Steele Summers was ready for another normal day of school. He was prepared for all his classes to run their normal scheduled length of time; for the school day to end on time. And to go home right at 3:15 just like any other day after exchanging his books in his locker. So when Steele sat down at his desk that cold November morning he was not prepared for the teacher to deviate from that plan first thing.

"Class I expect you to welcome Balto Salvatore nicely." The teacher smiled brightly.

"Nice to meet you." The junior high class droned the greeting with as much enthusiasm as being told they were going to have a pop quiz.

"Nice to meet you." A soft meek but still masculine voice responded back.

Steele who up until now hadn't bothered to look up found his eyes drawn to the source of that unassuming voice. It belonged to possibly the sloppiest and gawkiest but well-dressed male Steele had ever seen. The boy who'd been identified as "Balto" for all his awkward gangliness looked more like he belonged in with the freshmen class not the juniors.

Balto looked all wrong standing there in the front of the class. His hair was a "hot mess" as Steele's friend Jenna would say. Chunks of the bizarre blond brown dirt colored mess stuck up at weird angles looking in all its glory like completely natural bedhead. No styling whatsoever. It flipped out around Balto's ears but did not distract from Balto's bright golden eyes or his very tan skin. Balto's school uniform was a disaster; the uniforms sharp straight lines were a tangled wreck of wrinkles and unsightly bunches at odd places. The buttons of his shirt were all mercifully buttoned correctly but the shirt was draped on his lanky form in such a way that made the buttons look uneven and wrong. His half-hearted attempt to tuck in his shirt pulled it violently to one side of his body and did not help the shirt lay right nor did his slouching. His school issued dress pants looked two sizes too big and were being held on by a black and white checkered belt. Sneakers with one shoe tied properly finished the disorganized look.

Steele could hear the growing whispers and giggles from his classmates at Balto's unfortunate appearance. Balto blushed deeply and tucked his head down as he shifted uncomfortably looking like he'd give anything in the world not to be at the front of the class.

Just tell him where the hell to sit. Steele snapped in his mind at the slow moving teacher who seemed oblivious to Balto's growing discomfort and the ever shortening time. Impatient to start the damn class so it could be finished on time Steele glared at the clock. No reason a scrappy misfit kid should hold them up. If there was one thing Steele valued it was order and efficacy. There would be time enough later for idle gossip and forced pleasantries after class. Right now was the scheduled time for math.

"Why don't you go sit by Kaltag." The teacher gestured to the empty seat by Kaltag giving Balto a small push in the right direction.

Nikki leaned forward form his seat behind Steele, he shifted as he waited until Balto walked right by them to sneer. "That kids gotta be a mutt, no way a pureblood would let their kid come here looking like that."

Balto flinched and looked away quickly on his way by, shuffling along faster to get away as soon as possible looking like he was physically trying to flee the hurtful words. Seemed like Balto knew just as much as everyone else in the room how poorly he fit in and how much he did not belong there Steele mused.

The teacher tried in vain to regain the attention of the class, but could only manage to keep the whispering to a dull mummer. Everyone's undivided attention was given to the new boy. Balto visibly wilted from the undisguised scrutiny. Steele felt vaguely unsettled for the unrefined looking boy which was as close to sympathy as Steele ever got. Steele almost felt bad for the incompetent teacher. Almost; the emotion was ruined by his irritation at said teacher.

The teacher finally managed to get the class in some sort of controlled chaos and Steele was content to not think of the new boy again. Steele focused on the math problems set out for them by the teacher and was reasonably happy when the class ended only four minutes late. Steele packed up his things and proceeded to go to the next thing without so-much as a backward glance. Steele began mentally preparing himself for chemistry and ran over some of the practice questions in his head. He was so involved in his thoughts that he would've missed his friends' presence altogether if Star hadn't grabbed his arm.

"Hey Steele! I'm talking to you!" Star announced loudly his voice easily carrying over the noise of the crowded hallway. Steele made a futile effort to shake off Star's hand. "Nikki said you guys had a new kid in your class, said the kid looked like a mix blood."

Steele mentally sighed and rolled his eyes of course Star would know all about the new student and would be digging around to find out more. Leave it to Star to gather all the information possible so he could aggressively corner the new person with overwhelming kindness all in the name of friendship. At least Star wouldn't care about blueblood or not. Steele did have to agree with Nikki on that, for all his abrasiveness Nikki had a point, no blueblood would let their kid come to this school looking like that. The kid was green.

