Hello! This is my new story The Lying Game. It's slightly based on the film Cry Wolf. Please go easy on me since this is my first Merlin fanfic. If I make any mistakes please tell me in your reviews or you can PM me. This story is modern AU. ~~~~~ means location change and XOXO means time change. Anyway please enjoy! See ya later!

Chapter One

"You got expelled?!" Deagal exclaimed. He stared at his friend who was leaning on his bedroom wall and smiling sheepishly at him.

"You know the whole point of pranking is not getting caught." Will exasperated folding his arms over his chest in disappointment.

"She caught me on camera, I didn't even know the school had CCTV." Merlin defended himself.

"They probably installed it after the missing toilet incident." Lancelot said giving all three of his friends disapproving looks. "They still don't know how it happened, neither do I."

"It was magic." Merlin grinned and tapped the side of his nose causing Will to laugh.

"If you had magic, I think all of us would fear for our lives. You're like a step away from accidently blowing up the country. You're that clumsy." He said and the others nodded in agreement.

"So where are you gonna go?" Deagal asked, a little sad that his friend was leaving.

Merlin pulled a leaflet from his draw and gave it to Lancelot. "Avalon high. It's boarding school. Mum was offered a job there but she turned it down because she wanted me to stay here. But I got expelled so she wants me to go as a 'fresh start'."

"Isn't that the school where you live in different houses? I heard Camelot house is really cool." Will said taking the leaflet from Lancelot and looking through it. "You're gonna love it." There was silence for a moment as it hit everyone that Merlin was really leaving and today was one of the last days with him.

"I'm really going to miss you, Merlin." Lancelot was the first to speak. Merlin looked like he was close to tears after hearing that. Will, Lancelot and Deagal were his best friends and had been for years. They were always together and helped each other out without any questions. They had told each other their biggest secrets and together finally got Deagal a girlfriend.

"Will you promise to text us everyday?" Will said, trying and failing to not sound like a girl and cry. Merlin laughed at his unusually high pitched voice. Deagal wailed loudly and pulled his friends into a group hug so they could cry together.

Hunith heard a loud mixture of voices from upstairs. She opened Merlin's bedroom door to see her son and his friends in a huddle crying and mumbling their feelings for each other. She smiled to herself. Her son may look like a young man but he was still acted like a little kid. At first she was angry that he managed to get expelled but the more she thought about it she knew that her life would be pretty uneventful if Merlin was always sensible. She coughed to get his attention.

The group parted immediately, their faces red with embarrassment. Merlin laughed a bit even though he was visibly still crying. "You didn't happen to see any of that, did you?" He asked.

"I didn't just see it, I heard it from downstairs. You boys sure are sensitive." She laughed a little.

"Sorry, Hunith, I guess we're gonna miss Merlin more than we thought." Deagal said wiping his eyes.

XOXO

The next day, Merlin walked to school with Will, Lancelot and Deagal so he could say his goodbyes to his other friends from his class, much to the annoyance of his teachers.

"Maybe we should start a petition so you don't have to leave." Mithian told Merlin after hugging him. Apart from stealing toilets and constantly pranking people, Merlin was actually an honourable student. He helped anyone who needed it and he was one of the smartest guys in the year.

After the fifth teacher glared at him, Merlin got the memo and headed to his mum's car. She said her own goodbyes by waving to a couple of other parents. When she was done, she revved up the engine and drove off to Avalon high.

Merlin felt upset at first but eventually he began to see the light and the weather seemed to reflect his mood. He stared out the window when they finally reached the school. It was beautiful. The school looked like a medieval castle with large houses in a circle around it. Merlin stepped out of the car and grabbed his suitcase out of the boot.

"I think Camelot house is over there." Hunith said as she walked over to a larger house. She took out a labelled key out of her bag to open the door. Inside, the house was large and cosy. It was a lot more modern that he thought it would be. Since it could pass for a cheaper pent house, Merlin wondered just how rich this school was. It dawned on him that this could be a private boarding school. If it was then it wouldn't be as much fun here as he'd hoped. Getting told on by posh little prats every time he pulled a prank on them wasn't something he would enjoy.

