Exile of the Rays

Stephen Rays, the father of the most notorious twins in the town of St. Claire, sipped his cup of coffee peacefully. His sons, Lucas and Luis, are busy smashing vases and destroying other appliances in their living room.

"Tessa, please get that cleaned. Tell me all the things ruined so it will be replaced immediately," he asked the head maid of the mansion.

"Father! We don't like to transfer to another school!" Lucas yelled as he walked his way to the dining room where Stephen is.

Stephen didn't even lift a look on Lucas. He continued to eat is breakfast. "You're expelled Lucas, you don't have a choice," he said as he took a bit on a bacon.

Luis came next. He glared at his father as he took a seat on the dining table. Lucas held on his waist as he looked at his father distastefully.

"Where are we going to go then?" Lucas asked.

Stephen fixed his eyeglasses on his nose-bridge. "Your driver will take you there in 15 minutes. Please eat your breakfast now if you're done destroying the living room," he said to them.

Lucas sighed as he took a seat across Luis. "But father, we're seniors. Haven't you talked to the principal?" he pleaded.

Stephen finished his food and drank his orange juice. He stood up and looked at his sons. "Don't you think I've done all the things I could possibly do for you? I mean, what were you trying to prove in having sex in the clinic? This school where you'll transfer is the last school that'll take you in. If you want to finish high school and go to college, then don't fuck up."

Luis looked at his father's retreating form as Stephen walked out on them. "He must be angry," he commented.

Lucas nodded as he started to eat. "We need to eat brother, come on."

The Rays twins have been the most notorious teenagers in town. All schools have taken them and expelled them for the same reasons. They've been smashing things, doing pranks on teachers, and violating all written rules in every school they've been in. And their father is absolutely mentally tired of dealing with all the disappointments they've been giving him.

Lucas, the more talkative between the two, is friendly and funny despite being a pain in the neck. Luis, the silent one, is often defined to be rude and snob; he often jus follow his twin's pranks and bad ideas because he thinks their fun. They are both good-looking as well. Both as tall as their father and have the same facial features like him. People say their dad is their triplet.

They took a ride in their car. The driver didn't tell them about which school were they going to go as per instructed by their father. The twins were quiet throughout the ride though.

"Here you are dear sirs," their driver said as he pulled the brake in front of the famous all-girl school.

"Brad, this is a school for girls," Lucas complained. The twins looked through the window.

Femme Academy of St. Claire is famous for having creepy environment and the students here are known to be lesbians. Luis' face can only mean disgust.

"Master Stephen said to drop you off in this academy. Go now or you'll be late. He said your class starts at 8. You only have 5 minutes to meet the headmaster of the school," Brad, the driver, told them.

The twins moved out of the car unwillingly. "I can't believe him," Luis uttered.

"Good luck sirs!" Brad exclaimed as he drove away.

A guard house was on the side of the main gate of the academy. The arc wherein the name of school is sculpted was embraced by vines which made it creepier. They walked to the guard house and found an old man sitting by the chair looking through his phone.

"Excuse me, where is the headmaster's office?" Lucas asked politely.

The old man frowned as he looked at them. "Upstairs, you go inside and see the stairs. By the end of it, turn left. Third room to your left," he instructed, his voice raspy.

They passed by the lobby and saw the grand stairs. The area looked like ne of the common settings of a horror film. They had goosebumps.

"I don't think I can go," Lucas told Luis.

"I'll go first," Luis volunteered. He led his twin to the stairs as they both tried to ignore the scary aura of the place. It was unusually quiet as well.

At the last step of the stairs, a lady suddenly looked to them. "You must be the Rays!" she's a nun. They forgot the school was run by nuns. Lucas held Luis' arm tightly. He is scared of nuns.

They nodded at the nun. "I am Sister Laura! Mother Silva is waiting for you in her office. Let me take you there," Sister Laura was unexpectedly young and nice. They always thought the nuns in the school were old and rude.

"How old are you sister Laura?" Lucas asked, but his anxiety was still there.

Sister Laura blushed by his question. "I am 26," she said as she smiled at him.

She led them to the third room to their left. She took them inside a wide office. Every corner was a shelf of books. "Kindly wait for Mother Silva, she'll attend to you in a short while," Str. Laura said as she left them.

"I can't with nuns, Luis. I don't think I can live here," Lucas complained. Luis rolled his eyes as he ignored his brother.

