The Academie (3 page)

“
Alathea
Thompson.”

I watched as she wrote it in with her
stylus. “Yes, I have you here. Age 19? 6437 Park Lane?”

“
That’s me.”

“
Allergy to penicillin?
How do you know that?” She looked up from her computer so that she
could peer over her glasses at me.

“
My mother is very
allergic to it, so we’re guessing that I may be too.”

“
Just because your mother
is, doesn’t mean that you are,” she said in a know-it-all kind of a
tone.

“
Well I’d rather not find
out the hard way if you don’t mind,” I snapped back.

“
Alathea, have a seat,”
the doctor said, still without looking up from his
tablet.

I looked around the room, chose one of
the wheelie chairs, and plopped myself down.

“
On the table, please,” he
clarified, looking at me at last. His eyes were brown, but much
darker than Bryan’s, edged with deep lines and thick brows that
seemed bent in a permanent scowl.

Bryan’s eyes could never
look so mean….

“
Young lady! We are on a
tight schedule.”

I hated the stupid table. I had too
many bad memories on those things. Why couldn’t they just do what
they needed to do with me where I was? Reluctantly, I got up from
the chair, took the step over to the table, and hopped up. Even at
nineteen, it was too high for me to get on without jumping or using
the small step they usually pull out for children.

“
Have you been sick or
needed to visit a doctor for any reason in the last year?” Dr.
Beard asked.

“
Nope.”

“
When was your last
menstrual cycle?”

“
Why does that
matter?”

“
Just answer the
question,” Bleach blond snipped.

“
I don’t know. A few weeks
ago, I guess.”

“
Can you be more
specific?” Beard asked, looking over his dark-rimmed
glasses.
Looking over your glasses must be
something they teach you in medical classes,
I thought.

“
No, I can’t. I really
don’t keep track.”

“
Well, you should,”
Blondie said, rolling her eyes.

I rolled mine too.

“
Okay,” Beard said. He
stepped up to the table and set his tablet down behind me. “Arms
up.” I reluctantly raised them. “We need to check your lymph nodes
to make sure that you are nice and healthy,” he said, feeling the
insides of my armpits. He did the same a little too close to things
I didn’t want him near on the inside of my legs, then placed his
hands around my throat and up behind my ears.

“
Alright, that’s fine. Now
I just need to listen to your heart and lungs.” He placed the
stethoscope in his ears and the other end inside my shirt, on my
chest. It was cold and uncomfortable, and I flinched in response.
He looked up at me briefly, then down again.

After a moment of silence, he said,
“Sounds good.” Then he moved the cold thing over slightly. “Breathe
in.”

I took a deep breath.

“
Breathe out.”

I let it all out.

“
Again.”

I repeated a few more times and then
he moved to my back.

“
Breathe in.”

“
Hhheeeh” my lungs said as
I took another deep breath. I was becoming a pro now.

“
Breathe out.”

“
Hwooooh” my lungs
replied, relaxing.

“
Everything checks out.
I’ll just have Nurse Edwards take your blood pressure and give your
inoculations, and you’ll be on your way.”

“
Inoculations? But I just
had a bunch for college. Are you sure I need them?”

“
Yes, we’ve checked your
record. These are different, and ones that everyone needs in order
to become a student here.”

I knew this was going to be the case,
but I had to at least try to get out of it.

Dr. Beard left and Nurse Blondie
pulled the blood pressure cuff from its holder in the wall. A few
seconds later, it was wrapped around my arm, giving that
uncomfortable sensation that tells you that your hand would really
like its blood back.

“
A little high,” she said,
not a moment too soon. I thought my hand was going to turn blue if
she’d gone any longer.
Did she say it was
high? What did they expect? It was my first day at this place and I
was in a medical office being examined. Of course it’s going to be
high.

“
Okay Alathea,” she said,
looking over my chart on her tablet again, “it looks like you just
need the one vaccination.”

“
What’s it
for?”

“
It’s a combination of
inoculations.”

“
What’s it protecting me
from?”

“
Lots of
things.”

“
Name one.”

She looked at me harshly, and I could
tell that she wasn’t used to getting this kind of resistance.
“Streptencoholitis.”

I swear she just made that up.
“What?”

“
It’s a common, but
serious virus that often spreads in closed environments such as
this.”

Whatever. Let’s just get
this over with.
I pulled up my sleeve,
thankful it was a short one so that my shirt could stay on. This is
one of the few examinations where I’d been able to stay fully
clothed, and I was hoping to keep it that way.

She walked out of the office and
returned a moment later, syringe in hand. A young man, also in a
white coat, followed her, for what I assumed must be insurance
purposes.

I turned to look the other way as she
prepared to plunge the needle in. A few rooms down, I imagined Ruby
looking right at it as they administered her vaccine. She seemed so
much braver than me.

I felt the needle hit my skin. And
then, the sensation of falling.

4.
dorm life

“
What happened?” I was
groggy, unsure of where I was or how much time had passed. As my
eyes focused, I discovered I was lying on the examining
table.

“
You fainted,” a young
woman in a lab coat with light brown hair replied.

“
Where’s Nurse Blond—I
mean, Edwards?”

“
She’s helping other
students.”

“
Oh…. I fainted?” I closed
my eyes again. I’d passed out plenty of times before, but never
like this. It had none of the normal signs or signals. And I’d
never fainted from a needle before. I didn’t like them, but they
didn’t make me lose consciousness.

“
Yes, take your time
getting up.”

