. The autumn air smelled heavily of wet pine needles, an aroma which was pleasant the first few times one took it in, but quickly became sickening after a person spent years in the area. At least, that was the case with Felix. She was a tall, thin girl, although not awkwardly so, with long, golden hair, and a perpetually "withdrawn" sort of look that suggested that she would probably be hiding in the warm folds of an over-sized hoodie if the dresscode didn't force her into the forest green skirt and tie, white dress shirt, and black tights.

She wasn't moving terribly quickly, as she had been called to the administrative office for an unknown reason, and really didn't want to find out what was waiting for her. Just the thought of it made her bottom tingle slightly, and her ears redden. There was no way that they could have found out that she was being lax with her housework. After all, the administrators didn't personally check the rooms, and she hadn't had a roommate for about a year now, so there was no one who could report her. Either way, she couldn't really think of another reason she would be summoned for, so she assumed that must have been it.

A glum expression was fixated upon her soft, pale face as she flung open the door of the administrative building, and approached the front desk.

"Felix Goldman," she told the secretary, her voice quite monotone and dull.

The secretary, a short, sandy-haired woman looked up at her, and then down to a purple sticky note that was stuck onto one of the desk's cubbyholes.

"Aah, yes. Mr. Fherol wanted to see you. His office is the first on the left, right through that door," the secretary said, lifting her finger and pointing Felix towards a set of double doors which opened into a long corridor lined with doors on both sides.

Ah, crap. Tristan. It took Felix great restraint to avoid instinctively grabbing the seat of her skirt. Still, she couldn't stop a pink blush from forming across her face. Damn it, now she was certain that he untidy room was the reason she was here... Felix had a history with the young man. He had been her mentor, an older student who was assigned to a younger one, when she had first arrived at the college. Mentors were in charge of showing their assigned student around the school, rooming with them, and, as Felix had felt on a wide number of occasions, disciplining them for misbehavior.

"Th-thank you," she mumbled, before going where she was directed.

Tristan's door was slightly slightly ajar when she approached it. Not wanting to barge in, she knocked on it politely.

"Tristan- I mean, sir? It's Felix..."

[CleverFox]

Admittedly Tristan had been surprised when he had been informed by the higher level administrators of the school that they were going to be getting a new arrival but that of course hadn't been the part that was so shocking. True enough this was a small facility, catering to exceptional youth that had managed to run afoul of the law but who were deemed to be deserving of a second chance, but new arrivals appeared often enough that it wasn't such a shock. No the true shock had come when he was informed of just who this new arrival was to be paired with for the mentoring program.

At the establishment of the school it had been determined that the students would thrive better if they were allowed to police themselves to a degree so aside from the administrators who took care of the serious matters each new arrival was paired with a more senior student who acted as their mentor. Tristan himself had been one of the first into this program and so he knew intimately how it worked and had actually served as a mentor himself. Paired with the very girl who was about to get her first assignment as a mentor and what an interesting arrangement that had been, to say the least.

For the moment Tristan wasn't focused on that and was instead looking at the file of one Rafe Nathaniel Walker, a boy that was apparently not only a hacker but also a forgery artist. That presented a unique problem for the school given the kid's skill set and he really hoped that Felix would take this seriously since it was a huge responsibility. Jarred out of those thoughts by the sound of a knock on the door and then Felix's familiar voice he glanced up and then offered the girl a smile.

"Felix, come in," the black haired young man called out, Tristan himself only twenty four and possessed of a roguish grin that belied his background as one of the students here despite his administrative duties now. Dressed in a dark suit the young man focused his amber eyes on the girl as she walked in, Tristan gesturing toward the chair that was positioned across from his desk. "Have a seat," he said, speaking in his usual quiet manner while continuing to look at her. "I'm sure that you're wondering why it is that you were called here and I want to assure you that despite what you may or may not have done, you are not here because you are in trouble." Tristan gave her a knowing look as he said that since he had noticed the slight nervousness that she was displaying upon entering and since he knew Felix well enough that sent off warning signals for him.

So he tried to set her mind at ease before moving on to the reason why she had been called to his office in the first place.

