The Academy - Friends vs. Family (32 page)

“Have you ever died before in them?” North asked.

“A few, I think. I fell from a building once. I was shot a couple
of times...”

“Shit,” North growled.

Kota put a calm hand on his arm. “Alright, we’ll figure this out,
but we can’t do it tonight.”

“There’s nothing to figure out,” I said. “You can’t do anything
about dreams.” Suddenly I was desperate for an earthquake or for someone to
interrupt. I wanted them to forget about all this. It really didn’t matter to
me right now about nightmares. They didn’t mean anything to me. My eyes fell on
North’s arms and the blood drying in spots against his forearms. I leaned
forward, taking his arm gently. “Oh, North. It is bad.”

North drew his arm away from me. “I’ll live.”

I frowned. “We should clean you up.”

“I agree,” Kota said. “Sang, find the medical kit, okay? I’m going
to go calm the others downstairs and we’ll all try to get some sleep. It’s
late. We’ll talk in the morning.” He slid his glasses up with a forefinger
before turning away, unlocking the door and marching out.

I jumped off of the counter and dug in the drawers for his medical
kit.

“I don’t need a bandage,” North said. “Just let me wash.” He
nudged me away from searching and made me stand behind him as he turned on the
sink and started rubbing his arms under the water. The wounds opened again.
Blood dripped into the sink.

“North,” I whispered. I ripped tissues from the box on the counter
and collected one of his arms, pulling it close. I applied pressure against the
marks. “I’ll sleep on my hands from now on,” I promised. “Maybe I shouldn’t
have done this at all. I should have known better--”

North lifted his other hand out of the water. He pushed two
fingers to my lips, drawing my mouth closed. “Stop talking like that.”

“But...” I mumbled through his fingers.

“What do you want?” he asked. “Is being locked up by your parents
the life you really want? Do you want to leave us?”

My eyes widened. My head started shaking. No! I didn’t want to
leave them at all. They were all I ever had.

He slipped his fingers away from my mouth. “This is what we are,
Sang Baby. You’re one of us now. Your problems are our problems. Running away
from us isn’t going to help. So stop it.” He smirked. “Besides, I’m bigger than
you. I’ll sit on you if I have to.”

I closed my eyes, cracking a smile. “North...” I didn’t want to
laugh. I didn’t want to go back to crying either. I didn’t know what I wanted.
Maybe I did and I was lying to myself. I wanted to feel that connection he did.
I wanted to understand.

He took the tissues from my hands. “I think I’ve stopped
bleeding,” he said. He tossed the tissues into the trash and clasped his hand
around mine. “Let’s go.”

Friends hold hands. Friends help each other. Friends were there
for you when you had nightmares at a sleepover.

It was a lot to get used to.

Downstairs, the lights were off. North held my hand to guide me back
to the makeshift bed. I couldn’t see in the dark, but I sensed something wrong.
The room felt empty. When my eyes adjusted enough, I realized Nathan, Luke and
Gabriel weren’t in the room. North ignored this, dragging me down into my spot
and commanding I go to sleep.

I wondered if Nathan was keeping his promise to look in on my
mother that night. I wondered if Luke and Gabriel went with him. If so, what
was taking so long?

Or was the Academy demanding their attention?

I
N
I
t
T
ogether

Cracks of light seeped between my eyelids. My cheek pressed
against Silas’s bicep.

My eyelashes flickered over his skin each time I would partially
open my eyes. His face was close enough to the back of my head that his breath
swept at my hair. I was lying on my side facing North, who had both of my hands
wrapped up in his as he slept. They were both so close I didn’t need the
blankets to keep warm. I was so cozy and comfortable. I kept drifting in and
out of sleep.

“It’s time guys.” Kota’s voice drifted softly to us that for a
moment I wondered if I had dreamt it.

Silas stirred. He leaned over me and I felt his lips at my ear. “
Aggele
mou
,” he whispered. “I need my arm back.”

I groaned, lifting my head up so he could slide away from me.

When he pulled away, he rolled over and I sensed him sitting up.

North grunted something and released my hands. He stuffed his arms
around my waist and drew me close to him, pulling me underneath his blanket.
His hand went to the back of my head to press my face against his chest and he
yanked the blanket over our heads. His mouth, chin and nose dropped against the
top of my head. The gruff feeling of unshaven face scratched at my scalp. His
leg hooked over both of mine.

He fell still. I snuggled against him, drifting back to sleep. Why
didn’t it bug me that he was holding me so close? Maybe if I had been more
awake I would have been flipping out that he was doing this but for the moment,
I was too sleepy and comfortable to care.

