Matthew looked nervously at the sign. This was the front office; he was supposed to be here. So why didn't the receptionist talk to him? He had been standing there for at least five minutes and they was too busy drinking coffee and as he had a sneaking suspicion, playing solitaire.

This was really supposed to be a good morning. He was finally at a school where, hopefully, people would talk to him. He didn't have to share a room with his snoring, sloppy twin and he had pancakes this morning.

The bell rang and Matthew sighed. Now he was going to have to go to class late because the receptionist wouldn't see him and everyone's going to think he's too incompetent to read a map and basically he'd be embarrassed for the rest of the day. He tried to cough some to attract attention but didn't want to be too loud because then they'll think that he's sick or something.

He kind of edged toward the principal's office, hoping that maybe the principal would see him through the open door and call him inside and he wouldn't have to worry about the receptionist.

He peered into the office and saw that the principal was talking with a student, an extraordinary tall one though. The principal caught sight of him.

"Ah, you're the new student here. Come in, come in." Matthew walked toward him as the other student got up and boy, was he tall. He strode brusquely out of the office and knocked Matthew out of the way.

"Hey, its not like either one of us are too big for the space." The receptionist, who now noticed Matthew, cringed. Matthew found himself hit by a huge wall of force and hit against a wall. He felt hands enclose around his neck. "Eh, what are you doing?"

"I would watch your mouth," Ivan spat venomously. Matthew was unperturbed.

"I don't realize what the problem is." Hands tightened around his neck.

"I'm not fat."

"I never said you were. I said that neither one of us were too big for the space. Meaning, neither of us are fat."

"I don't think you realize who you're dealing with."

"A high school student?"

"My father has ties to the mafia in several countries."

"My dad's an inventor and my mom's a lawyer, so?"

"You know that I could kill you right here."

"You know that killing me would be a life sentence. There's two witnesses." This was interesting. Ivan hadn't had anyone stand up to him in years. He looked again at the boy before him. Wavy blonde hair went down past his ears, he had petit feminine features, but his eyes were what got to him. They were a shade of bluish-purple that he had never seen before. They stared resolutely at him. Ivan felt the strange urge to kiss him. He pushed it away and focused on maintaining his pride.

"Maybe it won't happen right now. Maybe a couple days later, you'll get sick; the doctors would never detect the poison. Or you'll be stabbed, a random mugging that ended badly."

"Is that a challenge?" Purplish-bluish eyes, he couldn't remember the name of the color, glinted up at him.

"Would you like it to be?"

"I think I'm good. Assassination attempts are always a pain the first couple days at a new school." Ivan couldn't think of a significantly creepy and foreboding reply so Matthew continued. "I'm Matthew Williams. And you?" He was kind of at a loss for words, so he gave it automatically.

"Ivan Braginski."

"I'm sorry but I need to get my schedule. Maybe we can talk later." Ivan was shocked, no one had ever even mentioned talking again. Everyone seemed relieved when the conversation ended. He let the boy go, just now realizing that his grip on Matthew's neck had disintegrated to where his hands were just touching his neck. He realized that he wanted to touch him more, to spread his hands all over his body. He stepped back, now wanting to get as far away from this boy before he didn't something he regretted. Like ravish him, though while an interesting thought, it wasn't the time or place for that. He took one look at his body, memorizing the pleasing curves hidden by baggy clothes before stalking off.

Matthew leaned against the wall. Well, that was an interesting experience. It wasn't often that he was threatened on the first about five minutes at a new school. Especially by a hot guy who was seriously checking him out. Matthew hated people that thought they were better than others or deserved respect just because they scared people, but that doesn't mean he didn't have an attraction to good looks, regardless of personality.

In fact, Matthew kind of worried about his taste in significant others because he met his last boyfriend, now ex, when he was beat up because Miguel mistook him for someone else. But of course, Miguel apologized with ice cream. And currently it was just an attraction, an oh he's hot moment. Plus of course, it may have something to do with the fact he knew the other was checking him out.

Matthew realized that he was kind of just standing there and went into the principal's office. He was met with a cheery looking brown-haired man.

"Sorry about that. Ivan is one of our more aggressive students. I recommend you avoid him. Anyway, onto more cheery subjects, here's your schedule." He passed the sheet of paper over and Matthew glanced at it. "Here's a map as well. Do you need someone to show you to your class?"

"No, I should be fine."

"Alright, I'm here if you need anything. Ciao and bona fortuna."

"Eh, thanks." Matthew walked out of there, peering at his schedule and trying to match classes up with their locations on the map.

He slipped into in English class a few minutes late and was told by the teacher to see him after class. He grabbed the textbook under his desk and leafed through the book, trying to look at what they'd done and all that.

The period passed quickly as Matthew tried to catch up and went through the regular briefing at the end about books, lessons, syllabi and such.

Then Matthew walked toward the second period; he had marked on all of his classes on the map in English class. He walked into the Biology classroom and talked to the teacher. He grabbed the textbook proffered and looked for a seat.

Ivan saw Matthew enter the classroom and smiled. He turned to his partner, who started quivering.

"You will move seats, da?"

"Oh, yeah, sure." Raivis was relieved. He grabbed his books and moved them over. "But why did you want to move?" Raivis flinched when the full force of Ivan's gaze turned on him.

"You can sit next to Ivan," the teacher concluded. Matthew came and took a seat. Ivan smile. He had some entertainment for the rest of the year, plus Raivis was starting to be annoying, he said strange things and kept breaking the test tubes with his shaking.

"Um, hey, Ivan, can you let me know what chapter are we on?"

"Het. . .no"

"Okay, fine." The teacher started to talk and Matthew soon caught up. It was quite a pain to transfer in the middle of the school year.

After the cold reply, Matthew ignored the presence of the hulking Russian, who in turn was watching him. He noticed the way Matthew would softly bite the eraser of his pencil and then when writing, bit his lip instead. The most intriguing thing; however, is how the boy wasn't scared of him at all. He was too used to both students and faculty walking skittishly around him that anytime anyone actually stood up to him he was surprised. This Matthew boy would require further attention.

Ivan didn't see Matthew again that day; he rather hoped he would find him in another class but it was not so. Then after school, he couldn't find him in the throng of students escaping the school. He knew that they would cross paths soon, the next day in fact.

. . .

I don't have a whole lot to say. Umm, I'm trying to write Matthew snarky; I think I've failed so far. I think it gets better later on. For your information, Matthew isn't as fearless is he seems in this chapter; he just doesn't take crap from anyone. Hope you guys liked it and if you do, please review. Especially if you have suggestions.