"I heard his last name was Salvatore which means his dad owns like half this school!" Star nearly squealed. "Can you imagine? No one even knew Nava Salvatore had a son."

Steele let the information slide in one ear and out the other. It was not relevant to his day or life for that matter why should he care about some boy.

"Did you talk to Dixie?" Steele supplied in an automatic response. He did not feel like listening to idle chatter and speculation about Balto's heritage; although his relation to The Mr. Salvatore who was on the school board and regularly donated supplies and cash to the school was noteworthy. Everything else Steele had noticed about the boy made him look like an open and closed case, and one easily written off at that.

"Dixie's still gathering intel and told me to come ask you what you knew." Star cheerfully replied all too eager to ignore Steele's obvious brush off.

"I don't have anything for you. He's new, he's chaos walking, and he's awkward." Steele said as he reached his next class. He walked in without saying goodbye to Star leaving the boy to find his own way from there. He sat down in his assigned seat and pulled out his books and supplies. One minute till the bell rang and four minutes before the class was supposed to start. As the room filled up around him Steele went over his answers. He had no one in the class he felt like talking to and was anxious to get chemistry over for the day.

Balto was the last student to make it to the class. He peeked his head around the corner before entering quickly and as unobtrusively as possible he hunched forward trying to look as small as he could. His rather large feet making his actions futile as he stumbled over them in his haste. Steele flicked his shaggy hair out of his face as he unabashedly watched Balto make a mess of himself on his way to his seat. Steele felt that unsettled feeling that was getting suspiciously more and more like pity in his gut. He deliberately looked away before he heard Balto crash to the floor taking at least one chair with him. If nothing else could be said for Balto he at least knew how to make a scene. Steele in an act of benevolence ignored the clatter and drew attention to the freshly arrived teacher asking about some irrelevant assignment or other that had all the class glaring daggers at him for mentioning it. Let it not be said that Steele was above acts of charity.

The rest of the class passed without further excitement. Balto was still very much the center of stolen attention but the class was a more demanding then the first and prevented from too much verbal contemplation. Steele found his attention wondering from the teacher and class on hand and more towards the boy at the back of the room. Steele tried to ignoring the fleeting thoughts in his mind concerning the boy hoping they proved to be more than a passing fancy of curiosity. Balto should not be here, in this school, that much was clear. Trying to fathom the reason behind his appearance was more time consuming then Steele had previously given it credit for. The second class of the day ended on time the bell jarred Steele from his thoughts startling him to realize he passed the class in its entirety thinking of the nothing more than the strange boy. Balto's general appearance was so much different than Steele's own. Steele was a pure blueblood with uninterrupted lines. He kept himself orderly and neat at all times. He had straight, shaggy midnight black hair, icy cold blue eyes and was naturally pale. He stood tall at all times and had an innate arrogance that humbled itself for no one. It was undisputable that Steele was every inch a blueblood prince.

The third period followed the progression of the first two. By lunch Steele could no longer deny he was interested in hearing what Dixie had to say about the boy. Steele proceeded to follow his normal routine he got his food and made his way over to the table where his friends usually sat. Kaltag, Jenna and Sylvie were already seated and causally conversing with one another.

Kaltag was blond with brown eyes and freckles; had an athletic build and had a rather large mouth. Jenna had long naturally red hair the color of rust and was slender. Sylvie had a voluptuous amount of platinum blond hair and was curvier than Jenna with a more athletic twist. The girls were quiet enamored with Balto and were discussing him quiet avidly as Steele walked up.

"I heard he isn't even officially Mr. Salvatore's heir." Sylvie announced quiet scandalized; her big brown eyes darting around covertly.

"Jamie said he was a sweety but a bit clumsy." Jenna said with empathy. "It must be hard coming to a new school 3 months late. I wonder where he came from."

Steele seated himself at the table and organized his lunch. He listened carefully to what was happening around him while looking around the cafeteria looking for Balto without making it look like he was looking for him. He hadn't seen the boy in the hallway or in line and was curious as to where the boy had ended up.

Steele's wondering gaze got cut short as Dixie pranced up to him with Star and Nikki in tow. Dixie was short and plump in a pleasing sort of way, or at least that's what Kaltag and Nikki said anyway. Steele found her to be rather annoying. Her blond hair was frosted with purple and cut in a pixie cut her uniform looked a little small for her round body and popped out in certain "womenly" places. Star had his hair spiked up in a way that flirted with the schools carefully worded guide lines. Star's body bordered on anoxia, not that he couldn't eat his weight in doughnuts and pizza, it didn't help he was so pale. Nikki was bulky and a little over what was considered the healthy bodyweight. He kept his brown hair cut short, walked around with a perpetual scowl and was known to be as grouchy as he looked.