"Don't worry, Merlin. This is a public boarding school. I have no doubt that you'll find someone as misbehaved as you." Hunith reassured her son. She could tell what he was thinking. "If you do, can you make sure you don't get expelled again?"

"I won't, promise." Merlin replied. He didn't like disappointing his mum or causing trouble for her.

"Ok. Well I have to get going, Mr Pendragon wants to make sure I settle into my new class." Hunith said. She kissed his cheek, making him flush with embarrassment. She laughed at his reaction and walked towards the school.

Merlin turned back to his new home. He assumed that everyone was in school because the house was empty. But it was 8:30. 'Don't tell me school starts this early here too'. He thought with a groan.

After a few minutes, the housekeeper greeted him and showed him to his room. It was larger than he expected but it was probably because it was shared with two other people. On the wall at the far side of the room were loads of pictures of a group of guys. It must've been taken at a party because everyone either looked incredibly happy or annoyed at the brunette guy with a drink in his hand.

Merlin smiled before looking down at his watch. Mr Pendragon had said that because he was new, his first school day would start at 9 o clock. Realizing that he had half an hour to unpack, he started to open his suitcase and put his stuff in the spare draw next to his bed.

When he was done, he grabbed his school bag and made his way to the school. He went to Mr Pendragon's office to collect his timetable and then followed the map until he found the right class. Luckily, he was good a navigated himself around places so it didn't take long to find it.

He quickly peeked in the small window on the door to see an old teacher with shoulder length grey hair and glasses. He hoped it was his first teacher, Mr Gaius. He recognized a group of boys from the pictures on his wall. They were talking to a girl with long black hair who was rolling her eyes until she met his gaze.

Merlin took that as a signal to stop staring and actually enter the class. He knocked on the door and Mr Gaius called him in. As he predicted, the whole class was staring at him. "Hi." He said with his usual smile. To his surprise, most people smiled back and the girl who was looking bored out her mind a moment ago was suddenly looking curious and intrigued.

"Ah, you must be Merlin." Mr Gaius said putting a hand on his shoulder. "Welcome to Avalon high. I'm Mr Gaius your biology teacher." He said. He looked around the class to find an empty seat. "Take a seat next to Gwen. Gwen, raise your hand."

Gwen did as she was asked with a beautiful smile, which caused Merlin to smile back and a blonde boy near her to glare at him. Merlin made his way to his seat, waving to people who smiled and waved at him on his way past. As he sat down, Mr Gaius continued with his class and gave them an exercise to do until class was over.

"So you're new, right." Gwen asked, looking at Merlin.

"Yeah, I got expelled from my last school, Ealdor Grove High." He answered.

"Didn't someone steal a toilet from there?" Gwen asked. "Was it you who did it? Is that why you got expelled?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't caught doing that. I saw two of my teachers making out and filmed it. I gave it to our newspaper club and they put in our online news letter. Then they found out that I also stole the toilet." Merlin said not realizing that the black haired girl had turned around in her seat to listen.

"Finally, someone interesting comes to our school. It's seems your quite the prankster, Merlin." She said giving him a smile. "I'm Morgana, by the way."

"I'd be careful if I were you, she might rip out your 'interesting' heart and put in her creepy little box." A boy with blonde hair joined their conversation with a smirk.

"Shut up, Arthur." Morgana said glaring at him.

"How can you not think that that box is sinister? It's full of little skulls from your holiday with Nimueh and Morgause." A younger boy with brown hair and blue eyes said and shuddered.

"Can someone take me to a car so I can slam my face in it." Morgana said becoming annoyed with this conversation.

"I have a car." Arthur said smiling at her. They soon got into a full blown argument and got sent out of the class by Mr Gaius.

Merlin laughed along with the rest of the class. Maybe this school might not be as bad as he thought. All he had to do now is get along with everyone in his house.

Hello again, I hope you enjoyed that. I know the last bit was incredibly cheesy but I didn't really know how to end the chapter. I'm also sorry that this chapter was so long. I promise the story will get better and I will introduce some more of the characters next chapter. I'm sorry if I offended anyone who goes to a private boarding school. I'll see you soon, Bye! And please review!