"You were called here because the powers that be have decided to give you the responsibility of mentoring," Tristan went on to inform her, keeping his gaze focused on the girl. "Your charge is a seventeen year old hacker who already has two college degrees...so I hope you're up for a bit of a challenge." He also hoped that she would take this seriously since he was going to be overseeing this new pairing but that was a bombshell that he was going to drop on her once he saw how she reacted to the initial announcement or her promotion in status as it were.

Most new mentors recalled their own first days at the school and did what they could to help the new arrivals but there was always the odd one out that didn't want to assume that role of responsibility. Tristan was hopeful that Felix wouldn't be like that but he really had no way of knowing how she would react which was why he was staring at her so keenly now.

[Lys]

Felix pushed open the office door and entered as she had been requested to, closing it behind herself, as she was worried about what might be to come. If she was going to get reprimanding of any sort, she preferred it'd be delivered in the most private setting possible. She took a seat in one of the two, grey cushioned chairs in front of the young man's desk, her posture very rigid and polite, here long-fingered hands resting in her lap as she waited to be addressed. However, her posture worsened considerably as he informed her that she was not called here for any misdeeds.

"Way to give me a heart attack," Felix sighed, leaning forward and resting her chin in her hands, her bright green eyes watching the man as he continued on. She raised her thin eyebrows when he announced that she was becoming a mentor. She wasn't terribly pleased by the news, and the rather bitter expression that slipped across her face made this very clear. Still, she didn't respond until Tristan had finished his little spiel. Great. Some kid genius was going to start living in her room, taking away the privacy she had come to enjoy. Tristan seemed to be finished talking, for the moment at least, so Felix decided to weigh in on the situation.

"I don't really have much of a choice, do I?" Felix asked glumly, moving a curtain of her wavy hair out of her face. "When is he getting here?"

The total lack of enthusiasm in her tone betrayed how she felt about taking on a new student.

[CleverFox]

The change in posture that Felix displayed when he told her that she wasn't called there because she was in trouble caused Trace to laugh and at the same time it was a dead giveaway that she had something to be nervous about. "I'm thinking that since you were having a heart attack there might be something that you and I need to have a discussion about," Trace told her since he did still keep tabs on her and he did still have the authority to take her to task for something should she step out of line.

That wasn't the reason that he had called her to his office however so he just went on to inform her that she was being made a mentor, watching the way her features once again changed and since he knew her fairly well he was able to read between the lines and tell that she was not the least bit happy by this news. Not that this was an uncommon reaction since a lot of the students weren't pleased when they first became mentors, hell he'd been among that group, but he had still risen to the challenge and found that he not only thrived in that environment but that he liked helping people, hence why he had remained at the school after graduation and decided to take a permanent position amongst the staff.

Looking at Felix as she asked her glum question Trace gave a slight shake of his head as he replied, "I'm afraid not Felix the appointment is mandatory and is actually a part of your grade. Consider it a required extra curricular activity." Which was the truth since all of them were required to serve as mentors before graduating, sort of like a test to see if they could step up and be responsible rather than acting like the little criminals that they were when they arrived.

The question about when he was going to arrive caused Tristan to look thoughtful for a moment before he said, 'He's supposed to arrive around noon tomorrow. Which gives us the rest of the day to make sure that your apartment is ready and that his room is prepared." Which was his way of letting her know that he was going to be helping her with that one.

"Cheer up Felix it won't be so bad and you might even learn to like it," Tristan told her as he gazed at her glum expression.

[Lys]

Felix chose to not respond when he mentioned having a discussion about what she might have done wrong. She merely rolled her large green eyes, but that didn't keep a strange, tingling sensation from forming in her bottom. Felix felt that she was among the unluckiest students on the campus. It was by a massive stroke of misfortune that she had landed in this stupid place and ruined her life, and to add insult to injury, to her knowledge, she was the only student without a mentor who still got regular discipline from one. Why did Tristan have to stick around? You had to be out of your mind to enjoy living in a place like this...

Felix's bottom lip protruded as he explained that it would be part of her grade. She got near-perfect grades, and rarely let them slip below an A average.

"Normally, extracurricular activities are things you LIKE to do," she pouted stormily. "This is glorified babysitting, and you know it."

However, her expression turned from a sour one to a slightly panicked one when he mentioned cleaning up her apartment, which was what they often called the rooms they were assigned. Crap. He wasn't planning on coming over, was he?