Dixie inserted herself has close as she could to Steele without seriously infringing on his personal space. It was still too close for Steele's comfort. Star shoved himself next to Dixie trying to capture her attention. Nikki went to sit on the other side of the table by Kaltag, Jenna and Sylvie. As Dixie settled in next to Steele he took the opportunity to scan the area again for that head of messy eccentric hair ignoring her incessant chatter. He caught sight of Balto across the room.

Balto looked absolutely wretched sitting by himself not even pretending to poke to food on his tray around. His disconcerting golden eyes shifting around nervously watching the cafeteria traffic and bustle. He looked rather pale considering how tan he first appeared to be. His skin had taken on a rather unnatural unhealthy sheen. Mercifully Balto had managed to semi correct his uniform so it did not look as uncouth. His hair was still an unrelenting mess. One could only improve so much in a short time.

"I heard he's a runner." Star stated happily. "He's got a ton of trophy's from his last school, but he was only as average student."

"He's gonna have a hard time joining our time no matter how good he is, he doesn't have the right blood lines." Kaltag said matter of factly digging into his food.

"I heard he was Mr. Salvatore's love child." Dixie said conspiratorially. "He's not even technically his heir. He's mother was a maid or something in his father's house and Mr. Salvatore knocked her up and they sent her away because she's a nobody. Mr. Salvatore hasn't been with anyone since. Rumor is he never got over her. Isn't that romantic?"

"He's got average looks average grades and nothing to recommend him besides riding on his daddy's coat tail. Figures all mutts are the same. I wonder why they bothered letting him in here. Twenty bucks say the transfer him out before the school year is up." Nikki managed to say around his food.

"He is a perfectly polite boy, that's rare enough around here so I think that makes him quiet extraordinary." Jenna inserted trying to steer the conversation to a more positive light. "Maybe one of us should invite him over." Jenna said gently having easily followed Steele's lingering gaze to Balto. "He looks so miserable sitting all by himself."

"Invite him over here?!" Dixie's excessively loud voice capturing everybody's attention in the whole half of the side of the cafeteria they were on. Steele wouldn't have been surprised if Balto was unfortunate enough to hear it and guess what they were discussing. Steele looked back over to the distraught looking boy to find his golden eyes looking earnestly their way. The slight wince took Steele's theory of how far Dixie's obnoxious could carry to new heights. Balto met Steele's eyes briefly before quickly looking away.

"Dixie!" Jenna said sharply. "There is no reason we can't be nice."

"He's a mutt! That's worse than consorting with the lower familys! That would be complete social suicide!" Dixie shouted her voice growing steadily louder in her righteous indignation. "I don't understand why he is even here! And I definitely don't understand why you would want to be friends with him!"

Balto stood up so fast his chair fell over behind him as he rushed from the room cutting Dixie's tirade off. Runner. Only cowards ran from their problems and fear. Steele sneered at the boys back. Weak. The boy had proven that he was weak and forgettable. He did not belong here.

"Dixie." Jenna's voice took a threatening edge. "That was mean. He hasn't done anything to you. You need to say you're sorry."

"Sorry for what? Telling the truth?" Nikki scoffed.

"He needs to grow a thicker skin if he thinks he's going to try to belong here." Sylvie said rolling her eyes. "I mean really it's so obviously doesn't belong. What does he expect?

Kaltag watched the scene around him unfolding thoughtfully chewing but wisely keeping his opinions to himself. Star eyes widening as he watched the spat around him. Steele tuned them out already knowing how this was going to end. Jenna would get mad in her defense of the clear underdog. Dixie would defend herself and get mad Jenna was angry at her for saying in what Dixie's eyes was only the truth. Nikki would naturally be on Dixie's side as would Sylvie. Kaltag would remain neutral as long as he possibly could before joining Dixie's side because Kaltag was many things, unprejudiced was not one of them. Star would fret and whine and eventually become too hard to wheedle an opinion from to be worth while and would be forgotten. And Steele would adamantly stay out of it.

They could argue as much as they wanted but Steele's mind was irrevocably made up. Balto did not belong.