“North,” Silas said above us.

“Go away.” North grunted. His fingers gripped at my back against
my rib cage to draw me in tighter.

“If Erica comes out here and sees you like that, she’ll never let
us do this again.”

North mumbled something that even I couldn’t understand.

“We’ve got to go,” Silas said.

“Where are you guys going?” I whispered to North.

He sighed heavily and spoke against my head. “Nowhere, Sang baby.
Go back to sleep.” He grunted again and put me down in his spot, slipping away
out onto the floor to stand up.

I wanted to wake up more. I wanted to ask where they were going.
It should have bothered me. I pressed my cheek to his pillow, smelling the
musk. I felt his warmth still around me and the blanket blocked out the light.
As much as I willed myself to sit up and ask the questions, sleep dragged me
down again.

When I woke again, it was Erica hovering over me, shaking my arm.
“Sang? Do you want to get up?”

I sat up quickly, shoving the blanket away and dragged a palm over
my eyes to rub away the sleep. Through squinting eyes, I gazed over at the
others.

All of the makeshift beds were empty.

Erica smiled. She dressed in black yoga pants and an oversized
gray t-shirt with USMC scrawled in yellow block lettering across the front. “I
recommend if you want a shower, you should do it now.”

“Where are they?” I asked.

“Outside,” she said. She pressed a hand to my knee. I willed
myself not to flinch at her touch. Somehow the sensation was stronger to pull
away when she did that compared to the boys’ touches. I wasn’t sure why. “Come
see.” She nodded her head toward the far window.

I crawled out of North’s spot and wobbled on my feet behind Erica,
following her to the dining room. She stopped at the window where the simple
white blinds were closed. She threaded her fingers between two blind slats and
separated them with her fingers, peeking out into the yard. She stepped back,
motioning with her free hand in the direction of the open space to indicate I
should look.

Dawn light blinded me for a moment. I blinked back against it.
Familiar voices were shouting and it was enough to wake me fully. I focused.

All seven of the boys were outside. They were lined up, side by
side, faces firm, eyes set. They were doing push-ups in the grass. Each one had
matching, fitted gray shirts and sweatpants. They were barefoot. As they moved,
they counted off together. I could hear Silas’s booming voice and Victor’s
baritone and the others chorused. Kota’s glasses had fogged. They were all
sweating, their hair soaked. Gabriel’s arms shook but he kept up with all of
them.

After a few minutes, they jumped up together and started doing
jumping jacks, starting together in eerie unison.

My heart tightened in my chest. My brain couldn’t piece together
this puzzle. “What are they doing?” I whispered.

“From what I understand,” Erica said, her head moving next to mine
to gaze out at the boys, “this is a punishment of some sort.”

“Punishment?”

“When they’ve been misbehaving too much. I probably shouldn’t say
punishment. It’s more like a reminder.” Erica sighed, a haunted smile tucked
into the corner of her mouth. “My son has been enrolled in the Academy since he
was little. When he was twelve, they sent him, everyone, to something like a
boot camp for eight weeks.” She paused as there was another change in the boys’
routine. They fell to the ground to do sit ups. “When he got back, he had
changed so much. I didn’t really recognize him. He was stronger, faster. He
started giving orders like a sergeant. Now whenever they’re together, if
there’s a scuffle, the next morning they’re out there.”

“How long will they keep going?”

She shrugged. “An hour. Maybe two. It depends on Kota.”

That’s what it was yesterday. One hour meant working out together
that long. “He tells them to? And he does it too? They do it all together?”

“All in,” she said. “If they do it, he does it. They’re a team. I
don’t understand it, really, but they’ve formed this brotherhood. I used to
worry about this. I wondered why a twelve-year-old boy was working so hard and
how could he order kids, sometimes twice his size, around like that. Instead,
ever since then they’ve worked together, they’ve played together. They became
each others’ world.” She laughed softly. “To be honest, I never thought they’d
talk to anyone else,” she said. She faced me. Her green eyes lit up, familiar like
Kota’s. “I thought it was those boys for life.”

I wanted to share her curious looks. I couldn’t get over how this
was my fault. I knew it. I stirred them up. Kota said I was giving them
something to fight over. “Is it bad that...”

She turned on me, grabbing my hands and looking me in the eye.
“Sang,” she said. “You’re a bright little girl and for some reason, whatever
reason, they’ve picked you to join them. To be honest, I’m rather jealous.”

My eyes widened. “But why?”

“I’ve never seen a group of friends like them before. I wish I had
friends like that when I was your age.”

My eyes flicked to the window. “What does it mean?”