The door of the office opened and they both turned to look who was there. "Oh, the twins," an old lady probably in her 60s entered. She's tall for a woman and curvy. Her eyeglasses rested perfectly on her nose-bridge. It was probably the headmaster known as Mother Silva.

"Good morning headmaster," they both greeted.

"Call me Mother Silva," she said authoritatively. Her voice screams power and her accent is a thick latina-like. "I expected less from you boys. Well, a few of the principals that I have talked to and you've met told me that I was crazy to even accept you here. But I believe everybody deserves salvation."

Luis grinned as he looked away from her. Mother Silva took her seat from the chair across them. "What is it?" she turned to Luis.

"What?" Luis asked her, surprised she noticed him make a face.

Mother Silva smiled sarcastically as she placed her hands over the table. "You know boy, I can tell you apart. You are probably Luis, am I right? Your father described you to me. Lucas is probably this unusually quiet because he's afraid of nuns."

The twins looked at each other, eyes wide in shock that the headmaster can tell them apart.

Mother Silva grinned as she saw their faces. "It's okay. Your father is a good man. He didn't need to beg but he begged to me to accept you just so you can finish high school. You're a senior now. His timing was perfect. Our school was about to open for male students. And you two are making history by being the first men in Femme Academy."

"I'm not proud of it," Lucas' voice was shaking.

"You don't have to. This is the last school that will accept you boy. It is your last salvation. You may now follow Str. Laura, she will lead you to your classroom," Mother Silva's voice was very loud is echoed in the room.

The twins followed Str. Laura to their classroom. "Good luck on your first day!" she cheered.

Lucas recovered from his anxiety when she smiled at them for the last time. "I think it will get worse, Luis. Dad is really torturing us," he whispered.

A woman in uniform went by door of the classroom Str. Laura led them to. "You must be the Rays," she said. She isn't a nun, Lucas felt relieved, she's wearing a teacher's uniform which perfectly hugs her body.

"I am Teacher Abby, your class adviser, please come in so I'll introduce you to the class," she sounded calm and welcoming.

They went inside and saw all the disgusted faces of their new classmates. Luis sighed in disappointment. Lucas bit his lower as anxiety crept in again.

One common thing between the twins is that they're disrespectful to women and they are scared of empowered ones.

The classroom is filled with girls who are empowered as they could notice. It was a small room but it was just enough for about 25 students.

"Everyone, meet Lucas and Luis Rays. They are your new classmates. As per Mother Silva's plan to open the academy for male students, surprisingly we have two now," Ms. Abby introduced them nicely.

The girl in the middle row raised her hand but didn't wait for Ms. Abby to call her. "We need a boy-toy now teacher, so they got these boys?" she said jokingly and the rest of the class laughed hard.

"Stefanie, please," Ms. Abby showed them their desks at the back of the room. "I'm sorry it's the only desks vacant in the room. Feel comfortable and ask me anything if you need me."

The girl named Stefanie saluted them with a middle finger as she watched them take their seats. And then she mouthed 'boy-toy' showing the piercing on her tongue when she stuck it out.

Lucas and Luis felt threatened. In their minds they knew they were in trouble. But they tried to keep calm and just get by till the end of the day.

Miraculously, nothing else happened with the twins. At the front of the school they waited for Brad. They were standing by the plant box while their arms are folded on their chests.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but all I want to do is study. This is worse than hell. It's either we study or just be losers," Lucas complained once more.

Luis rolled his eyes on him. "Well, we need to study. We can't go to college if we don't. I can't believe this is the school he chose for us. Fuck him," he cursed at his dad.

Surprisingly, their father's car stopped by in front of them. Its window rolled down revealing their father. "Let's go home," he called.

The twins went in the car. Lucas looked at Stephen angrily. "Really dad, an all-girl school? You have other options. You are powerful and rich. You have connections. I expected more from you," he ranted like a child.

Stephen sighed as he looked at Lucas. "Yes, but they don't want our money Lucas. They want to get rid of you. Out of all the schools that I personally went to, Femme Academy was the one who opened their doors for you."

"Why don't you just give us a job and we don't need to finish high school huh?" Luis suggested.

Stephen closed his eyes as he tried to calm himself. "If you don't want to attend school then find a job that could pay for your needs. I'm not giving you one," he said trying his best to calm down.

They remained silent after than till they reached home. Stephen didn't talk to them anymore and the twins went to their rooms.

Second day in school and the twins were trying to adjust. As usual, they were in their own world again. They went to school early and found someone sitting on Lucas' seat.