"Well, I mean, no need to trouble yourself," she said, quickly normalizing her expression, and doing a passable job of hiding the fact that she might be hiding something. "After all, isn't this mentoring crap about being responsible? How can you trust me to look after this kid if you can't trust me to keep a clean room?"

[CleverFox]

By all accounts Tristan wasn't the most normal of fellows but that didn't really bother him too much, he had found a purpose for his life while being here and wanted to help other students find the same thing. So he had taken the job and he excelled at it despite his young age, the man looking at Felix as she stuck her bottom lip out in a pout that would have made a four year old proud. "Keep it up and you'll step on that lip," he chastised her mildly, looking at the girl when she told him that it was glorified babysitting.

"Maybe it is and maybe it isn't but we've all been there and hey, you're getting one that by all accounts is more mature than the newbies we usually get so take comfort in that at least," Tristan told her, of course realizing that she wasn't going to agree that this was a good thing regardless of how long he argued with her. "And you might learn to like this but regardless you are required to do it," he added in response to the extracurricular bit.

Deciding that it was just best to move on he told Felix what the plan for the rest of the day was since Rafe was arriving the following day and he shook his head when she argued with him about his intentions of coming to her apartment to make sure that everything was ready. "Well I have Rafe's orientation packet as well as his bedding and uniforms so I have to come over anyway, figured while I was there I could lend you a hand," Tristan told her, wondering if there was some ulterior motive she had for not wanting him to come over but deciding that he wasn't going to ask.

Instead he got to his feet and motioned for her to do the same. "Come on, that stuff's in my car so I'll drive you back to your dorm and we'll get everything set up," he told her, gesturing for the girl to follow him. Staff were the only ones allowed to have vehicles on campus and Tristan drove a Chevy Impala that he was very fond of, the young man having worked hard to get that car. "And no arguments before you even try it or you and I will be having a little discussion later," Tristan told her before she even had time to whine at him.

[Lys]

Felix's mood suddenly turned from glum and bitter to downright stormy Tristan finished his speech and ordered her to ride along with him. Damn it. Once again, Felix was feeling as if she had the most rotten luck of anybody at Cedar Point. If she went along with it, no more arguments, as Tristan had requested, he would discover the messy state of the room, and drag her across his knee for a "discussion", even though most of the "chat" consisted of Felix pleading to be let up. On the other hand, if she fought him, Tristan was STILL going to have that talk with her, albeit for a different reason. There was no winning for Felix's backside. And when there was no winning for her bottom, there was most certainly no winning for her mood, which was, on a good day, rather poor.

With a heavy sigh, she stood up from the seat and followed Tristan out to his Chevy. After briefly weighing her options, Felix figured that even if she had argued, Tristan would still most likely find out about her room being kept below the college's standards. Two offenses would most certainly lead to a firmer discipline session, where as one might lend itself to an unpleasant, but considerably less stingy one. That being said, Felix strongly preferred that neither of the outcomes took place, although this was highly unlikely, and the girl knew better than to bank on improbability.

This was why, as she plopped into the front passenger seat of the Impala, her arms were folded tightly across her chest, and her rosy lips formed a straight, hard line.

"Why did you have to stick around?" she demanded in response to his last warning as she buckled herself into the seat. She knew the answer, of course. "Nobody else who has been here as long as I have still gets this kind of attention. It's not fair."

Life wasn't fair. Felix knew this all too well. If it was, she would be in some world-famous college, probably doing just as well academically as she was doing at this crummy place. But the truth about life's unfairness was NOT what the unhappy blonde wanted to hear right now.

[CleverFox]

Tristan really wasn't going to take no for an answer so it was a good thing that Felix didn't argue with him, the young man had been expecting it but luckily for her the girl refrained from making her situation worse by deciding that she didn't want to go along with what he was saying. Leading the way out to his car and ignoring the heavy sigh that Felix heaved as she rose to fall into step behind him Tristan unlocked his car with the key fob that he was carrying, looking at the girl as she got into the car and once again started to slump.

Biting back the desire to correct her on her posture Tristan got into the car beside her, looking over at her as she folded her arms over her chest and then asked why he'd had to stick around. Blinking a few times because he was startled by that he thought for a moment before he replied, "Because I needed a job and thought I could help people here. And everyone else is still held to the same standards Felix...they just end up seeing the head honcho more than you so I wouldn't complain about it too much if I were you."

