The Academy - First Days (2 page)

“We’ll mix up sometimes, I bet. Besides, we’re all in the same
gym. I’ll wave to you. Maybe.”

Kota’s phone rang on his desk and he answered it. After a few
minutes he hung up. “All schedules are accounted for. They’re heading in now.”

Nathan’s blue eyes locked with mine. He grumbled. “And so it
starts...”

I used Kota’s restroom as the guys went downstairs to wait on the
others. I smoothed out my blouse, pulling out the lower hem so the length fell
over the pockets of my shorts. I buttoned and unbuttoned the collar to figure
out what looked better. There were thin spots in the material and I was sure my
father bought it at a used clothing shop.

I was combing my fingers through my hair when I heard a car
rolling into the drive. I threw my hair into a twist and clipped it. No time to
fiddle with it. The boys were here.

I ran downstairs and out into the living room. Kota held open the
front door, pushing his glasses up his nose. In a line came Victor, Luke,
Gabriel, North and Silas. While they were all dressed casually, casual for the
guys was a different level. Polo shirts, clean slacks, button up shirts with
collars. Everything looked new and I spied Hilfiger, Abercrombie, Gucci and
Armani logos. It made me feel like a complete slob in my old things. I shifted
on my feet on the blue carpet of the living room, my hands going behind my hips
to hide any nervous shaking.

The others greeted Kota and Nathan in the hallway. Silas was the
first to spot me. Locks of his black hair hung around his eyes and he brushed
it aside, smiling at me. He came close, towering over me and pulled from his
back pocket his envelope. “Hey look, they let me in.”

I giggled. His smile widened, his clean white teeth a contrast to
his olive skin.

We collected in Kota’s living room. I sat in the middle of the
couch. North, dressed in black with a single gold hoop earring, sat to my left.
Gabriel wearing a bright orange shirt and blue crystal studs in his ears, sat
to my right. Their contrasting styles had me glancing from one to the other,
pondering how they managed to stay friends when they seemed so different. The
others sat on the floor in a circle facing us. It felt strange to be higher up
than everyone else but they didn’t seem to notice.

I blushed as North casually put an arm behind my shoulders against
the couch cushions. I peeked up at his tan face. His dark eyes caught mine and
I glanced away. While I knew he wouldn’t hurt me, his eyes were so intense it
had my insides vibrating.

“I vote we get bean bag chairs,” Luke said. He shoved locks of his
long blond hair behind his ear. He leaned back on his hands as he sat with his
legs crossed on the floor. “If we’re going to have meetings here, we need
something besides the floor.”

“We’re working on that,” Kota said.

North’s fingers traced small circles at my shoulder. I glanced at
the others to see if they noticed but they were watching Kota. I tried not to
blush. This was normal, right? I told myself he was just being friendly and
willed my heart to still.

“Now that we have schedules, let’s start at the beginning,” Kota
said, getting the attention of everyone in the room. “Or rather, let’s start
with getting there.”

“I’ve got Gabriel,” Victor said, fiddling with the silver
medallion at his neck.

“We’re good,” North said. “Luke and I can grab Silas.”

“Good. Logically, I’ll take Nathan and Sang,” Kota said.

“You mean on the bus?” I asked. They all looked at me. My cheeks
radiated heat. “I mean I don’t think I could get away with riding to school
with anyone. If I’m not getting on the bus, my sister will know and she’d tell
my parents.”

“Aw, shit,” Nathan said. “I didn’t think about that. Don’t tell me
we’re riding this year.”

“You don’t have to. I mean I can ride the bus. You guys can ride
together. It’s no big deal. I’ll just see you when I get there.”

The group exchanged glances. I caught Luke’s gaze as he stared at
me, his blond hair falling in front of his dark eyes. I wasn’t sure if he
realized he was doing it or maybe he was just staring out into space but
happened to be looking in my direction. When he came back, he started blinking
and held a dazzling smile. His striking face distracted me from watching the
others. Did he do that on purpose?