"Excuse me, sorry that's my desk," he told her politely. She was wearing an eyeglasses, her hoodie in her head, she was looking down on her book.

"It's my seat. I was just absent yesterday-..." she lifted a look on Lucas and her eyes widened.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Hyacinth?" Luis mentioned. He saw her face and she's familiar. She's a former friend way back. But she changed, he thought. She's more beautiful now but still nerdy.

"You," she sounded frightened.

"Yeah," Lucas whispered. Hyacinth took her things and moved to the farthest seat from them.

Lucas took his seat as well as Luis. They both looked at her from a distance. "Man, why are we here again?" Lucas asked.

"She didn't change a bit, huh. She's still that girl who wears thick glasses. But she's prettier now," Luis commented. He looked back at his twin who's still looking at Hyacinth.

Lucas nodded as he turned to Luis. "I can't believe she's here. I mean it's been 3 years since the scandal," he sounded guilty.

"We didn't apologize to her at all," Luis said.

Way back in their previous school in Knights High, the twins were friends with Hyacinth but they did something wrong that drove her out of the school.

Lucas stood up and approached Hyacinth. He stood up in front of her desk. "I never got the chance to apologize, Hya," he said.

Hyacinth looked at her, her eyes already red from crying. He probably reminded her of what they did. "You destroyed me Lucas."

Lucas kneeled on her side but didn't try to touch her. He knew better. "I'm so sorry," he apologized.

"That was Victoria who recorded it, right? I have to know it's her. And you let her," Hyacinth cried as she spoke.

"I was drunk too, I didn't know. I don't know that she did that," Lucas said. The truth is they really didn't have any idea that it happened.

Luis went to them as well. He heard all what she said. "It was Victoria who forced you to get naked then, we didn't know. I was dead drunk. He used Lucas' phone," he defended his brother.

Hyacinth covered her face as she cried. "Tell me you're lying. I saw you on the video Luis, you removed my top!" she shouted.

Luis sighed, he really couldn't remember what happened that night. Victoria is their other friend from their former school.

"What are you even doing here?" Hyacinth asked angrily.

"Anything wrong Hya?" Stefanie came in the scene. The twins moved away from Hyacinth when they saw Stefanie.

"Nothing Stef, thank you. We just knew each other way back. Just catching up," Hyacinth tried to lie for them.

Stefanie walked to the twins which made them take a step backward. "It doesn't look like catching up good memories to me, though," she said as she raised an eyebrow to the twins.

Hyacinth looked at them and she suddenly felt trouble for the two. "No, I just get pretty emotional when catching up with old friends."

Stefanie just smiled at her sincerely. "Okay, but you better clean your face. Ms. Abby is about to come," she said. She gave the twins the middle finger again before leaving.

"We'll talk again, Hya," Lucas said as they left her be.

Snack break, the twins went to spend their time at the school grounds. It was indeed wide for an all-girl school. They expected that these girls weren't athletic. But they thought wrong.

"How many more days will dad torture us here?" Lucas asked his brother.

Luis narrowed his eyes as he looked around. "It's not that bad though. I mean, it's just till we graduate," he answered.

"Well, well," Stefanie approached them, now with her group of friends. They stopped in front of them.

The twins gulped as they saw them. "Hi Stefanie," Lucas greeted.

Stefanie rolled her eyes on him as she chewed on her gum. "You don't say my name and make it sound like it's pretty," she objected.

Lucas nodded as he glanced on his twin. Luis looked like he didn't care about them.

"Feeling like an outcast, you two. You might have expected to be welcomed here like kings, did you?" Stefanie asked sarcastically.

Luis looked at her distastefully. "No, it's a queen-dom, we expected this discrimination."

Lucas elbowed him as he laughed nervously. "Well he means we don't want to be treated like kings, coz we're not."

The girl standing beside Stefanie took a step forward towards the twins. "It's never been a kingdom here either. Why don't you just leave?" she poured her cup of juice on Luis' polo shirt.

"What the fuck?!" he cussed as he flinched.

The girls laughed at him. "There's more to that till you graduate," Stefanie said and they left.

Lucas watched Luis wipe off the juice on his polo. "It's not bad huh?" he asked.

Luis glared at him. "Someday, that bitch will pay," he threatened.

They walked away from their spot and found Hyacinth eating alone on a plant box.

"Hya, hi," Lucas tried to approach her but she flinched when they walked to her.

"Don't you dare!" she pointed her fork on them. The twins raised their hands to stop her.

"Please, we don't mean no harm. I swear, the scandal was not our plan. We may be bad guys but we won't do anything like that to you," Lucas explained.

