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CHAPTER 1: H4 MADNESS

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"The children of today are much different from what they used to be. They focus on learning the use of the bow, the swords, the knives. Yet what of knowledge? The languages, the arithmetic, the arts. Is that no longer important?"

As the Elf lord and ladies watched, this problem became more than a question, but a full-blown issue. Everyone was a warrior, yet no new scholars had appeared in several centuries. "Enough!" they cried, "We must do something!"

Thus Lord Elrond, King Thranduil, and Lord Celeborn set up the Middle-earth Elven Institute of Learning. It was not in Mirkwood, or Lorién, or Rivendell, but in Ithilien. With great magic, evil was cast out of a section of the forests, and the great school was built.

From all over Middle-earth, lords and ladies sent their young Elves and ellith were sent for one purpose: to learn.

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A century later:

The class watched silently as the single boy entered the classroom alone. He gathered his books and quills quickly, and exited the room, his shoulders slumped and his head hung dejectedly.

When he entered the hallway, the class quickly moved out of his way, as if he carried some deadly disease. As he walked, someone stuck out his foot, causing the boy to trip over, and his belongings spilled out across the hallway.

Andiél, a new student, took a step forward to help him, but was quickly pulled back by her new friend, Nadireth. "Don't!"

Andiél was alarmed, "Why not? The boy needs help!"

Nadireth shook her head. "That boy was forced to quit school by the H4. If you help him, they'll mark you, too!"

"The H4? What the heck is that?"

Nadireth explained, "The H4 is made up of the four most popular, rich, and handsome boys at our school. It was only yesterday when that kid tried to stand up to them, and now he's marked!"

"What does that mean?"

"When the H4 are mad at someone, they make a red mark with 'You'll be dead – H4' written on it. They tape it on that person's dorm door in the morning, where everyone can see it. No one would talk to a person that is marked. So you have no choice but to drop out."

Andiél almost laughed, "That's ridiculous! What did he do?"

Nadireth shrugged, "I'm not sure. Probably just said something that made them mad."

Andiél look scandalized. "What kind of assholes would force a student to quit school for such a stupid reason?! If it were me, I'd – "

Nadireth cupped her hand over her friend's mouth quickly, "Don't let anyone hear you say that!" She shook her head again. "You don't understand. They can do anything they want, because they have the power. Their fathers own this school!" She suddenly sighed, "If you had ever seen them, you'd understand, Andiél…"

The new girl frowned, "I don't think I would. That's not exactly a decent reason to go around picking on people!"

Meanwhile, the boy had finally retrieved all his books, and stood up, dusting off his robes. At the same moment, one of the teachers, Lord Agelair, make his entrance, sweeping across the hallway. When he saw the boy, he exclaimed, "Oh my! What are you doing?"

The boy's eyes dropped to the ground once more, and he said quietly, "I've decided to drop out, my lord."

Lord Agelair was astonished, "What ever are you doing that for? You're one of the best students that we have!"

Before the boy could speak, a popular elleth, Cylleth, quickly pulled him aside. She whispered to him, "It's the H4, my lord."

As quick as lightning, the teacher's puzzled expression vanished and his attitude changed. He slapped the boy on the back nervously. "Good luck with the rest of your life," he said feebly, before quickly entering his classroom.

The class cast one last look at the boy before following suit, except Andiél who remained rooted to her spot, astounded by what she had just witnessed.

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Later, in the afternoon, Andiél was taking a quick tour with Nadireth of the school grounds, when suddenly everyone froze, and slowly turned their heads the same way. There they were, thought Andiél, the infamous H4.

The four Elves, used to the attention, continued to slowly and haughtily make their way down the path. The leader, none other than future marchwarden, Haldir of Lorién, himself, walked one step in front of the others. His chest up, shoulders back, eyes looking straight forward – you could have never seen just a proud creature.

Closely behind him were the lords of Rivendell, Elrohir and Elladan, the famed pranksters of the group, who smiled and winked flirtatiously at the ellith they passed. An elf-maiden would gasp, quickly recover, and smile back, but by then they had already moved on the tease the next one.

Bringing up the rear was Legolas, crown prince of Mirkwood. The prince slouched ever so slightly as he walked, and while he did not have the arrogant stance of Haldir, he held his own kind of quiet, untouchable charm.

