Alex’s eyes opened and he moved to sit up, but groaned as a wave of pain shot through him, starting from somewhere on his side. He held onto his aching side, and the pain slowly dulled enough that he could breathe normally again. Alex carefully pushed off the covers, but every little move made his side throb in pain.

He managed to slide to the side and grit his teeth as he stood. The sharp pain made him gasp, but it soon switched to a dull throbbing pain, so he was able to force himself to move to the wardrobe. Alex didn’t want to try the shower and dreaded getting changed, but knew he had to keep going. He meticulously changed, taking his time to cut down the pain. The only explanation for it had to be his dream but he didn’t believe that what had happened in the dream really happened. Perhaps he had slept wrong and now had a pinched nerve or other odd problem. Or maybe it was from when someone had pushed him into a desk the day before. Alex made excuses that his science reared mind could accept, while he painfully continued to put on his uniform. He decided on loafers today, since he could just slip them on. He didn’t even want to think about trying to tie shoe laces when it hurt so much to move his waist.

The pain made everything take much longer than usual before he was finally seated in the car ready to go. The chauffeur drove him to school, not commenting when Alex had groaned in pain getting in or when they went around a sharp curve. As they pulled up Alex heard the warning bell ring and grunted in frustration. The driver held open the door for him, looking a little worried at how slowly Alex was moving. Alex just showed a wan smile and slid out, wincing as he stood.

Instead of tackling the stairs, Alex went around to the side entrance that had a ramp. There weren’t too many people still in the halls, so he hurried to his locker. He was on his way to class when someone slammed into him. He cried out as he fell over backwards, the pain shooting through him, making him feel like he was on fire.

“I’m so sorry! Are you all right?” A feminine voice asked worriedly.

Alex looked in front of him to see a girl sprawled on the ground. She had a decent figure for her small frame, but she was overly pale. Her whitish skin was only more obvious because of the contrast with her curly black hair that seemed to go all directions as it pleased. She had a small cute face with large green eyes that were looking at him waiting for an answer.

“I..I’m ok.” Alex managed to croak out as he clutched his side.

“You don’t look ok” She said and started to get up, reaching a hand out to help him.

Alex looked at it dubiously. She looked too small to be able to lift his weight, but he doubted he would be able to get up by himself. So he grabbed her hand, while still holding his side with his other hand. She was stronger than she looked and pulled him up. But then she looked at their scattered books in chagrin.

“Oh my, just give me a moment and I will gather all this up. I was rushing too much and wasn’t looking where I was going.” She said and began to pick the books up.

Alex wouldn’t have been surprised if she had tilted her head to the side and hit her head while her tongue stuck out like in an anime. She just had that aura of a clutzy air head to her. He smiled slightly as she handed him his books and she gasped.

“Oh!” and she dropped them again. “You’re Alexander Kent! Oh dear this isn’t going to be good.” Then she noticed she had dropped the books again and quickly picked them up and handed them to him.

Alex furrowed his brows in confusion. What in the world was she worried about? Did she think he would become angry at her or something? “I’m not mad or anything,” he tried to reassure her.

She looked around furtively “Um, well that’s good. I’m glad you’re ok. I need to be going we are already late.” As if on cue, the bell to signal the start of class rang. The girl looked a little panicked and backed away, bowing a little towards him. “I’m sorry again.” Then she hurried around him and down the hall.

Alex stood there for a moment, still confused at her behavior. He scratched his head with his free hand and winced again at the stab of pain before he shook his head and continued to class. The teacher marked him tardy and he heard some laughs while he hurried to his seat.

By the time lunchtime came around, the pain had significantly lessened to the point that it was just a dull ache. He had debated about talking to the nurse, but decided that since the pain was not as bad, that it would eventually go away.

Alex looked around, being careful this time to avoid running into Marcus. He was soon sitting in his favorite spot in the courtyard. It was a secluded little nook that wasn’t clearly visible from the rest of the courtyard. There was a nice little maple tree and a root that stuck out made the perfect seat to enjoy his lunch in peace. He had just started eating when a small noise from behind him made him turn his head.

