I try but you see, it's hard to explain (Julian Casablancas fanfic)

1. Arrival

A/N: Hey guys! I obviously made a few changes for the sake of the story, mainly - the school is much more laidback than it really is, and Julian's older in this than he actually was when he was at Le Rosey. Hope y'all enjoy :-) Btw, this is not from Julian's POV.

This was my second year back at Le Rosey, an international boarding school in Switzerland, so I knew the drill. It was a seven-hour flight from NYC to Geneva, with a layover in London, where my parents are from, and then a shuttle would take me to the dormitories. Originally a highly prestigious school, as it was one of the most expensive ones in the world, it had recently abandoned its strict, borderline authoritarian, ways, while still keeping an emphasis on the values that it was built on - the gist of which, unfortunately, was that success is the most important thing in life as without it, happiness doesn't exist. Most students here blindly embraced that mentality and that sucked, but the spoiled, rich brats that they were, I more than anything felt sorry for them because they didn't know any better. I didn't mind being here though. In fact, I preferred it here than being back home with my parents. But I won't go into that. Besides, I'm a senior now, meaning no curfew whatsoever! That'll compliment Switzerland's legal drinking age of 16 really well. I sat atop one of my suitcases and lit a cigarette. Smoking was frowned upon but not forbidden. "What do cigarettes have to do with success anyway? The majority of American presidents smoked - Carter, Roosevelt, Kennedy..." I told one of the supervisors once, which earned me a death glare. I was in front of the dormitory building, but I wasn't ready to go in just yet. This is it, I thought as I exhaled the smoke, I'm really here. The night had fallen and the campus was eerily silent. I could still see the shuttle's car lights as it drove away towards the main gate. I looked up at the large building. Through the windows, I saw the lights on in a few rooms, but only a few - most of the students would be arriving tomorrow. 

Dave, the senior supervisor, checked my ID and handed over my room key. I chuckled at the bowl of condoms on his desk. It made sense though, in a building of mixed-gender dorms of 17 and 18-year-olds. My room is on the second floor, and looks pretty much the same as the one I stayed in last year - a single bed, mini-desk, mini-chair, mini-dresser, and a bright yellow stool that's meant to serve as a night table. A thin sliding door separates the bedroom from the toilet. The communal showers are at the end of the hall.  I turn on the desk lamp, because I prefer its faint glow to the main light which makes me feel like I'm in a hospital room. I slowly unpack the main things - my laptop, my vinyl record player, my sketchbooks and paintbox. My clothes and toiletries can wait till tomorrow. I decide to wander around the building before going to bed, check out the other floors, see who I run into. There's only one person I wanna see, really. Well, two, if you count my drug dealer. My little excursion turns out uneventful, as barely anyone is here yet and the few people I run into look down as they pass me. I'm not tired enough yet, and I can't bear to just lay in bed in the company of my thoughts, so I go outside for one last cigarette, stopping by my room to grab my oversized Adidas sweatshirt on the way. To my surprise, Dave joins me. It's very uncommon for the staff to smoke, and I wonder if he's even allowed to. We make small talk and look at the starless sky. He's not talkative, and when he does talk, his tone is monotonous and uninterested. Nevertheless, he's nice, and seems like he'll let us do what we want. Most of the time.

A/N: We'll meet Jules soon ;-) Please leave a comment if you liked it!