But Hyacinth looked like she was not ready to forgive just yet. "Why are you here? I was good here nobody knew!" she asked.

Luis took a deep breath before he spoke. "This was the only school that accepted us. We got kicked out again," he admitted.

Hyacinth puts down the fork when she heard it. "Another scandal or just breaking all the rules in the handbook?" she asked.

"Scandal, we had sex with the school nurse," they said at the same time.

Hyacinth's face said it all. She couldn't believe what kind of scandal that could have been. "Isn't she in jail?" she asked.

"Dad didn't file a complaint against her. Instead he just asked the principal to punish us and that's expulsion," Luis answered. "The nurse got fired."

Hyacinth looked calm after that revelation. But she didn't know if she was going to be sorry or just going to take them in again.

"Can we join you?" Lucas asked in a pleading way.

Hyacinth shook her head. "We're not friends anymore. I felt betrayed. That was the one time I trusted you to take care of me. All the times that we were friends, I took care of you, and that one time," she started to tear up again.

"This time is different. We're both willing to change. We regret every part of the ugly past," Luis tried to convince her.

In the past, Hyacinth has always had a soft spot for Luis. Plus, she's one of the few people who can tell them apart.

"Fine," she agreed. "This is the one chance I'm giving. If you fuck up we're done."

"We miss you. Our lives were just as fucked up when you left," the twins went to hug her.

To celebrate the reunion of the twins and Hyacinth, the boys promised to fetch her and give her a ride home everyday. It was the least they could do for her.

"I thought you were going to finish at Knights High. I never heard anything about you since the scandal," Hyacinth said as she glanced on them.

They were on their way to school. The twins sat across Hyacinth in the limousine.

"Victoria got bored. She planned to take down the sexy school nurse. You know when-..." Luis was cut off.

"When she thinks someone is more attractive than her, she destroys her. I know, she did that to me," Hyacinth continued.

That's when the twins realized the effect of what happened to her. The truth is they don't hate Victoria for doing all the bad things she plotted against people. It's weird but they enjoyed it.

But looking back and seeing Hyacinth now, knowing she's traumatized and all, they felt guilty.

"If it takes a lifetime to apologize for that, I'd do it," Luis said again. But Hyacinth just rolled her eyes out.

They reached the school. As usual they walked through the creepy corridors of the building. They were early.

"Is there a ghost here?" Lucas asked as he held on Hyacinth's arm.

"Nope, that's just a rumor to drive trespassers away," she said. "But there's this one time that students from the 7th grade saw this headless nun. But that was a long time ago."

"Headless nun?!" the twins were shocked.

Hyacinth nodded innocently. "Yeah, but they blessed the room where they saw it from so it didn't appear anymore," she said in a calm tone.

They continued walking to their classroom. But the boys held on her arm side by side.

"Which room was it?" Lucas asked.

"Here, she stood there in front. Just stood there un-bothered, as she should," Hyacinth pointed at black board in front of their room.

The twins' eyes went wide. "I thought things will be better now that we're with you. I couldn't be more scared," Lucas was teary eyed.

Hyacinth laughed as she slapped their backs.

"I'm just kidding. There was no headless nun, relax."

"I hate you," Luis said in a nervous tone.

Everybody else from class arrived. Stefanie's group came in last. Lucas tried not to look directly at Stefanie but she saw him anyway.

She simply gave him the middle finger again. Lucas just smiled at her ridiculously. "She's really scary," he whispered to Luis when Stefanie was seated.

"Class, we have a new student. This is Victoria Caste," Ms. Abby introduced. There came in a girl with curly hair, tall, face contoured with make up but still pretty.

"Vicky," the twins called her.

Hyacinth on the corner covered her face when she saw Victoria.

"You might know her since she's from the Knights High as well. Please take your seat at the back Victoria, it's the only vacant one, I apologize," Ms. Abby told her.

Victoria smiled sarcastically to Ms. Abby then she walked her way to the seat beside Luis.

"Hi boys," she greeted them. Her voice so seductive it gave them chills. They couldn't believe she still have that effect on them.

"What are you doing here?" Luis asked.

"I got kicked out as well. I told principal it was my idea and you were forced to do the deed," she explained. She meant the scandal in their previous school.

"I'm glad you're here. We're complete again!" Lucas exclaimed. He totally forgot that Hyacinth hates her.

Victoria suddenly looked at Hyacinth who still covered her face by her hands awkwardly. "So Ms. Big boobs is here, I never knew," Victoria grinned.

