Ulwich preparatory acade.., p.1
Ulwich Preparatory Academy: Fall, page 1
Ulwich Preparatory Academy
Fall
Lauren Edwards
Chaotic Neutral Press LLC
Copyright © 2022 by Lauren Edwards
All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
Contents
Content Warnings
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Content Warnings
Ulwich Preparatory Academy is a mature new adult prep school series and contains situations that some readers might find offensive. It is intended for audiences 18+ and features violence, sex, and blatant homophobia. This series also deals with themes of identity, self-doubt, consent, safe sex, and abuse*.
*There will never be on-page depictions of sexual assault
Chapter 1
Four Years Ago
Andy
The room filled with a mild glow as I pulled back the curtains. It was still beyond gloomy, but the moonlight would have to suffice; turning on so much as a lamp would be too risky. My hands closed around the cardboard box. It immediately began jerking as I picked it up off the floor and placed it on the desk.
Out of habit, I looked towards the other bed in the room. It was just as empty as it had been yesterday. Talk about a stroke of luck. Of course, I doubted Lucien felt lucky since he was the one with chicken pox. We hadn't even had time to get properly acquainted after being moved into the upper level student wing together before he'd had to leave.
I placed a large textbook on top of the box to make sure the lid didn’t pop open and send the box’s contents spewing across the room. Now that the container was secure, I picked up the piece of paper that had been hidden beneath it. Even in the almost nonexistent light, I could make out scratch marks crisscrossing the page.
Trying to write a letter was stupid.
I crumpled the scarred page, then shoved it deep in the wastebasket beneath countless other similar scraps.
He deserves to hear it from me, anyway.
I glanced at the clock. He’d be here soon. I needlessly adjusted the box, which hopped in response.
Deep breath. He’s your best friend. He’ll understand. Okay, maybe he won’t understand exactly, but he’ll still appreciate the honesty. Yeah, the honesty. I can do this.
I shook my hands in a vain attempt to dispel my nervous energy.
“What are you doing?”
I jumped in place and spun around at the whisper. “Mitch. You scared the crap out of me,” I whispered back.
He shrugged as he carefully closed the door. “Did you get them?” he asked as he crossed the room to set his own supplies on the bed. The large container of chalk dust shone in the light. “This is going to be our best prank yet. Were you able to get the frogs?” he repeated.
I stood there like a statue, my mini pep-talk already a distant memory.
I can’t do this.
“Hello. Earth to Andy. Did you get them or not?”
Mitch is staring at me. I should tell him they’re in the box under our Social Studies text.
He lifted his eyebrows and held out his hands, impatience clear on his face.
“I’m gay.” My eyes widened in horror. Fuck.
“Okay, but did you get the frogs?” Mitch insisted.
“Did you hear what I said?”
“Yeah. Now, are you gonna answer the question?”
“But—don’t you have anything to say?” I asked, confused.
The light of the moon flashed against the whites of his eyes as he rolled them. “Does you being gay change who you are? Does it make you a different person than the one who helped me plan this?”
“Well, no.”
“Then were you able to get the frogs or not? Because this is going to be a super shitty prank without them.”
“They’re in the box on the desk,” I replied, still in a mild state of shock.
His trademark mischief quickly replaced his exasperated expression. He tossed me the container full of white dust and walked over to admire our prize.
“I got twelve,” I added to make up for my earlier lack of response.
“Perfect.” He removed the book and carefully picked up the box, which gave a characteristic jolt. “We better get going or we’ll miss our window.”
Present Day
Andy
I stared up at the vaulted ceiling of the cafeteria. The deep red brick and exposed beams lent the large space a grandeur far exceeding the room's use, but I'd stopped being impressed years ago. Despite Ulwich Preparatory Academy's mission of excellence and only accepting young men from the most prestigious families, it was still a school like any other.
“You gonna be studying with Connor again this year?”
I shifted my focus to my friend as he put his tray away and dusted his hands of the nonexistent crumbs. Calvin Bridges was meticulous to a fault and not one to make a mess—ever. Even his dark curly hair, while cut into a long shag that definitely violated school policy, was precisely styled to give the impression of nonchalance. His navy school blazer hung over a perfectly pressed cream button down and intentionally crooked tie striped with the Academy's colors.
As literally one of a dozen students of color in the entire school, his choices undoubtedly made a statement, loud and clear and one no one dared to call him on. Despite his rebellious appearance, or perhaps because of it, he was also the school’s unofficial keeper of secrets.
I emptied the remains of my breakfast into the trash before responding. “Let him take care of his own homework for a while.”
Calvin snickered. “Bet he didn’t like that.”
“Don’t say it like that. It was as much his idea as it was mine.” Connor and I had had a good thing going for a while, but as one year turned to two, our easy relationship had become strained.
