On Monday morning, Kayden was woken up by his roommate, who decided it was a good idea to shake him after calling his name a few times. To Theo's credit, it worked, though Kayden was a bit confused for a second. 

"What?" He muttered, rubbing his eyes. 

"We've only got thirty minutes to get ready for class. Get up and get dressed," Theo said as he tightened his tie and moved around, grabbing books to put in his backpack. Kayden sat up and looked over to his friend's desk where he had about fifteen pencils all laying perfectly straight.

"Why do you line your pencils up like that if you're just going to put them in your backpack?" He asked and Theo looked at him, seeming to search for an answer. 

"For good luck," He said, and Kayden nodded a bit before he got up.

Kayden grabbed a pair of uniform pants, a white button-up, and the school blazer, quickly changing. The blazer was black with gold buttons and the pants were a dark gray color. The button-up was so stiff he could barely lift his arms fully. The tie was gray and gold with the symbol for the school which was also on the blazer. 

"Hey, um...Theo?" He asked, realizing he didn't know how to do his tie. Theo looked at him holding the strip of fabric, giving Kayden a 'really?' look. "I never learned how to do one."

"What, did your mom always do it for you?" Theo asked as he took it and tucked it under Kayden's shirt collar, quickly doing it, then pausing and redoing it two times before he took his hands away from it as if he'd keep himself from fixing it again. 

"I can usually get out of wearing one," Kayden said sheepishly. 

"Alright, come on, we gotta go," Theo said and Kayden nodded, grabbing his backpack before he headed out the door. Theo closed and locked their door, then relocked it two more times. 

"Dude, come on, we're gonna be late," Kayden said.

"But what if I left my drawer open?"

"You didn't," Kayden said, grabbing his hand to pull him towards the stairs. "Which way is the dining hall?" He asked once they were out of the building. 

"It's at building two, so, that way." He said, pointing to a big building of the same style. "Grant and Ezra are probably already in there." 

"Alright, let's go then, I'm starving."

---

After breakfast, Kayden found his way to his first class: literature. He got in on time and picked a desk, setting his things down before he took his seat. The only assignment had been to read The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost and write a few thoughts on it. It seemed like a pretty straightforward poem to him, he'd read it a few times before. He actually really liked Robert Frost, he wrote a few of Kayden's favorite poems, but his absolute favorite poem had to be War is Kind by Stephen Crane. He didn't hate reading, he was just picky with what he liked to read. 

He glanced over when someone sat in the seat next to him. A tall blond with broad shoulders and glasses. He appeared like the kind of person who spent hours in the morning styling his hair to look 'natural.' Kayden looked over his face, his skin was fucking flawless for one, but he also had strong features and a sharp jawline. 

"You gonna profess your love to me or are you just going to keep staring?" He asked as he set his literature textbook on his desk, looking at the redhead. His voice was deep and slightly husky. Kayden looked back to his desk, his cheeks coloring pink.

"I wasn't staring." He said, his voice coming out a bit more defensive than he meant it to. He heard the blond chuckle. The teacher came in, closing the door behind him with a small smile. 

"Alright class, welcome to literature, my name is Mr. Adler, but you can call me any variation of that you like. Professor, Mr. A, Supreme god of knowledge, whatever floats your boat." He said and there were a few quiet laughs. "Let's get right into it, we've got a lot to cover this semester. Lots of essays, lots of tests, and lots of reading." He said, moving to the closet and taking out a stack of books. "You all already have your textbooks, but I'd like you all to come up and get a copy of Pride and Prejudice." He said and there were a few groans around the room at the thought of reading such a girly book though they all got in a line to pick up a book and when Kayden sat back down, he opened it to see a number inside. 15. 

"I'd like you all to look inside and see what number you have, this will be your number for the rest of the year which will be used in various ways. Alright, moving on! I'm sure you all did the homework which was to read A Road Not Taken and comment on it, please bring forth your papers." He said and Kayden smiled a little, he kind of liked Mr. Adler. He opened his notebook and took the paper out, setting it on his desk. He knew his notebook would be a mess by the third week, as much as he tried to keep it orderly, it always managed to end up with coffee-stained papers sticking out and his backpack would be a disaster. Once the teacher was finished collecting papers, he set them down on his desk and looked back at the class. "So who wants to start the discussion?" He asked and nobody raised their hands so Kayden did. "Yes, new student-"

"Kayden," He said with a nod. 