Hyacinth bowed her head in shame.

"No one calls her like that in here," Ms. Abby called out on Victoria. "For whatever reason that you called her that, we don't catcall in this school, Ms. Caste. If your former school tolerated you for that, we can't let you do in here."

Lucas smiled at Ms. Abby. "I'm beginning to love it here," he murmured.

Victoria tried her best not to show how insulted she is. "I apologize, Ms. Abby," she said not meaning it.

Luis just ignored her after that.

At lunch, Hyacinth chose to go in the library to eat lunch. But the twins followed her.

"We're not friends again. Why did you bring her here? I told you why I hated her," she whispered.

She took a seat on one of the tables and took out her lunch box. The twins took a seat across the table.

"We didn't know she's going to be here. I mean, if you forgave us, you will forgive her too," Lucas sounded expectant.

Luis held Lucas' hand, "We really didn't know she's coming."

"Then go to her and be with her. She's your friend," she drove them away.

Luis sighed in disappointment, just when he knew he got Hyacinth back and it all comes down to nothing again. "Lucas can go," he turned to his twin.

But Lucas refused to. "No! I am not going anywhere without you!" he tried to lower down his voice when the librarian shushed them.

Being twins for the rest of their lives, Lucas has always been dependent on Luis. He always Is behind his brother's shadow. Even when he's known as the funny one, but he never goes out without Luis.

"There you are being dependent again," Hyacinth joked.

Lucas glared, "Maybe I don't like being with Victoria now."

Hyacinth grinned. "It was you and Victoria, right? And it was me and Luis," she revealed.

The twins went silent as they heard her. It was something that they couldn't admit to themselves before- that Luis liked Hyacinth and Lucas liked Victoria.

"Was it ever like that?" Lucas asked innocently. "I mean you might have assumed, but well, you and Luis made a good pair."

"Excuse me?" someone came by. It was Victoria.

"I didn't know you were in to libraries," Luis grinned at her.

Victoria grinned back and held his chest. "Oh you little devil. Would you do me here?" she whispered.

Lucas and Hyacinth just watched.

"Oh no, Hyacinth might get jealous. Won't you babe?" Victoria teased. But Hyacinth ignored her.

"Do you still hate me?"

Hyacinth remained silent.

"Students, please get out of here if you can't stay silent," the librarian, who is an old woman and a nun, called them.

The twins and Victoria went out, Hyacinth was left inside.

"I really thought you were choosing her over me. Did you miss her?" Victoria asked them. They both nodded honestly.

She raised an eyebrow. "I can drive her out if I can. I still have her video."

Luis bit his lower lip and grabbed her arm. "We know you did that to driver her out coz you got jealous. Don't do it again. She's a good person."

Lucas grinned as he watched his brother go angry at Victoria. "You don't have to hurt queen Victoria, brother," he said and removed Luis' grip on her.

Victoria grabbed Luis' neck. "Don't you do that to me again," she ordered.

The twins laughed sarcastically. "If you can tell us apart then we'll stop," they said.

"Fuck you," she said.

"But we miss you Vicky," Lucas said sweetly. "Don't you miss all the fun?"

Victoria grinned and grabbed Lucas' polo and kissed him passionately. "Did you mean that? Of course, and all the other things," she turned to Luis next.

"I'm good, you don't have to kiss me too," he refused.

"Hey, no making out in the hallway," Mother Silva suddenly came out of her office.

They lined horizontally in front of her as they bowed their heads.

"This is a religious school. You Rays, we accepted you here because I believed you deserve salvation but I can take you out immediately if I want to," Mother Silva warned.

Victoria looked stunned by her. "And you Ms. Caste, you just got here. If you're planning to make things worse in this school you better tell me now so I'll kick you out," Mother Silva continued.

The headmaster left them. Victoria laughed a little after Mother Silva left. "Oh God, she really scares me. Lucas aren't you afraid of nuns?" she joked.

Lucas elbowed Luis. "Really Victoria, we're serious for getting a salvation. We still need to graduate," Luis defended.

"What's wrong in here Victoria? Is this two bullying you?" Stefanie approached.

The twins sighed at the sight of her. "We weren't," they said.

Victoria raised an eyebrow at them, which meant trouble. "Yes, they were. Can you please just take me away from them?" she acted out.

Stefanie's friends took away Victoria. "You get ready tomorrow you twins," she threatened.

Luis scratched the back of his head. "Oh no, she didn't."