There she was, the girl from earlier, hiding behind the tree peeking at him nervously. She blushed a little when she saw that he noticed her. “Um, have you been feeling better? You looked bad after I ran into you, and it worried me all day.”

Alex studied her curiously for a moment. “I’m feeling much better. Still it would have been nice to at least hear your name since you seem to know mine.”

She stepped out cautiously with her hands clasped behind her back, holding a lunch box. “Ah, I’m Summer, Summer Harris.” She said a little sheepishly and looked around carefully before continuing. “Would you mind if I joined you?”

“I suppose it would be fine though you will have to sit on the grass.” He said and realized after Summer sat down that he could have let her have the root to sit on.

Still she looked pretty cheerful. She had her legs bent to the side so that her panties wouldn’t show and started to pull out her lunch. He continued to eat in silence, not sure why Summer was there or what to say.

“You seem a lot nicer than I pictured. I thought you would either be super arrogant or standoffish.” Summer said after a few bites of her sandwich.

Alex just shrugged but was still curious about her earlier behavior. “Why did you seem so skittish earlier? Were you scared of me or something?”

“Ah, no way! After meeting you in person you weren’t scary at all, but I was still pretty scared of your stalkers.” She said it nonchalantly as if he should already know about it.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Stalkers?! What do you mean?”

“You don’t know? Really?” Summer asked, shocked. “I was sure that you knew that almost all the girls in school watched everything you did. They even have all these rules.” She started. “Do not talk directly to Alex. Everyone must keep a record of what Alex does and report to the senior leaders about any possible problems. If anyone breaks the rules she will be punished.” She shook her head, her curls bouncing a little.

Then she turned to him. “Basically, they all moon over you, calling you the untouchable prince. They are constantly following you from a safe distance, and writing down everything you do. They also secretly take pictures of you. So if someone had seen me talking to you, I might have gotten beaten up. I ambushed you here cause I figured it might be safe, and I was curious about you.”

His mouth dropped open. “Seriously? I had no idea. I thought they didn’t like me, and I was avoided because of that, and now I find out it’s the opposite. Are they crazy?”

Summer giggled. “You have a nice face like an idol, so they are kind of in awe of you, I suppose. Man, if they knew what you were really like. You are so normal. I think they'd faint because their princely dream was smashed.”

“That is messed up; and I can’t believe I didn’t notice them taking pictures.” Alex looked at her. “I look like an idol?”

She almost choked, “Do you not look in the mirror?”

“Well, yeah and I just felt I looked too effeminate. I read manga and watch a little anime, but I don’t really follow idols, so I had no idea I had a popular appearance.” He scratched his head, then took another bite of his sandwich, managing to get a little mustard next to his mouth.

“Effeminate, well most people familiar with manga and such would call you Bishounen. But wow, you are so normal it’s funny. Here, have a napkin. You have some mustard by your mouth.” Summer laughed and handed him a napkin.

Alex grinned and took it, before wiping his mouth. They finished their lunch and she got up and dusted herself off.

“It was fun, but I better get going before one of your stalkers finds your little hideaway.” She held her lunchbox in one hand and waved before turning to go.

She was gone before Alex had a chance to wave back. He couldn’t help the small chuckle as he gathered up his lunch tray. She was only the second friendly person he had met in this stuffy school and she was such a quirky character. Alex had enjoyed spending time with her, but he worried that she might get into trouble for talking to him. He also wondered why Veronica seemed fine. Maybe the girls were scared that the boys in student council would protect Veronica.

He shrugged, since he had no idea and continued on to class. Other than an annoying pop quiz in math, the day ended normally. Even the pain from that morning was just a little twinge now, as he walked toward the exit.

As soon as Alex got in the car he had the driver take him to the dojo. He had ordered a gi when he was signing up but it would be a few days yet, before it got here. Alex had planned ahead, and brought some exercise clothes with him. He was eager to start and looked forward to getting to know the other students.