"Alright, well Kayden, what do you think A Road Not Taken means?"

"I guess it's just about making a choice, I mean, it's not ever explicitly stated what the choice is, but it was clearly meant to be a meaningful one since it changed his life. He said his choice to take the road less traveled by made all the difference so I guess it's just about going against the grain," He said and Mr. Adler nodded with a small smile before pointing his finger somewhere behind Kayden's head. 

"Freddy," He said and a boy cleared his throat. 

"If it's about making a big life choice or going against the grain, I don't see why he'd say he could take the other road someday and then said it didn't really matter and he probably wouldn't come back. If you make a life-changing choice it's probably one you can't come back to."

"I don't think he was saying it didn't matter, but it might have just been a passing thought, like, maybe I'll come back to that and choose differently if I get the choice in another way," Kayden said, playing with his pencil. "I guess the only really important line is the last one, that's the one people bring up the most, the rest is just going back and forth about the decision and then finally making it."

"You're wrong actually," The blond next to him said and he looked over, a bit confused. 

"About what?" Kayden asked. He couldn't be wrong, the poem had such an obvious meaning. 

"The entire thing." He said, resting his cheek in his palm on his desk. "Robert Frost wasn't making a dramatic statement about life choices, he was mocking his friend for being indecisive. The poem was written as a joke." Kayden shook his head.

"What? No, there wasn't a hint of humor in that, you're wrong," Kayden said, crossing his arms and the other just smirked, looking to the teacher. 

"Elias is actually correct, it's why this is one of the most misunderstood poems to date." Mr. Adler said and Kayden's paused. 

"But that's...what?" He huffed softly. "Then he didn't do a very good job getting his point across."

"Are you saying Robert Frost is a bad poet?" Elias asked, looking like he wanted to laugh. 

"Well, no, but even good writers make mistakes."

"Maybe you just read it wrong," Elias said.

"I didn't, I read it three times and looked for every possible meaning besides the one I came up with," Kayden said somewhat defensively.

"So it's a bad poem then. Either it was your error or the poet's. Are you saying you're a better reader than Frost is a writer?" Elias asked and his smug smile made Kayden's blood boil.

"Fine, it was a bad poem."

"It's pretty pretentious and egotistical to denounce a classic poem just because you read it wrong," Elias said. "It's okay, his friend read it wrong too, it actually took multiple letters back and forth to get him to understand it." Kayden glared at him. 

"Maybe Frost was a bad writer, maybe the way he meant it is the only way to read it correctly, but I think you both should consider that these are just two interpretations of the same poem. Class, poetry is subjective, it can be interpreted in different ways, and regardless of the original meaning, everyone takes words a little differently. There's no bad and good in art, and I believe this principle can be applied to writing as well. Of course, this is not to say you can forget to use periods and clog your papers up with run-ons and tell me it was a personal style choice, but beyond the technical musts, writing is all about preference. Just about every poem has multiple possible meanings, so instead of fighting over who's right and wrong, and what's good and bad, let's just talk about what is, what it means to you, and what you took from it." Mr. Adler said with a smile and then the bell rang. "Homework for tonight is to get to chapter five of your book, write some thoughts about the characters and notes about the setting with your favorite quote." He said and Kayden packed his things up.

He glanced over at the blond a second before he turned and slung his backpack over his shoulder, deciding he wouldn't give him a second thought. Elias was annoying and bothersome, there was no reason he should be given space in Kayden's head. He felt a hand on his shoulder, turning and looking up at him, realizing just how tall he was compared to himself. 

"Hey, I didn't hurt your feelings, did I? You seemed kinda defensive." Was this asshole calling him sensitive? Kayden glared at him. 

"My feelings are fine," He said coldly. 

"Doesn't sound that way."

"Maybe you're just listening wrong," He shot back and he could see a small, amused smile on the blond's face before Kayden turned around and left.