Cat and Max had been delighted about the opportunity to wear anything other than their itchy wool skirts and blouses to the freshman mixer that Friday evening. They had been less delighted when Cat’s patron had taken the two girls to a store to purchase the alternative items and discovered they were offered exactly two options. Two dresses of identical cut and style - a-line, below the knee, sweetheart neckline that provided just enough modesty (but maybe just the barest hint of cleavage if you had the rack for it), and short capped sleeves. The color options were a hunter green and brown. Both Cat and Max chose green.

“You pull it off really, really well,” Cat said as she looked her friend up and down before the two of them headed out the door for The Great Hall where the mixer would occur.

“Thanks,” Max was weirdly quiet, timid, drawn into herself in a way that made Cat both worried for her friend, but also her own fate. Max had been weird when she’d woken up first thing in the morning. Just her waking up and leaving before dawn was incredibly strange. She never was awake before Cat in the mornings. She came back to the dormitory room when Cat was waking up. She’d looked red and furious. Cat hadn’t dared to ask her where she had been or what had happened.

And ever since Cat got back from her own physical education class this afternoon, Max had just been… not herself. But she looked stunning and beautiful in the green woolen dress that she’d purchased with Cat earlier in the week. She really pulled off the look in a way Cat didn’t think she was supposed to. Cat herself felt small and dowdy in her green dress. She had the chest to show a little cleavage but the way the dress fell over the rest of her body just made her look like a little girl.

“Ready?” Cat asked, dabbing her lips with lipgloss that she was certain was likely forbidden.

“Cat, please don’t worry about me if I don’t come back to the room tonight, ok?” Max said, unprompted, as she threw a sweater around her shoulders.

“What? Why? Where are you going? Why wouldn’t you come back tonight?”

She shook her head and linked her arm in Cat’s, “I don’t know how late this laboratory is going to go. The dean said something about how if it runs too late there’s a spare room in the attic that is reserved for exactly for that purpose.” She lowered her voice to a whisper, “I’m not sure what’s going to happen tonight, Cat, but I’m kind of scared.”

“What kind of lab is it?” Cat asked.

”I don’t know! He hasn’t told me. It’s some practicum for these seniors at St. Joseph’s. I told you that already. That’s literally all I know. I think the dean said something about women’s health or some bullshit like that. I don’t want them to have sex with me, Cat.”

“They would never!” Cat gasped dramatically. She was so naive.

“What would be stopping them?”

“Your virginity?”

Max laughed a sad laugh and she shook her head. “Not sure that matters anymore, but I like your optimism, kiddo.”

Cat was stunned, confused. Why on earth would the dean ever condone someone from the boy’s college having sex with one of the students he advised? Even if that student was Max.

::::

The Great Hall was the busiest Cat had seen it so far. It was the most boys she had seen in one place since her high school senior prom the previous winter. A massive crush of people were congregated in the west corner of the hall. Then Cat spotted the secret service agents. Once she spotted two of them, it was hard to stop seeing them posted everywhere around the room. Along with patrons. And men who Cat guessed were the boy’s college equivalent of the patron. She wondered if they were called patrons as well. They wore deep, navy blue robes similar to the patrons of St. Mary’s and stood concealed within the shadowy parts of the hall.

The number of people in the great room was overwhelming. There was a constant rhythmic music coming from somewhere unidentifyable and some of the upper class St. Mary’s girls were starting to intermingle and dance with the older boys from St. Joseph’s. Cat felt uncomfortable, anxious, a little frantic as the hum of the room only got louder and louder until…

The room flashed red and the buzzer sounded. The room fell deathly silent in an instant. Cat wondered - figured - that the boy’s college must use a similar alarm for something - what, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Most everyone in the room turned as the dean walked into The Great Hall side by side with the dean from St. Joseph’s. They looked like brothers. Were they twins?!

The dean filtered through the crowd of people. There was little fanfare or his usual punishing ministrations of the girls as he and the other, identical, dean mingled amongst the students. Cat lost sight of him as the crowd swallowed around her and she backed up a couple of steps and took a step backward onto the very solid foot of…

“Oh! My god, I’m so sorry,” Cat whirled around to find herself standing face to face with none other than the son of the President of the United States. She froze, her emotions hanging somewhere in between star struck and mortified for literally having stepped on top of him.

He grabbed her by the shoulders to steady her on her feet and beamed her the most beautiful boy smile she thought she had ever seen in her entire life. She would remember this moment forever. She actually felt like she might swoon.

“Hi,” his voice was deep and warm and Cat wanted to fall into his arms and never leave them.

“Hi.” She literally couldn’t bring a single other coherent thought into her mind. Oh god, his eyes were SO blue.

“Hey Cat, the dean is…” Max rushed up behind Cat and stopped short when she realized who her roommate had encountered. The attention and crowd must have shifted to the dean as soon as he’d entered the hall. They didn’t know how else they could have gotten within reach of the president’s son so fast otherwise.

“I’m…”

”August fucking Rogers,” Max breathed, staring at the young man in question. “You’re even more gorgeous in person.”

He laughed and ran his fingers through his hair, Cat was going to swoon for sure. She wasn’t ruling out Max doing the same.

“Guilty,” he said, sticking out his hand. “And you two are…”

”Max,” she stuck her hand in his and shook it firmly. “Max Marks. US Olympic gold in the summer games three years ago. I was the youngest gold medalist in the history of my sport.”

Wait. What?! She had been?! Cat knew that she’d been an awarded equestrian. Max had never once mentioned in the entirety of their time here together that she had won an actual Olympic gold medal. That she was the youngest to ever win gold in her sport. That was a massively huge deal. How come she had never brought it up?!