From the other side of the path, unaware of our 'celebrities', came Lord Agelair, our same teacher from this morning. With something obviously on the poor Elf's mind, for he accidentally tripped on a root, and the box he was holding came flying out of his hand.

More unfortunate was the fact that the wooden box happened to fly up and hit Haldir squarely on the forehead.

The leader of H4 froze, a muscle in his jaw twitched. If it were possible, the onlookers were even more silent than before, as everyone drew a breath, and waited for Haldir's reaction.

Time seemed to stop.

Lord Agelair, who was still sprawled out on the ground, hastily began to pull himself up, cursing to himself. He was halfway up when he finally realized the silence. He slowly raised his head, fearing the worst.

It was the worst.

The elderly Elf swallowed. Then he quickly ran up to Haldir. "My lord!" he exclaimed nervously, "I'm so sorry! Here, let me see if you are hurt."

"My lord," said Haldir coolly, "You are stepping on my foot."

Lord Agelair suddenly dropped to the ground. He said shakily, "I'm so sorry, my lord! Here, I'll wipe it for you!"

Haldir gave an impatient sigh, "You are wasting my time." Then without warning, he kicked his leg hard, sending the teacher reeling.

Without another look back, the Elf sauntered off, Elrohir and Elladan in tow.

The crowd let go of a breath they had not realized they had been holding. Some shifted their eyes, and saw that not all four boys were gone. Legolas stayed back, and walked over to Lord Agelair, helping him get back up. "Oh, my! Why, thank you, my boy."

The prince did not reply, and turned away. For a split second, his eyes met Andiél's. But not pausing for another moment, he swiftly jogged away to join his friends.

- - - -

A few days later, Nadireth and Andiél were doing laundry together. "What do you think of the H4 now, Andiél?"

Instantly, her eyes clouded in anger. "They are all selfish assholes," she said tersely.

"All?" Nadireth asked mischievously.

Andiél paused, "Well, perhaps not all. The quiet one…Prince Legolas…is different. But the rest are bastards!"

Nadireth laughed, "Perhaps, but you cannot deny that they are good-looking."

"Too bad that such beauty is wasted so!"

The two ellith gathered their clothes, and began to walk back to their dorms. Adariél sighed, "I really wish my mother had not insisted I attend this school. It is so far from home, and everyone here seems to be the son or daughter of some lord or rather. I feel so out of place!"

Nadireth smiled ruefully as they slowly descended a flight of stone steps with their heavy loads, "It's not so bad. We can be commoners together –– Oh!" The elleth misplaced a foot, and began to tumble forward. Without thinking, she tossed away her laundry, and reached out her arms, catching the railing. She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "Phew! That was close!"

Andiél didn't say anything, but stared straight forward, biting her lip hard.

Nadireth saw her friend's expression, "What? What is it?" Seeing that she was not getting a reply, she slowly turned her head.

The laundry that Nadireth had thrown had knocked over a huge flowerpot, which had emptied itself on none other than Haldir and Elrohir. They stood there, at the foot of the steps, unmoving, their faces covered with soil.

Nadireth panicked, and scurried over to them. She fell on her knees, "I'm so sorry, my lord! I- I didn't- didn't m-mean it! I-"

Haldir glared at her for a moment, then said to Elrohir, "Why the hell is everyone apologizing to me these days?" He gave Nadireth an annoyed look, than pushed her out of the way, "You'd think that being an Elf would have allowed you to be more graceful. Dirty commoner." With that he turned swiftly, and started ascending the steps.

As he passed Andiél, he did not expect an angry voice to stop him.

"Stop right there!"

He turned to her, surprise at her outburst. "What is this? An alliance of the lower class?"

Andiél's eyes flashed, "How dare you! She already apologized. Why is that not enough?" Without giving him a change to answer, and not noticing that Elladan and Legolas had also arrived at the scene, she continued, "Just because you are rich, and powerful, does not mean you may treat others like they do not count. You're nothing but useless, spoiled trash!"

Haldir glared at her, furious, "You will regret those words, my lady." He spat at her feet, then stalked off, the other three filed past her. Elladan paused for a moment, shook his head with a sympathetic laugh, then continued on his way.

Andiél stared after them, everything that she had just said replaying mercilessly in her head. I'm so screwed…

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A/N: I hope you all like it so far! Please don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to either Lord of the Rings or Meteor Garden. I own nothing!