He knew that she wasn't happy that he had kept to his mentoring role with her but Tristan felt that she needed it and he was determined to help her to get over that glum attitude of hers. So he had taken a special interest in the girl, one that she clearly didn't appreciate but all the same he felt that it was in her best interests and so it was likely to persist.

Starting the car Tristan drove across the campus toward the apartment buildings that housed the residents of this unusual school. His gaze remained focused on the road but he could practically feel annoyance radiating from his passenger, the young man shaking his head and thinking that there was something up for her to be this unhappy about the simple fact that he was going to her apartment. He wasn't an idiot so he could read between the lines just fine and as he pulled into one of the few parking spaces in front of the building he looked over at Felix.

"Okay, would you like to 'fess up and tell me why you didn't want me to come?" he asked, giving her the chance to tell him what her issue with him coming here was before he went upstairs and likely found out for himself.

[Lys]

Her pout still firmly in place, Felix didn't even acknowledge his answer, and instead, ignored the man completely for the rest of the short, silent car ride. She was watching the flecks of rain splat against the windshield, as it had started sprinkling again in the short amount of time it had taken the two to discuss her becoming a mentor. However, her mind was elsewhere, as it normally was outside of an academic environment. This time, it was on what waited for her at the end of the car ride, which was rapidly approaching, as Tristan pulled up to the apartment.

She rolled her eyes at the question, although her nonchalant reaction couldn't hide the fact that her pale cheeks were turning a rosy pink. Felix wasn't stupid. While she knew being honest would most likely not get her off the hook, lying would probably earn her a longer "discussion" when the blonde gal and her mentor had inevitably had it.

"Okay, so, maybe my room isn't up to the college's standards for cleanliness," she said, frowning. "But it's not gross or unhygienic or anything like that."

That was honest! After all, Felix always washed her dishes, disposed of extra food, and cleaned the bathroom. Her main problem was the heaps of clothes, books, papers, and other miscellaneous objects that laid scattered about her living area in a perpetually-thickening layer.

"It'll only take an hour for me to clean. It's no big deal."

Well, in all honesty, it'd probably take a few hours. But with a little music on in the background, there was no reason that it couldn't be done long before the deadline.

"And, you know, I thought you trusted me..."

It was a long shot, but maybe making Tristan feel bad about his continual involvement in her life would make her life just a little bit easier. To compliment this comment, she looked wistfully out the rainy car window. She could be quite the actress when the situation called for it.

[CleverFox]

Tristan had pretty much resigned himself to the fact that Felix was going to give him the silent treatment up until the point when they reached the apartment building that she called home however all the same he felt that it was only fair that he give her the chance to come clean. Because he had known the girl long enough to know that there was something bothering her that was causing her to not want him to come to her apartment. So after parking his car he turned to Felix and promptly and without any beating around the bush, asked her if she wanted to confess to whatever it was that on her mind.

His gaze remained focused on her as she said that maybe her room wasn't up to the standards that all the students were held to and that caused him to shake his head. "That maybe sounds an awful lot like a definite thing Feli," he said, using the nickname that he'd given her not long after she arrived. Truthfully her name was short and didn't really need shortening further but he thought that it was cute and so he'd done it. "And you know that it doesn't matter how long it would take to clean it if you don't actually clean it," he added for good measure since she was telling him how long it was likely to take to clean but obviously hadn't taken the effort to test the theory.

The bit about trust caused him to snort and roll his eyes.

"Oh I trust you, about as far as I can throw you and you know that," Tristan told her, his words teasing but at the same time his tone was serious. "It's the same for all the residents. You're just lucky the administration hasn't decided on a surprise inspection or else you'd be in a heap of trouble." Which was the truth since just like in prison the residents were subject to searches of their apartments whenever that the higher ups deemed it necessary.

The fact that Felix hadn't been caught before now was sheer luck on her part.

"Come on, let's go survey the damage," Tristan said as he moved to get out of the car, looking at her and waiting for her to join him. He moved to the backseat and got out the things that he had brought for Rafe, gesturing for Felix to lead the way up to her apartment. He was guessing that the two of them were going to be engaged in a very unpleasant discussion soon enough and he wasn't looking forward to that since he didn't enjoy it but at the same time he knew that she needed direction the same if not more so than the others and that was something he was determined to give.