Her smile warmed. “I don’t know what this means. I just have a
really good feeling. I’ve asked Kota a million times about why they did certain
things. I made him promise me that if he ever wanted out, he would tell me. He
never once indicated he would ever leave those boys. The Academy changed
everything.”

I reached over to the window to tug one of the blinds up to look
back out at them. The boys were now sitting in circle together, cross legged.
Kota talked. They listened. They looked exhausted, especially Luke, Nathan and
Gabriel. They were hunched over, with dark circles under their eyes.

“They’re almost done. This is some pep talk before he dismisses
them,” Erica said. She patted my arm. “Go get a shower or you’ll never get any
warm water.”

I didn’t really care about warm water but I did as she suggested.
I didn’t want to be there when they came in. I didn’t want them to know I knew.

I grabbed my bag and ran upstairs to Kota’s room, locking myself
into the bathroom just as I heard the back door of the house opening. I
couldn’t face them, knowing this punishment was all my fault. If I hadn’t been
there, if I hadn’t had that dream, if I hadn’t hurt North or made them bicker,
they wouldn’t have had to do it.

Why was it that no one complained about it? North had resisted at
first but he got up and went with them. None of the others said anything about
it. They did what Kota said. Kota the boss. Luke and Nathan and Gabriel weren’t
even there last night.

Despite what North said last night, I wasn’t part of them. They
didn’t tell me their secrets. I wasn’t really part of the Academy. I wasn’t
even included in the punishment when it was my fault in the first place.

So what did Kota and the others mean? Or were they trying to make
me feel better when they said I was one of them?

I’d slept with Victor’s bracelet on. I removed it, placing it on
the counter by the sink. My fingers flicked over the tiny heart attached to it.
Victor said he wanted me to open up. Maybe that was what was wrong.

It was too confusing to think about. North was right. What was I
going to do? Run off and tell them to go away? I had to stay, behave, try not
to cause any more problems, be as helpful as possible and maybe at some point
it would all make sense to me.

Maybe I had to do what Nathan suggested. Don’t worry about it and
eventually they’d figure out where I fit in.

H
AIRCUT

I turned on the water in Kota’s shower tub, plugging the hole
quickly. I didn’t care about hot water. I’d bathe in something lukewarm and
save them as much heat as possible. I didn’t work out like they did. I didn’t
need it. Plus if I bathed, I’d use less of the warm water anyway.

When the bath was only a quarter of the way filled, I hopped in,
shivering and leaping to my toes at the chill. I cranked up the hot water. I
slipped into the tub, kneeling and sitting back on my heels. I forced my
chattering teeth closed and powered through, grabbing Kota’s soap and washing.

The water warmed, and I settled in more, shutting off the faucet.
I was rinsing away the last of the soap from my back and chest when there was a
knock. The air shifted around me like the door opened.

“Oy, Trouble,” Gabriel called.

My spine tingled from my butt to my neck. I shifted up to draw my
knees in the water over my chest, and wrapping my arms around my body. I didn’t
dare turn around and look at him. I hadn’t drawn the curtain. Could he see me?
“Gabriel?”

“Did you wash your hair yet?”

Of all things! “No.”

“Don’t. I’ll wash it. I’ve got something for it.”

“Ga...”

“After you put a towel on. Sheesh.” The sound of the door closing
caused another tingling to sweep up through me. I peered over my shoulder, but
I was alone again. Didn’t I lock the door?

I really was finished with the bath, but I remained for a moment
as if to make sure Gabriel wouldn’t pop his head back in. Did he even do that
or did he open the door and call in? I wasn’t sure. I would never know.

I hopped out quickly, dripping over the blue carpet. I opened the
closet door and dug out a plush green towel, big enough that I could wrap
myself up. It reached to my mid-thigh while still covering my chest. I hit the
drain so the water could flow out. Was I really going to open the door with
just a towel wrapped around myself? Gabriel said I needed to trust him, right?
Maybe this was part of what I needed to do to become closer to this strange
family.

I stepped behind the door to use as a barrier and opened it
slightly. “Gabriel?”

Gabriel stepped through, with two white unmarked plastic bottles
collected in his hands. There were heavy shadows under his eyes. His hair was
wet and combed back. He was wearing a neon orange tank top and Levi jeans,
barefoot. Deep blue crystals sparked in his lobes, along with the usual three
black rings.

His eyes did a sweep across me in the green towel and his cheeks
tinted. “Oh.”

“You said...” I started. Was he just kidding me? How was I
supposed to know? “Do you want me to wash...”

