Edmund Pevensie, recent transfer student (from England!) has volunteered to pass out the student handbooks. His fingers brush briefly against James'. This is likely to be the most exciting thing that will happen all day.

...oh the transfer student is cute. Okay maybe the day will have any excitement, at least if he's got anything to say about it. He winks at Edmund as the boy's passing by and starts leafing through the booklet for literally no reason other than to lower his eyes away and give Edmund some plausible deniability in case he isn't into cock.

Edmund smirks back, which isn't quite an answer.

Yes it is, James has been at this for a while, that boy is a friend of Dorothy.

Edmund moves on, still smirking.

The handbook, unlike Edmund, is entirely unexciting apart from a printing error on the cover. Dress code! (No revealing or obscene clothing. No handkerchiefs or bandanas. No face coverings.) Student conduct! (No fighting, no running in the halls, no cheating - the full academic honesty policy is enumerated.) It even has vague platitudes! ("Woodrow Wilson High School is dedicated to providing a welcoming environment." "We believe in the right of individuals to think for themselves." "Hazing is not tolerated under any circumstances - transfer students are to be welcomed with open arms and open hearts.")

Maybe it's because of the—no, scratch that, it's obviously because of the new cute transfer student that James decides the first section of his handbook he'll deface is that one. By the end of the day it'll be unrecognizable, depending on how bored he is, but he can start with "Hazing is not tolerated under any circumstances held on the first day of the year—transfer students are to be welcomed with open arms and open hearts the traditional start-of-year orgy."

Man, he would be much more excited about school if it had traditional start-of-year orgies. Aaaand now he's hard. It's all Edmund's fault.

Is it Edmund's fault that he's very, very sleepy now, as well? (It's probably the fact that school starts at 8am, actually.)

Yeah probably. He wanted to save being yelled at for sleeping in class for after lunch when teachers are more forgiving but you know what it's the first day of school and maybe he'll have a nice dream about school orgies. Maybe he should come up with a way for this to work, write a little porn story? Mmm after nap.

He's in homeroom, anyway, it's not like anyone cares.

Maybe he'll sleep the whole sleep dep of waking up at 6 after the whole summer holidays of sleeping in.

No? Just a short kinda uncomfortable nap that didn't even have a nice sex dream with the new boy? Boring. But he's awake again, he guesses.

During his nap, someone provided him with a flyer for the school events over the coming month. Listed prominently is "the September Bacchanal" after school today.

"-and we don't do it quite that way back in England," the new boy's saying ruefully to a fascinated girl. "It's considered more of a private family event. Sometimes you invite your in-laws if they're nearby and you particularly like them."

"That just seems so antisocial," she says dubiously. "It's supposed to be, you know, a bacchanal!"

"Well-"

The bell rings, and whatever Edmund was about to say is lost to the shuffle of school supplies.

The fuck is a bacchanal...? He's pretty sure that wasn't a thing last year. Some... party thing? Whatever, he'll find out later, for now he shoves the flyer and the handbook (he drooled on it a bit, ew) into his bag, slings it over a shoulder, and gets up to go to wherever he has to go next.

Maybe he can catch new boy on the way, introduce himself and all.

By complete happenstance, they do seem to be going in the same direction.

"Hey!" James calls when he manages to dodge a friend of his who wanted to catch up with a "gotta do something first" and a wave. "Edmund, right? I'm James."

Edmund turns and smiles at him. "Edmund, yes, Edmund Pevensie - you're James... Orland, right, that's what she said taking attendance? Good to meet you."

"Good to meet you too," he says with a sunny grin. "So what brings you across the pond?"

"My father had a change in career, nothing too exciting. Moving's tough, but I'm told that Woodrow Wilson High is dedicated to providing a welcoming environment, so that's a weight off my mind."

"Platitudes, but I would like to live up to them anyway. Welcome new students with open arms and open hearts and all."

"I feel so welcomed! Though I'm sure there's more welcome to come."

"There certainly is if I have anything to say about it. We've only just met, after all."

"Yes, I'm sure we'll be much better acquainted after today."

Just then they arrive at their classroom, and Edmund takes a seat as the bell rings.

James is in full approval of this boy flirting back, this is going better than he'd expected.

He sits with a group of his friends and makes sure to not fall asleep this time. Sleeping is also very unexciting and he wishes to not.

Class is the same as it ever was: forty-five minutes of mostly boredom. There are a number of subsequent classes, most of which are equally boring. There's lunch, which is probably fine. There's two more classes after lunch.

When the end-of-day bell rings, a handful of his fellow students actually cheer. Mostly, though, they just gather their stuff and head towards the gym, with the dull roar of student conversation turning towards "the Bacchanal".

"There's a couple of really good transfers this year," one boy muses. "I'm excited."

"This is my first Bacchanal at a public school," a girl frets. "But hopefully it's similar enough to the ones at the community center."

"Mr. Dresden's chaperoning," another boy says. "Apparently he's not even into it, he just does it out of... civic duty, or something? He's such a weirdo."

...wait so is this like some tradition that other schools have that their school is copying? Wait, no, what—

—he'll go to the gym. And find out what the fuck. But something the fuck.