“It’s not a big deal,” Nathan said, falling back on the carpet, putting
his hands behind his head to prop it up. “We’ll do it.”

“But,” I started to say. It just seemed too unfair. It wasn’t a
big deal to me. It was just a bus ride.

Kota cut me off. “No, it’s fine. My car isn’t totally reliable
anyway. We’ll ride.”

I pursed my lips. His easy excuse to make me feel better left me
feeling uneasy instead. The others nodded, taking Kota’s lead. When Kota
finalized a plan, everyone went through with it. It was hard for me to believe
the guy who appeared to be one of the least aggressive; the least likely leader
had come to the role he had developed.

“But that brings us to another issue,” Kota said. His fingers
brushed away the neatly-trimmed brown hair against his forehead. “We need to
work on getting your parents used to us. It’ll be difficult but the sooner we
find a way, it’ll make it easier on all of us.”

I bit my tongue to keep from saying something. I’d told him before
I liked the way things were working now. My father didn’t come home until very
late in the evening, often well after eight when I was already up in my room
and I didn’t see him at all.

My mother, who was ill, kept mostly to her room. I checked in once
a day and for the most part, I could escape outside. If she did ask where I had
gone, I would rattle off different things; in the woods, the garage, taking a
walk to the empty church down the road. In our old neighborhood back in
Illinois, I often took walks outside. At our old house, the closest kid lived a
couple of miles away. Despite voicing her opinion about bad people out in the
world, I couldn’t stay inside all day, and my mother eventually relaxed enough
to allow me to take walks.

Marie told me they bought our new house here on Sunnyvale Court
because it was the least crowded street within an hour’s drive of where my dad
worked. It was a last minute purchase and my mother wasn’t happy about it, but
it did have a lot of wooded areas.

So far, my mother hadn’t questioned me about going for walks. She
only reminded me that I shouldn’t talk to anyone. My mom would eventually
realize how many kids were on this street. I didn’t want to think about the
restrictions she would impose once she found out. I needed to be more careful,
though. I had to show up more around the house on occasion.

Gabriel reached out to my head, rubbing at my hair. I held back
from flinching. I enjoyed their touches but they were always so unexpected and
when they did it quickly, my first reaction was usually to back up as I assumed
it was an accident. “Don’t worry,” he said, his lean fingers massaging my
scalp. “We’ve got a plan.” He let go of me and turned his head to Kota. “We’ve
got a plan, right?”

Kota nodded. “I still think we ought to try asking Danielle. If
she will help, Sang could invite Danielle over. Her mother may have an easier
time opening up with a girl rather than us.”

There was a collective groan.

“Is she that bad?” I asked.

“Yup,” North said, his voice deep. His fingers stopped the gentle
motion at my shoulder and rested against me.

“She’s a typical girl,” Nathan said. “She thinks we’re all a bunch
of nerds.”

Gabriel nudged my arm with his and leaned into me to stage whisper
near my ear, “Nathan used to have a crush on her.”

“Fuck, no, I didn’t.”

“She used to go over to his house,” Gabriel continued. “One day
she tried to get him to skinny dip in the pool. When he refused, she got pissed
and told everyone he was gay for a while.”

“Like I give a shit what she thinks,” he said, but he frowned and
rolled onto his side on the carpet, covering his eyes with an arm. “Can we not
talk about this right now?”

Kota cleared his throat. “Well, maybe something else will come
up.” He held up his school schedule. “Are we ready?”

It took a good hour between us to get organized. Most of that time
was taken up by general talking among the guys and Kota had to remind them what
they were trying to do. Kota kept notes on a sheet of paper. In the end, my own
schedule was marked up with his writing.