Normally, I’d have grabbed my things
and been out of there in an instant. But I still didn’t feel right.
I wanted to keep my eyes shut—to rest just a while longer, but
strange sensations entered my brain. A feeling of motion, the sound
of voices…. Dreaming…I must be dreaming.

“
How are you doing,
Alathea?”

I opened my eyes. My vision was blurry
again, making the room appear different than I remembered. The
walls seemed darker and the extra door...“Where’s the handle?” I
asked slowly. My brain didn’t seem to be processing as quickly as
usual.

“
What?”

“
How do you get
out?”

She looked at me and seemed to follow
my gaze. “We don’t need to.”

I met Ruby at the
cafeteria for lunch and learned that Bryan was right—the food
sucks. Since the student population was now massive, they broke us
down into meal times much like high school. As a result, I had yet
to catch a glimpse of my brother, Matt. The way things were divided
and regulated here, I began to wonder if I ever would.
All the better,
I told
myself.

After lunch I proceeded to the next
item on my schedule: Dorm Meeting. What were called dorms were
actually huge, separate rooms on the third floor. As I walked into
my assigned dorm, I found “living stations—as I’d heard them
called—consisting of a bunk bed with desks on either side. There
were dozens of these stations spread throughout the
room.

Well, at least we’ll have
our privacy…

“
I’m Sergeant Garret,” a
tall woman with a square build announced in a husky voice. Though
the room was large and students were bustling about, Garret didn’t
need a microphone to bring the crowd to attention.

“
I will be your dorm
sergeant for the duration of your stay here at The Academie. There
will be no reassignments, so I suggest that you decide right now
that you’re not going to cause trouble. Part of your education here
is to learn how to live in community with others.”

It was the first sensible thing I’d
heard said about the program.

“
As you are probably
noticing, life inside The Academie is not like what you have been
used to thus far. You’ll find this goes for dorm life as well. You
are NOT permitted in the dorm at any time except in the morning
before breakfast and in the evening, after dinner.”

She suddenly turned and addressed a
couple of girls who were whispering. “When are you allowed in the
dorm?”

The girls shrugged. “When we are not
in classes?” one answered.

“
WRONG! PAY ATTENTION! You
are not permitted in the dorm at any time except before breakfast
and after dinner. Remember this! The consequences for disobedience
will be SEVERE!”

Way to make us feel at
home…

“
Each morning, a wake-up
bell will go off twice—first at 6:00 a.m. and again at 6:30. After
that, if you aren’t up,
I will get you
up
.” She paused to stare us down. “No
members of the opposite sex are ever allowed in here for any
reason, and in fact, no members of the same sex that don’t belong
in this dorm are permitted here either.”

She looked at the girls who had been
talking earlier. “Got that?”

“
Yes,” they answered in
unison.

“
The lights are on a
timer,” she said, looking above us. They will go off at 11 p.m. and
back on at 6 a.m.”

Less than eight hours of
sleep. Don’t they know how bad that is for your health?

“
Ear plugs and an eye mask
will be provided to anyone who wishes to sleep before the lights go
out. Any questions?”

No one moved. “Good, then if you
haven’t already, you need to claim a living station. You’ll find
your personal items lined up on the far wall. If you find anything
missing, it’s been confiscated.”

Someone gasped.

“
You should have read the
rules. Anything not on the permissible list now belongs to The
Academie.”

There goes my cell
phone….

Apparently, some had already picked
beds and living station partners ahead of time. I have no idea how
they chose who’d be in which dorm, but I hardly recognized anyone.
By the time I’d retrieved my small bag from home, I had trouble
even finding an open living station.

Too bad Ruby’s not in my
dorm….
Instead, a frizzy, dark-haired girl
with matching skin tones stood by the last remaining bunk. She
looked at me skeptically as I walked toward it.

“
Hi. I guess this is where
I’ll be,” I said, gesturing to the top bunk.

“
Guess so,” she said,
seeming as thrilled about it as I was.

I threw my bag onto my bunk. “Where’d
she say the bedding is?”

The girl pointed to the wall opposite
where our personal items had been.

After retrieving my bed roll, I
climbed the ladder built into the end of the bunk and unrolled the
pack. The blanket was a thin, navy blue flannel piece, and I knew
immediately I was going to spend every night freezing. I climbed
back down the ladder and went to find Sergeant Garret. She was
standing by the door, monitoring our progress.

“
Can I get an extra
blanket? I freeze at night and usually have a lot more than
this.”

Not surprisingly, she looked annoyed.
“We have limited supplies. Try it out tonight and if it’s a
problem, come back and talk with me.”

I sighed and walked away. I already
knew I was going to freeze. What was the point?

Making the bed proved a chore. If I
were taller, I suppose I could have done it from the ground.
Instead, I had to keep getting up and down off either side of the
bed to get it all situated properly. Meanwhile, my bunkmate lay
comfortably in her easy-made lower bunk.

Fifteen minutes later, I finally
finished. Just as I was about to follow my bunkmate’s lead, a
whistle blew and Garret called us back for more
instructions.

“
Each day this week you
will be given a new pack of clothes, culminating in a week’s worth
of uniforms. You will also be given a marker. It is your
responsibility to clearly mark each clothing item and your bedding
with your name. Don’t forget the socks and undergarments or you’ll
be going without. The laundry hamper is over here.” She pointed to
a large basket by the door. “After they are laundered, they will be
placed on this rack over here.” She gestured to a large set of
shelves along the wall next to the laundry basket. It’s your job to
sort through them and find your own stuff. Anyone caught taking
someone else’s will be dealt with accordingly.