He rolled his eyes. “Shut the fuck up. I’ll do it.” He jerked his
head toward the sink. “Get your head in there, Trouble. We’ve got work to do.”

“I don’t want to model today,” I said, stepping over to the sink.
It’d been a long day yesterday, a long night, and it was already a crazy
morning. The last thing I wanted to do was parade in front of the others.

“No. I’m going to cut your hair. I didn’t have time to do that
yesterday.” He dropped the bottles onto the counter and turned the sink faucet
on, testing with his fingers to find the right temperature. His eyes were
barely open slits as he leaned his body against the sink.

“Do you have to do it today?” I asked. “You look sleepy.”

“I’m fine,” he said, his eyes on the water.

“Are you really?”

His crystal eyes flashed and settled on my face, puzzled. His
smirk shifted and he patted me on the hip. “Come on. I can cut your fucking
hair.”

I swallowed, moving to bend over and let the water run over my
head, mostly to please him. Maybe if I let him cut my hair, he could take a nap
and relax.

Gabriel remained quiet as he cupped his hand to change the flow to
wet my hair. He pulled back to open one of the unmarked bottles he brought in.
A dolloped chilled a spot on my head, the coolness sending another shiver
through my spine. I adjusted the towel against my body.

The smell of the shampoo hit my nose. Acidic, a pang of metallic
odor. I held my breath, wondering if it would go away. When I breathed in
again, the scent lingered strong.

“Gabriel...”

His fingers lathered the shampoo into my hair, massaging against
my scalp. “What?”

“It smells.”

“It’s a special formula. Just let it work.”

I swallowed, trying to hold my breath. The scent accosted my nose
and mouth every time I breathed in. It was like the air was dripping with fermented
fish and pennies.

He rinsed my hair, applied conditioner and had me back my head out
of the water so he could work it in. The conditioner was worse than the
shampoo, and I moved a hand from the towel to clutch my palm around my nose.

“It’s not that bad,” Gabriel insisted.

Was his nose broken? “Will it stick to my hair?”

“Will you stop worrying? Fucking shit, let me do my job, please?”
He pushed my head into the water again.

He was getting the last of the conditioner rinsed out of the ends
of my hair when a knock sounded at the bathroom door.

“Gabe,” someone called from Kota’s bedroom.

“What?” Gabriel called back.

The door rattled and North’s head poked in, his hair messy and
dripping water onto his cheeks. His eyes fell on me in the towel, to Gabriel
half bent over me with his fingers in my hair, and back to me in the towel.

“Oh hell no,” he boomed. The door crashed against the bathroom
wall. He had a towel wrapped around his waist, one hand clutched at his hip to
hold it in place.

“Get out,” Gabriel barked at him. “I’m washing her hair.”

“You’re not fucking washing her hair.”

“Fuck you. I’m already done.” He snapped the faucets off and
stepped toward North, blocking me as I stood up fully.

I trembled, and my hair dripped around my bare shoulders. Not now!
I didn’t want any more fighting.

“What are you doing barging in?” Gabriel yelled.

“I thought it was you in here, and I came in to grab a razor. And
now you’ve got Sang naked and you’re fucking with her.”

“I washed her god damn hair,” Gabriel said. “And now I’m about to
cut it.”

“She can wash her own fucking hair.”

“She let me in!” Gabriel snapped. He jabbed a finger back toward
my face while staring down North. “Do you think for one minute I’d do anything
to her? Have you lost your god damn mind? I didn’t force my way in.”

North’s jaw set and he glared back. “Just go.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes and he turned back to me. “Get dressed and
meet me in the garage. Don’t take too long.” He opened the closet to grab
another towel and handed it to me. “Wrap your hair in that so you don’t drip
everywhere, but don’t dry it out.”

I clutched the extra towel to my body. I didn’t trust the towel I
was wearing to hang on if I lifted my arms. I was also scared to say anything
or move in fear they’d start fighting again. How could Kota be serious to think
arguing meant they cared?

North started sniffing the air. He stepped over to me, pressing
his nose to my head. He jerked his head back. “What the fuck is wrong with her
head?”

“It’s the shampoo,” I whispered, holding the extra towel up close
to my mouth to partially hide my face.

“Gabe,” North barked. His eyes met mine and held firmly. “Change
the formula. It smells like shit.”

“It’s not there to make her smell pretty.”

“I don’t care. It stinks. Change it.” He smirked and winked at me.
“Sang can’t smell like a dead rat.”

“God damn shit,” Gabriel grumbled, marching into Kota’s room and
down the stairs. “Gabriel, don’t wash her hair. Gabriel, change the
motherfucking formula. Gabriel, cut off your own ear and eat it.” There was
more but he’d wandered off into the house and it was lost.