“Sure it was, Andy,” he responded with an over-the-top eye roll. We turned to exit the cafeteria together to steal a few minutes outdoors before the second bell and the day's classes.
I glanced back towards a group of guys sitting on a table by the windows. The light illuminated the rowdy crowd as they laughed and carried on. The one at the heart ran his hand through light brown hair and smiled. Mitchum Hudson: Ulwich Academy’s star lacrosse player. Athletic perfection and so far out of reach, he might as well have been on another planet.
Pain stabbed through my chest like it did anytime I saw him.
Why did I have to tell him? If I had just kept my stupid mouth shut. If I hadn’t…
Calvin gripped my shoulder, dragging me back to the reality that I was standing in the doorway and blatantly staring across the cafeteria.
“I’m coming,” I grumbled.
“It’s been four years,” Calvin whispered.
“I know. And not a single word in between.” I pushed open the door to the courtyard with a tad too much force. It rebounded off the outside wall, then nearly crashed into a too-slow Calvin.
“You guys were already drifting apart. You said so yourself.”
I cast Calvin a sour look.
“Don’t get mad at me for telling it like it is,” he said as we settled into our usual spot on the green beside a low stone wall that I was sure served a purpose at some point. “He’s a typical jock, just like the rest of them. All muscle, no brain.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Unlike us?”
“Unlike you. I’ll be lucky if I can pass Algebra II with a low C. You’re the brainiac." He stood up on the low wall and struck a classic Shakespearean pose. “I’m doomed to be a starving artist. Forever suffering for my creations, sacrificing my very soul, with no hope of recognition.” He paused and glanced down at me to make sure I was paying attention. “Or more importantly, compensation.”
The dramatic declaration had the desired effect—I laughed. “Get down from there before you break something.”
He snorted. “I think the wall can take it.”
I laughed again. “Not the wall, more like your neck.”
He waved away my concern, then mimicked walking a tightrope complete with balancing arm swings. I shook my head. Calvin may not have been the same kind of friend Mitch had been, but he was still a good one. Not to mention he understood things Mitch never would.
The Mitch you knew is gone, I reminded myself.
“Look what the cat coughed up.” The taunting comment snatched me out of my musings.
I raised my head from the notebook I was scanning to find the school bully headed our way. “It’s too early for this shit,” I mumbled. Meanwhile, Calvin was already turning to confront him. I sighed inwardly.
Just once couldn’t they leave well enough alone?
“If it isn’t Benjamin Price himself, come to wish us good morning. Look Andy, he brought the welcome wagon and everything,” Calvin said with far too
Benny’s face immediately twisted at the abundance of enthusiasm; Calvin wasn’t supposed to be excited to see him. “They should ship your queer ass back to where it came from,” Benny sneered.
“Are you offering to pay the postage? You could even wrap me up yourself,” Calvin responded with a wicked smile.
Benny’s expression clouded with anger. “As if I would go anywhere near a cocksucker like you.”
Calvin feigned a wound to the chest, then bold as brass declared, “If I’m not mistaken, most of the guys here would do just about anything to have their cocks sucked. Present company not excluded.”
Benny’s cheek twitched and his lackeys looked at each other askance. Calvin had hit a little too close to the truth for their comfort. Going to an all-boys boarding school did leave certain things wanting. Finally, Benny recovered and fired back, “You think you’re special, because your senator mom got you into this school, but we all know the truth—she’s nothing more than a mail-order-bride that used daddy’s money to make a name for herself.”
Calvin vaulted off the low wall to land practically on top of Benny. “My mother got what she was owed and even an idiot like you should know you have to be a citizen to be a senator.”
“Who’d she have to fuck to get those papers? No wonder you’re such a queer.”
“My mom?" Calvin's voice pitched high with incredulity. "What kind of shit did your dad make your mommy agree to in that prenup? Tell me, was she pregnant before or after signing away her life?”
“Fuck you, you fucking fudge-packer,” Benny snarled.
Point Calvin.
“You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Calvin crossed his arms and popped a hip. "Or have you even seen her since daddy got his heir?”
“One of these days, I’m going to put you in your place, you fucking hapa faggot.”
“Just be sure to shower first,” Calvin said, cool as a stone.
I checked my reaction and watched Benny struggle to contain his. Behind him, Neil and Todd looked confused at their leader’s sudden lack of comeback.
“Motherfucking fairy,” Benny mumbled before signaling to his companions.
“Which is it Benny? Am I a motherfucker or a faggot?” Calvin called after them. Benny kept walking, not deigning to respond. Calvin continued to hold his ground until the trio was out of sight.
“You shouldn’t goad him. One of these days, he really will do something,” I cautioned as I adjusted the notebook on my knee.
Calvin scoffed before joining me on the ground. “Benjamin Price hates himself more than he hates me.”