”Oh wow, yeah,” August said as he glanced in Cat’s direction, “You must still ride then? We’ll be starting a polo team at St. Joseph’s next spring. If there’s enough interest here at St. Mary’s, we could maybe have some friendly boys versus girls competition.”

“Mm. Sorry, no, I don’t ride anymore.” Max didn’t offer up any further details or information. The three stood awkwardly for a moment before August turned to Cat and held out his hand to her.

“Cat,” she said quietly as she slipped her hand into his. She felt him tug her ever-so-slightly towards him and her heart leapt into her throat. She felt lightheaded. She was completely smitten. She thought he was the most handsome person she’d ever seen in real life.

“The pastor’s daughter,” he said thoughtfully. Cat opened her mouth to argue against her parents when she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder and her heart flipped in a different way.

“Catherine, Maxine,” the dean said coolly as he stood with his hand on Cat’s shoulder, “I see you’ve met August Rogers. Lovely. Maxine.”

Her face drained of color entirely and she dropped her arms to her sides and looked down at the floor between her feet.

“I’m sorry, I hate to break up the lovely conversation here,” the dean continued as if Max’s entire demeanor hadn’t just changed in the blink of an eye, “I have John and Peter here with me…”

Two incredibly large, incredibly muscular, incredibly good looking men stepped forward from where the dean stood. They looked like they were both 30 years old. A far cry from the 18 year old celebrity that was standing with them.

“John and Peter are taking the opportunity here tonight - while our two colleges commingle - to complete the final exam of their women’s health practicum. Maxine here was kind enough to volunteer herself for the needed laboratory for both of these fine young gentlemen, so that is where we will be headed now. Maxine?”

She stepped into the circle with the dean and the elder students without saying a word. The dean winked (winked?!) at Cat as he stepped away with the crew and said, “Be good, kids. Don’t get into any trouble. Eyes are watching.” At that reminder, Cat looked around from where she stood with the president’s son and, again, couldn’t help but slowly spot every single agent and patron that didn’t fit the usual profile or surroundings. She felt endlessly watched and constantly observed. She looked up at August again and smiled.

“Do you want to get some air?” She asked him. He nodded.

As the two of them made their way across the hall, Cat couldn’t help but notice that all of the focus and energy in the room had somehow shifted over to the dean. On the one hand, it somehow allowed her and August to sneak out the side doors of the hall unnoticed - on the other hand, how could the president’s son have gone unnoticed leaving the building?

They stepped out into the night air and Cat noticed bodies not far off in the shadows. Of course secret service would have the perimeter of the building guarded. Cat didn’t see a single patron, though it was so dark and they all wore such dark robes, she supposed she couldn’t be certain that they weren’t lurking out there somewhere.

“What a wild ride,” August laughed out loud into the sky. Cat was startled, alarmed, by his joyous energy. She realized it had been a month since she’d started the semester - a solid month of nothing but anxiety, fear and dread. Why hadn’t she dropped out yet? Oh. Right. Money. And apparently getting noticed by the president’s son.

“Do you like it? St. Joseph’s?” She asked, shy and a little afraid that her house patron could come screaming around the building any moment brandishing a wooden rod.

“Man…” he laughed again, “it’s been weird Kitty Cat.” Her heart jumped when she heard her father’s pet name for her.

“How?” She turned wide-eyed and frightened and something in August’s face changed slightly too. He looked sympathetic but…uncomfortable?

“I dunno, I’ve never been to a ‘men’s only’ school. Is that even legal in this day and age?” Cat had never considered the point before now. “And like, I’m protected by the feds all day long, but I have overheard some weird shit in the dining hall. My personal attendant tells me that they’re just stories to scare the freshman, but…” he looked off in the direction of the lake. “Man, I don’t know.”

”What have you heard?” Cat was terrified and ravenous for more information from the other side of the lake.

August pulled her close and dropped his voice down low. Cat felt dizzy being in his arms. He smelled SO good.

“The woods,” he said, almost whispering, “There’s a ravine that divides the colleges. I’ve seen it.”

”You have?!” Cat cried.

“Shh!! Yes, we had to do a full security sweep of the perimeter before I was allowed to move on to campus. I haven’t been there - been there, but I flew over it in the chopper on my way here move-in day. It’s deep. I have no idea how deep it goes, but I saw nothing but black from my vantage point.”

Cat shuddered as she remembered Madame Rose’s warning from orientation day about never entering the woods. Did people throw themselves into the ravine?! Did people throw OTHER people into the ravine?!?

”There’s allegedly a path across it. Somewhere. Something about some final exam for some class once you get closer to graduation time? Sounds weird as fuck to me. I don’t want to have to try and construct my own bridge to get myself across it, that’s for sure.”

“What else do you know about the woods? How far do they reach?” Cat asked. She didn’t know why she felt drawn to them, pulled to some scary forbidden world just beyond her grasp.

“Oh, not much. Apparently some of the guys do Friday bonfires in one of the forest clearings over by us. You should come sometime! And bring your roommate, she will love it, I’m sure.” He winked. Cat’s heart skipped a beat.

“Oh. Oh, no, we couldn’t. We’d…” she laughed nervously, “Oh my god, we’d get in SO much trouble. I don’t think it’s worth it. Sorry.”

”God, maybe I should be asking you what they do to you lady scholars over here at St. Mary’s. It’s all we hear about half the time from our academic advisors. How much more devoted the ladies are to their studies, how much smarter and tougher they are. You… no offense, you’re like a doll.”

That was the second person who had called her a doll. What the hell?! Granted, she now loved the first person who had called her this, but really?! Her face got red and hot and she stomped her foot on the ground. August burst out laughing.

“Tell me one truth about you, Cat,” he said, reaching out and taking her hand in his own. She actually swayed on her feet a little. Swoon-ville.

“I’m worried about Max,” she said. It was the first thing that came to her mind and it was the truth.