I rattled when I realized I was standing naked in a towel, alone
with North, also naked in a towel. His was hanging off of his hips lower, and I
saw more of the line of hair below his belly button, and the start of the angle
of his hip bones. I focused on the wall.

North’s fingers found my chin, lifting. “Don’t let him walk over
you,” he said. “If you’re uncomfortable, tell him to back off. If he doesn’t
listen, come find me.”

I nodded. Was this the same North that was yelling a minute ago?
His eyes were softer now, his touch gentle.

He stepped back. “Get some clothes on. I’ll wait,” he said. He
closed the door behind himself.

I hurriedly put on my underwear and a pair of jean shorts with the
bottom hem made to look like cut strips. Half of the shorts were bleached out at
the thighs and covered in hot pink dye. I dropped a form fitting, black t-shirt
over my head. I put the bracelet on my wrist and wrapped the extra towel around
my hair, twisting it up on my head to stop from dripping.

When my heart wriggled back down from my throat to my chest, I
opened the door, wondering why there was a lock. Did it even work?

North was leaning against the frame. He turned, his eyes falling
on my clothes. His lips parted and his palm brushed at the side of his neck.
“That’s a... that looks really good on you.”

My cheeks flushed. I squeezed the fabric of the towel at my head.
“Gabriel picked it out.”

“He knows his shit.” A smirk touched his lips. “Don’t tell him I
said that.”

I shared a quiet smile with him. Black was his favorite color,
right? Maybe he liked it when I wore that color. I wanted to remember that. It
felt like he was pleased and I wanted to do that again. I side stepped away
from the bathroom. “Sorry if I took too long.”

He waved his hand in the air. “Go let that bastard cut your hair,
will you?” He shut the door behind himself.

In the garage, Silas was sitting in a metal folding chair. Gabriel
hovered over his head with a pair of electric clippers. Max was at Silas’ feet,
rolling over his toes. When I stepped barefoot down the steps, Max hopped up
and met me, sniffing at my knees.

“I’ll get you in a minute, Trouble,” Gabriel mumbled, a black comb
dangling from the corner of his pressed lips.

“Okay,” I said, squatting to rub Max on the head before stepping
around him to cross in front of Silas. I wanted to watch Gabriel cut hair.

Silas had a towel wrapped around his shoulders, wearing jeans and
a white tank shirt that made his strong arms look more massive. Silas’s eyes
lit up when I came into view. “Nice shorts.”

“Do you like the pink?” I asked, pulling back my head and holding
out a leg so I could look down at the material on my own body.

“I like the blue with the pink,” Silas said, pointing to the top
half of the shorts where the colors blended together. “They’re a good match.”

“He likes dark blue,” Gabriel said as he made his way around to
the front of Silas, bending over slightly around Silas’ knees. He pointed the
end of the clippers at Silas’ nose. “Okay now for the shitty side burns you’ve
let grow too far on your face.”

Silas’ fingers smoothed over the hair in front of his ears. “Leave
it midway like it is,” he said.

“It’s too much,” Gabriel said. “I gave it a try. It’s not
working.”

“Sang likes it.” Silas peered around at me. “Don’t you?”

I didn’t recall seeing him with shorter sideburns. He’d always
looked the same to me, so I didn’t know how to respond. I did like how Gabriel
had trimmed the top of his hair a little shorter. It looked like smooth fur on
his head. I wanted to thread my fingers through it as it looked soft. “Yeah,” I
said, wanting to please Silas. “Let him keep it.”

“Nu uh,” Gabriel said. “They’re coming off. They need to be
shorter.”

“Aw,” I pouted. “Please?”

Gabriel turned on me, pointing the clippers in my direction.
“Nope, stop that. I want that lip gone.”

Silas appeared in my point of view. He made his own pout behind
Gabriel’s back and pointed to his lips and then to me.

It was difficult not to crack a smile at Silas’s pout and at the
conspiracy he was intending, but I puckered my lower lip out more.

Gabriel scoffed. “Suck that lip back in, Sang. I mean it.”

I tilted my head down, casting my eyes to his feet as if defeated,
but left my lip out. I wasn’t sure if it was working like Silas thought it
would.

“Trouble, I’m gonna count to three, and if that god damn lip isn’t
pulled back in, I swear...”

“Don’t be such a meanie,” I said, glancing up with my head still
tilted.

Gabriel’s eyes slitted at me. “Trouble...”

“Meanie,” I countered. I twisted the pout. Without my intending,
it quivered as I sucked in a breath.