Mitch
I watched the door to the mess hall close behind Anderson Gallagher, obscuring his bright copper hair.
He’s friends with Calvin now. He won’t ever be mine, not after what I did.
Boisterous laughter erupted around me, directly contradicting my depressing thoughts. I withdrew deeper into myself to escape the offensive sound that had taken complete possession of my life over the last four years. At first it hadn’t been so bad. These people were my friends. They cared about me and wanted me to succeed. But as time went by and their expectations chipped at my soul, I realized how horribly wrong I’d been to believe they were friends, because they weren’t, not really, not the way Andy had been.
I miss the way things used to be.
A sharp smack landed on my arm and jolted me out of the downward spiral. I returned my attention to the table full of familiar faces, not a one of which knew a damn thing about the real me. “What?” I asked, having lost all track of whatever ridiculous conversation we were having this morning.
“Trixie, man,” Brian repeated. An image of a girl with bottled-red hair came to mind. It hung about her sun-deprived face in a pixie cut that wasn’t doing her any favors.
My brow furrowed. I hadn’t talked to or even thought about her since school dismissed for summer. “What about her?”
“Bro, are you even listening?” Kyle asked, his peach face a mask of exasperation.
“You two still hooking up or what?” Brian repeated. He crossed brown arms made that much darker from a summer spent outdoors over his chest and leaned back with a raised eyebrow. I scanned the eager expressions surrounding me and my stomach turned. Dating Trixie had been an awful decision that I never would have made in the first place if it hadn’t been for these relentless assholes.
I shrugged as if she was the furthest thing from my mind, not the least of which because she was. “No, not really,” I replied honestly, Beatrix Roberts held zero interest for me and always had. Her stick figure topped with disproportionately large breasts made her look like a cartoon with the personality to match. She’d started with blonde hair that had miraculously turned an awful shade of red when I’d made the mistake of saying I preferred redheads in one of many attempts to break up with her.
“See, I told you,” Nate said with all the righteousness of someone proving a point that doesn’t need proving.
“Whatever.” Aaron rolled blue eyes that had snagged their fair share of the student body at the Mary Barnes School for Distinguished Young Women. “Still doesn’t mean you can try.”
“Why not?” Nate asked. I couldn’t help but be surprised that he of all people had an interest in pursuing Trixie. As my roommate, he’d gotten more exposure to her than the rest and should know she wasn’t worth the drama. Then I remembered Nate was a self-professed “boob-guy”.
John snagged the toast from my forgotten tray. “It’s the bro-code."
I stared down at where the rest of my morning meal remained untouched. If I didn’t start eating more, I wouldn’t make weight and wouldn’t be allowed to start come season in the spring. I pushed at the disconcerting yellow mass of eggs with my fork, but couldn’t bring myself to take a bite.
“Not to mention, you don’t stand a chance,” Brian added, uncrossing his arms and leaning forward to smirk at Nate.
Would it be so bad if I couldn’t play anymore?
I looked around at my teammates. They were loud, crude, completely obsessed with the neighboring girl’s school, and totally oblivious.
This school is doing a terrible job of turning us into gentlemen.
Nate turned to me and dragged me away from my thoughts yet again. “So, what do you say, Mitch?”
“About what?” I responded, looking once again at the several faces all eagerly awaiting a response and reminded myself for the millionth time to try harder not to sit in the middle.
“Do you think Nate has a right to go after Trixie if you two aren’t dating anymore?” John asked.
I shrugged again. “I don’t care what you do. Go after her if you want,” I replied, genuinely not caring. Nate pumped his fist in the air, much to John’s annoyance. “But I’ll warn you, she has zero sense of humor.”
Nate made a rude noise. “I’m not interested in her sense of humor.” The table erupted into guffaws and I glanced back at the door where Andy had disappeared.
Chapter 2
Four Years Ago
Andy
Everything had gone perfectly. More than perfectly. When Mr. Hanover opened his desk drawer tomorrow morning the whole school would hear about it.
“The room is going to be a total disaster,” I said, closing the door softly behind me.
“Hanover is going to freak. It'll take weeks to get chalk off of everything,” Mitch added emphatically, his eyes sparkling in the glow still coming from the open window. He plopped down on my bed and I walked over to join him. I was too wound up to sit though, so I remained standing.
“You were right,” I said. “This is definitely our best prank yet.”
“I still can’t believe no one has figured out it’s us.”
“Why would they? We’re awesome,” I stated, then quickly had to suppress a bout of laughter. It really was unbelievable that no one had guessed it was us after two whole years. I may have been doing pranks at Ulwich since before Mitch transferred in, but they were small time compared to the mischief we got up to together.
Tonight is going so well. The prank went perfect. I told Mitch the truth—most of it anyway. And we’re still cool.
