A pair of startling green eyes met his. She was the most gorgeous looking person he had ever laid eyes on. Her dark flesh contrasted with the crowd of pale people surrounding them. Not that he noticed anyone else. She had the most luscious looking lips, and the angry scowl on her face only heightened the passion that swirled about her.

            “I- I’m so sorry!” he stammered apologetically. Reinhard held out his hand to her. “Here, let me help you up.”

            The young woman smacked his hand away. “I don’t need your help!” she said with anger. She quickly got to her feet, and left the cafeteria. Reinhard watched after her, until a voice interrupted his thoughts.

            “I see you survived an encounter with one of the Harpies,” Logan said, a wry grin on his face. “Better stay clear of them, they’re bad news.”

            “The…Harpies?” Reinhard asked, perplexed, following Logan through the cafeteria.

            “Yeah, they’re basically a group of female goths that hang out together. The rebellious sort you know? You don’t want to get mixed up with them.”

            “Okay?” Reinhard said in answer. She seemed harmless enough.

            “I’m serious!” Logan continued. “Take Anenia, for example, the girl you bumped into. She steals from everybody! A girl confronted Anenia after she stole some money from her purse, and those Harpies beat that girl black and blue. Put her in the hospital.”

            Reinhard simply couldn’t believe it. He was about to tell Logan so, but they reached a table. Glancing at the people there, he noticed that they were all wearing suits and ties. All of them, except one, who was simply wearing a black t-shirt and black pants. Just by the way they were all sitting at the table, he assumed the one that stood out was the leader. He couldn’t help but be curious as to why that could be. The boy in question looked younger than all of them, and didn’t seem significant in any way.

            The moment he spoke though caused all of Reinhard’s skepticism to vanish. “So you’re the new exchange student,” the boy said arrogantly. Reinhard noticed Reggie pulling out a lunch and setting it onto fancy dishware. The boy ignored Reggie though, acting as though it were normal. “My name is Kaian. You’ve already met Reggie and Logan I see. But from the look on your face, I take it that haven’t explained the rules yet.”

            “Rules?” Reinhard asked, raising an eyebrow.

            “Yeah rules,” Kaian said sarcastically. “You see, the boys and I are the ones that run things around this school. A new club wants to be formed? They see us. A bully picking on some poor sap? That sap comes to us. For a fee, we can accomplish all of that and more.”

            Reinhard was intrigued. This Kaian obviously demanded a lot of respect. He couldn’t believe what he was saying was true, and at the same time he’d be the first to swear it was. “I see. So then, is this the only reason you asked me over here?”

            The boys at the table each let out a silent gasp, turning to Kaian to see his reaction. From the way Logan shook his head at him, Reinhard guessed that he had spoken out of turn. If this gang was as powerful as Kaian had said, then Reinhard was sure he was in trouble. To his surprise, Kaian laughed.

            “I see you have some life in you after all!” he remarked, amused. “To answer your question, I had another reason to see you here. You see, I usually scout out the foreign exchange students. I’m always looking for good hands to join us,” he continued, looking Reinhard over. “And the way you spoke to me now confirms my decision. I was looking for someone I could trust to be my left hand man. You are that man. Unless, of course, you have any objections…?” Kaian trailed off, letting the veiled threat hang in the air.

            “I would be honoured,” Reinhard answered firmly. He was new to this country, new to this school, and these young men seemed to be people he could fit in fine with.

            Reggie apparently disagreed. “But boss! I thought I was your trusted man!” he exclaimed with bitterness and surprise.

            “You’re still my right hand,” Kaian replied simply. “He just happened to take the post of my left hand.”

            “But-“ Kaian cut him off.

            “End of story Reggie,” he said threateningly. Reggie sat back and sulked. Reinhard could hear mutter some things in Russian, and could tell they were anything but flattering. Kaian ignored him. “Reinhard, come sit next to me,” he commanded, and a few boys shifted to make room for him.

            Reinhard did not bother asking how he knew his name. He simply walked over and sat next to Kaian. This seemed to be a sign for them to eat their lunches. Reinhard took his sandwich out of his bag. Before he could take a bite though, he felt something hot spill over his head. To his horror he realized that it was some kind of soup.

            “Welcome,” came a cool feminine voice. He turned to see a rather short blue haired girl. She was sneering at him, and then she dropped the empty bowl on his head. It bounced off and smashed on the floor.

            “What the fuck are you doing here Whorelei?” Kaian remarked viciously.

            She laughed and tossed her hair. For a moment Reinhard wondered how much hair dye she could possibly use. “Just coming to greet Kraut here,” she said innocently. “But I see you’ve already pulled out the red carpet. Nice work Kaian…or should I say Kaiana?” she taunted.

            “You will not disrespect the boss,” Reggie snarled, standing up. He easily dwarfed her. This didn’t seem to bother her however.

            “I’ll do whatever the hell I please,” she shot back. “Unlike you. You disrespect our country by playing lapdog to this…” she looked contemptuously at Kaian, “kid.” Reggie growled, and made some remark in Russian. The girl replied in Russian as well. It looked as though it were about to get real ugly real fast, as the argument got more heated. Just then a tall dark skinned red-haired girl came over.

            “Easy Lorilei,” she said. “Come on, let’s go.”

            Lorilei smirked at Reggie, then turned to the redhead. “In a moment Ruby,” she said, her voice turning back to its icy quality. She turned to Reinhard. “You offend my cousin again by so much as even looking at her and you’ll regret it,” she threatened. Then she left with Ruby.

            “Idiots,” Kaian muttered, turning back to his food. He paused. “What did she mean by again?” he suddenly asked, looking at Reinhard.

            “Oh Anenia wasn’t watching where she was going and walked into him,” Logan inserted helpfully. “Of course you know those Harpies can’t take the blame for their own clumsiness,” he finished.

            “Hm…” Kaian said thoughtfully. “Derek, go and help Reinhard get cleaned up,” he said. Reinhard had been watching Lorilei argue with Reggie so intently he had forgotten about the soup.

            “All right,” Derek replied. He was a rather hefty looking boy. He motioned for Reinhard to follow him. “We’ll have you fixed up in no time,” he said to him. Following Derek, Reinhard took one last look at the cafeteria before they left.