The Academie (12 page)

“
Do you ever wonder if we
won’t get along well in person?”
I asked
Bryan online one night.
Maybe I shouldn’t
have asked? I get so trigger happy with the keys
sometimes.

zxbfeie: Nah…why wouldn’t we get
along? It’ll be the same, only louder. :o)

He was always so calm and collected. I
wish it would rub off on me.

“
Aren’t you going to
pack?” mom asked the night before Bryan’s mom picked me up. We had
recently returned from Maine where we hiked, picked wild
blueberries, and took a frigid boat ride which—thankfully—paid off
with numerous whale sightings. I had spent most of the days since
hiding out in my room talking to Mandy—my friend from college—on
the phone or online.

“
Pack?”

“
For your
trip?”

“
What would I need to
pack?”

“
Overnight
stuff?”

“
I’m spending the
night?”

“
That’s what Mrs. Allen
told me. She said she’d pick you up Saturday and bring you back
Sunday. It’s too long a drive to expect her to make twice in one
day.”

“
Yes, of course, what was
I thinking?” I said as I wandered back to my room.
I’m spending the night?
I whispered to myself once I was safely inside. I couldn’t
decide if I was more happy or scared at the prospect. Now if things
went well, I’d have plenty of time with Bryan. But, if things went
bad, I’d have plenty of time with Bryan….

I pushed the idea aside and focused on
choosing the perfect things to wear. I also had to decide on a
birthday gift that Bryan might actually be able to take back to The
Academie with him. Since the rules were so strict, it’d have to be
something that would fit in his pocket so he could sneak it back
in. I wracked my brain for the next hour before giving up to pack
my overnight things so his mom—Anna— wouldn’t have to wait when she
arrived at twelve-thirty the next day.

The next morning, I put on the same
pink t-shirt I had picked out for our first failed
meeting—hopefully the clothes weren’t jinxed, along with a pair of
tan shorts since the weather would be in the low 80’s. For the
evening, I packed a button-up sweater. Then I grabbed the small bag
of clothes and personal items I’d need for the night and headed to
the main part of the house to wait.

Over the next hour, I must have looked
at the clock a hundred times.

“
How about lunch before
you go?” mom asked at 11:30.

“
Ummm…” I looked at the
clock again and considered whether my nervous stomach could hold
down food. “Yeah, I guess that’s a good idea.”

“
Hey, Dan, do you want to
eat before Allie goes?” mom yelled up the stairs to dad.

“
I’ll be right
down.”

“
How about grilled cheese
and macaroni?” mom asked.

“
Oh yeah.” It was one of
my favorite lunchtime meals. I knew it wasn’t good for me, but I
loved the cheese overload.

When I finished eating, I ran to the
bathroom to re-brush my teeth. Then I joined my parents back in the
kitchen and checked the clock again. Twelve twenty-three. The
doorbell rang. I sprang from my seat and ran to the
door.

“
Hi!” we sang in
unison.

“
I’m Allie.”

“
Anna,” she said,
extending her hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you.” Her smile was
beautiful. I liked her instantly. “I’m sorry I’m a few minutes
early, but I just couldn’t wait.
I feel
like the quicker we get there, the quicker Bryan will be
home
,” she whispered so my parents
couldn’t hear.

I led Anna to the kitchen, apologized
for the lunch mess, offered her some grilled cheese—which she
declined—and introduced her to my parents.

“
Daniel Thompson; nice to
meet you,” dad said in his professional voice.

“
Hi, Anna. It’s nice to
meet you,” mom said.

“
Thanks so much for
letting me borrow Allie. I know your time with her is
precious.”

My parents smiled back, and I wondered
if they really felt it was as precious as Anna suggested. Sometimes
they seemed so unfazed by The Academie system that it really got
under my skin.

“
Okay,” I said, breaking
an awkward silence. “My things are by the door.”

“
Right. I’ll help you with
them,” Anna said as we made our way back to the door. My parents
and Andy followed, and I gave each of them a hug before following
Anna out the door, stuff in hand.

“
Sorry about that,” I said
as put the things into the trunk.

“
For what?”

“
They are just so weird
sometimes. My parents are huge supporters of The
Academie.”

“
Oh, right…. “It’s fine.”
She waved a hand as though to wave away the thought.

As we headed off, I realized that
while I’d worried if the two hour trip with Anna would be
uncomfortable, it really wasn’t. Anna was easy to talk to, and
since we were both excited, time flew by.

“
So, I gotta know,
how
did you talk The
Academie into releasing Bryan, and
what
did you say to my parents to
get them to let me stay the night?”

Her smile expanded into a somewhat
ornery looking grin, exposing her perfect teeth. “I told The
Academie that we had a family emergency.”

“
And they let him out for
that?” I couldn’t believe that it could be that easy.

“
Well, no. They did after
I ranted for a while about how it was unconstitutional for them to
keep my son away when his family needed him and that I was only
asking for one night and if they didn’t comply with my request
they’d be hearing from my lawyer. I hammered them for a good hour,
citing different laws and court cases that have set precedent for
why my case would hold up. I must have confused, scared, or simply
annoyed them to death, because they finally relented.” She
continued to grin and I could see she was proud of
herself.

“
How did you know about
the laws and court cases?” I knew she was an English teacher, so
this didn’t seem to add up.

“
Oh, I read about
everything. I can’t help myself; I’m just curious. And I did some
extra research so I’d be ready to take them on.”

She was so cool. “That’s
incredible.”

