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Nicky Silver bade his friends' goodbye and picked up his heavy holdall bag. He went inside the old school building to the front foyer, where the list of roommates for the year had been posted on the notice board outside the reception. His friends, Kieran and Oliver, Nicky saw, would be rooming together in the West Wing of the school. He was in the North Wing, rooming with someone called Daniel MacArthur. Nicky knew most of the people in the school, but that name was unfamiliar to him.

Nicky went to the reception to pick up his timetable for the year, his room key and several of the usual forms that needed signing, before shouldering his holdall, and going to find room DN57 in the North Wing.

Green Valley Boys' Boarding School had opened a hundred years before, when the last owner of Brookshire Castle had died, and asked that the castle be turned into a school in his memory. Named for the lush valley at the top of which it was situated, the school had grown each year to the size it was today, with almost four hundred boys boarding and learning within the castle and the various extension buildings that had been added over the years.

One hundred boys boarded in the separate Wings, North, South, East and West, and had their lessons with other boys from their Wing. Meal and leisure times were shared between all the Wings, giving the boys' the chance to mix with others from outside their Wing.

Nicky climbed up to the fifth floor of the castle, where the dormitories for the Year Twelve and Thirteen boys were located, and wandered down the corridor until he found his new room, DN57. He stood outside the heavy wooden door for a moment, wondering whether his new roommate had arrived, and who it could be. After a moment of indecision, he knocked on the door, and waited to see if he could hear a reply. After waiting a few moments, and hearing nothing but silence, Nicky unlocked and opened the door, and stepped inside.

He had always liked the dormitories at the school; they were decorated a pale blue colour, with deep navy curtains hanging from the tall windows, and a dark carpet. A plush, oriental-style rug was laid on the floor between two beds, one on one side of the room. Two large desks were situated at the foot of each bed, with desk chairs and lamps beside them. Each side of the room had three long shelves running above the beds, and another tall floor lamp stood beside each bed. There were two dressers and small wardrobes at the far end of the room, framing the window. A closed door beside one of the desks led to a small bathroom.

Nicky put his holdall down on one of the beds, seeing the other was already taken. A small suitcase was open on the bed, half-unpacked. Nicky unzipped his holdall and began quickly stacking his clothes in the dresser and hanging them neatly in the wardrobe, organized between school uniform and leisure clothes. Once boys at Green Valley reached years twelve and thirteen, the rules about school uniforms were relaxed slightly. Although they still had to wear black and white, they could choose their own shirt and trouser styles.

Nicky turned around as he heard the bathroom door open. His new roommate stepped out. Nicky immediately recognised the boy from one of his classes the previous year. He had a swimmer's slim physique, dirty blond hair that fell almost to his shoulders, and sparkling blue eyes.

"Hi," said Nicky, stepping out from behind his open wardrobe door and making the other boy jump.

"Hello." The boy looked at him warily for a moment, before he smiled. "I'm Daniel MacArthur."

"Nicky Silver. I'm your roommate for the year."

"I figured... What with finding you unpacking in my room, and everything." Nicky grinned, and resumed his unpacking.

"You were in my science classes last year, weren't you?" Nicky asked the smaller boy and he too resumed unpacking.

"Yes. And your maths class."

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