Homeroom Room 135

Luke, North

AP English - Trailer 10 - Ms. Johnson

Kota, Gabriel, Luke

AP Geometry - Room 220 - Ms. Smith

Nathan, North

Violin - Music Room B - Mr. Blackbourne

None

AP World History - Trailer 32 - Mr. Morris

Victor, North

Lunch

AP Biology - Room 107B - Mr. Gerald

Silas

Japanese - Room 212 - Dr. Green

Victor

Gym - Gymnasium - Mrs. French

Gabriel, Nathan

It seemed everyone was in each other’s classes, except for their
special electives and Kota’s advanced science and math classes. I considered it
unreal but I wondered if part of the reason was because they were from the
Academy. Did Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green fix their schedules, too?

By the time we had it sorted out, I was sitting on the floor,
leaning against the couch. Gabriel moved across the room and was talking to
Luke. North stretched out on the couch. I was quietly reviewing my schedule
again when out of the corner of my eye, I caught Victor scooting over to sit
next to me.

“I already know a little Japanese,” Victor said. He sat with his
legs crossed and his knee grazed mine. The fire in his eyes flickered. “It’s
actually pretty easy learning to speak it.”

I tilted my head at him. “How did you get in this class? I thought
it was for upperclassmen? I had to get special permission from Dr. Green.”

“Who do you think let me into his class?” He smiled at me. “He’d
let anyone in if they asked, actually.”

That confirmed things. If Victor’s schedule was altered, the
others were most likely done as well. Did that mean Mr. Blackbourne and Dr.
Green wanted me in the same classes as the boys? “Where did you learn
Japanese?”

“My parents travel a lot. They like Japan.”

“I’m jealous,” I said. “Can you say something in Japanese?” It
wasn’t a challenge, but genuine curiosity in his ability.

A smile touched his lips. “
Kirei-na hitomidane
.” The way he
said it in his baritone voice made it almost sound like a song lyric.

“Kirei...” My lips moved to try to mimic what he said but I lost
it half way through. “What does it mean?”

That fire lit up in his eyes and his cheeks tinged red. “I’ll tell
you later.”

I smoothed my fingers over the lower hem of my shorts in a nervous
reflex. Did I ask something embarrassing? Did it sound like I didn’t believe
him? I went with changing the topic since I didn’t want to say anything else
wrong. “At least we’ve all got classes together or similar classes. Studying
should be easy. Except for Kota.”

“Are you going to be okay, Kota?” North asked behind me. He was on
his side, a cushion pillow propped up under his head. He looked half asleep. “There
are classes where we won’t see you for several hours.”

Kota shrugged and waved his hand in the air, dismissing his words.
“Most of these classes are close together on the second floor. I won’t be in
the hallways for very long.”

Silas had been completely quiet for a long time, concentrating on
his schedule. The others started talking about how to get from one class to
another, with the trailers being a problem. I crawled over to Silas. He caught
my eye and he patted the spot next to him, indicating I could move in closer.

“We’ve only got one class together,” I said, sitting next to him,
holding my paper near his.

He inched over, putting an arm behind me with his palm to the
floor. He was close enough that his arm touched my back. “At least I get you to
myself,” he said, the corner of his mouth lifted up.

My fingers shook because of his touch. I put my paper down so I
could put my hands in my lap to hide them. “In a class full of people,” I said.

He put his paper in his lap and leaned back on his hands. “It
won’t matter if they’re there. I don’t really talk much.”

“Why?”

“Not a lot to say.”

“You talk to me.”

His hand lifted and he caught a lock of my hair that had slipped
away from my clip. He tucked it behind my ear. “You talk to me, too.”

My heart flipped in my chest.

There was a knock at Kota’s door. All of us looked up at the same
time toward one another.

“It can’t be the mailman,” Kota said, his brows creasing. He got
up off the floor. As he walked around me toward the door, he dropped a palm on
top of my head, pushing slightly to make my head bob down. I looked up just in
time to catch his grin before he left the living room. I grinned back. It was
nice to feel wanted. I tried to tell myself again that touching was normal
among friends. They might be friends with a lot of secrets, but they were
normal in their behavior, right? Having missed out on this for so long, I was
simply unused to the attention. Did anyone ever get over this feeling or was
this fluttering nervousness something they felt all the time?