“
So
I
have to ask,” she turned her eyes
away from the road momentarily to catch mine, “how did you and
Bryan meet?”

I sighed, not knowing how to explain,
and wondering if Bryan would be upset if I did. I decided honesty
was best. “I was online, looking up information about The
Academie—I had just had a horrible visit with my brother there—and
suddenly, an instant message popped up on my screen.”

She sighed. “He hacked out of their
system.”

“
Yeah…” I wondered if she
was mad.
Maybe I should’ve kept my mouth
shut?

“
It’s seventh grade all
over again.”

“
He hacked a computer in
seventh grade?”

“
Yeah, the grade book for
his math class.”

“
You’re kidding?”
I laughed, then caught myself. Anna looked
serious, but when I laughed, she smiled slightly.

“
He studied so hard for
that class. It didn’t come easy to him, so he worked all that much
harder, determined he was going to do well. We were so impressed
with him…” she trailed off before starting again. “So when the
mid-term came, he’d have his dad and I quiz him on the formulas,
and he’d practice the equations every night. He worked so hard that
we actually worried about what might happen if he didn’t do
well.”

“
So he failed?”

“
No, he did fantastic.”
She smiled as she remembered. “He ran in the door that day shouting
that he knew he aced it. Sure enough, a few days later, the test
came home to confirm it. We posted it on the fridge and even took
him out to the new movie he wanted to see to celebrate.”

“
So what
happened?”

“
The teacher marked the
wrong grade into the online grade book.”

“
Oh no!”

Anna shook her head and shrugged a
shoulder, “It’s an easy mistake to make. Every teacher’s done it at
some point.”

“
I bet he was devastated
though.”

“
He was. So we encouraged
him to talk with the teacher and even told him we’d do it
ourselves. But he’s always been so proud and so independent.” She
glanced at me briefly. “But as a kid, he was also really shy. I
think he was afraid to approach the guy.”

“
So Bryan changed his
grade?”

Anna nodded.

“
How’d you find
out?”

“
I went into his room to
say goodnight and found him saving the changes.”

“
Oh, poor guy. I bet he
was so embarrassed—not to mention freaked.”

“
He was. He’s always been
such a good kid. The way he saw it, he was just fixing the mistake.
But he did ask me if he should change it back. I told him no, but
I’ve wondered since if I should have. It did fix the problem, but I
tried to explain that it wasn’t the way to handle
things.”

It was clear from how she told the
story that she regretted how things went and felt guilty for not
making him admit what he’d done.

“
So did the teacher ever
find out?”

Anna shook her head. “And to the best
of our knowledge, he’s never changed a grade since.”

She rubbed her forehead. “I can’t
believe that he’s done it again though.” I knew she was referring
to hacking another computer.

She paused and I refused
to interrupt her thoughts. “I can’t help but feel partly
responsible. I’ve been quoting Dr. King to him his whole life,
telling him that
we have a moral
imperative to disobey unjust laws
.” She
rubbed her forehead again and smiled slightly. “He’s certainly my
kid.”

The conversation turned to lighter
topics and we chatted away the rest of the trip. As we approached
Columbus, I grew more excited. Then her husband, James, called to
let us know that he had picked up Bryan and they were heading home.
“Let me talk to him,” I heard her say, her grin widening. “Hi
sweetheart; how are you?” There was a pause while he answered.
“Yup, I’ve got her right here.” Another pause. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Pause. “Okay, here you go.” She pulled the phone away and glanced
at me, flashing her cover girl smile. “He wants to talk to
you.”

My heart did a flip as I took the
phone and placed it to my ear. Despite our countless conversations,
I’d never yet heard his voice. I had to catch my breath to manage a
greeting. “Hi.” My voice cracked, giving away my
nervousness.

“
Hi.” His was warm and
gentle. “We’re almost there. Can you believe it? I’m really going
to get to meet you this time.” Tingles of nervous, excited
happiness ran through me.

“
No; it doesn’t seem
real.”

It really didn’t. Maybe it was because
I had been so excited last time, and we didn’t meet up, but I think
it was more that Bryan had always seemed too good to be true. I
kept waiting for the bubble to burst, or the shoe to drop—or
whatever it is when everything comes falling apart. But just now
that didn’t seem to be the case. Maybe for once, just this once,
everything could be good and perfect?

“
How close are you?” he
asked.

“
Your mom says we should
be there in about ten minutes.”

“
Perfect. I’ll see you
soon.”

“
Okay. Bye.”

“
Bye.”

Anna caught my smile as I handed back
her phone, and I couldn’t tell which of us was more
excited.

Only minutes left.

My heart felt like it might beat right
out of my chest.

I watched each turn she made, not
knowing how many were left before we arrived, but I figured it out
when I saw two tall men—one with dark chestnut and silver tipped
hair and one light brown with a lean build, standing eagerly in the
driveway.

“
When you are ready, find
your center.”
Shara’s voice cut through my
visions.

Bryan slipped away.

17.
birthday wishes

“
So, how did it go?” Shara
asked after Stevie and I had opened our eyes. Shara’s voice had an
even more peaceful cadence than usual.

“
It was good,” I said,
still slightly jarred by this abrupt return to the waking
world.

“
Yeah,” Stevie echoed
sleepily.

“
Were you able to clear
your mind?”

“
No,” Stevie and I
answered in unison. Stevie giggled. It made me laugh.

“
Well, don’t feel bad. It
takes a lot of practice—sometimes years.”