The Academy - First Days (16 page)

M
s. Johnson’s pleasant, smiling eyes sought out our attention
during first period English class. “Hand in your poems.”

I bent over my desk, pulling my notebook from my book bag. I tore
out the pages that had my poem. Kota caught that I had more than one page. He
reached into his bag and fished out a mini stapler. I smiled to him as he held
the edge for me and stapled my pages together.

“You’re always so thoughtful,” I told him.

His cheeks tinted.

Gabriel leaned over the isle and snatched the paper from my hands.
“You didn’t show us yours,” he said.

My eyes widened and my face heated up. I grasped for the pages to
take them back. Gabriel leaned far over the opposite side of his desk, and out
of my reach. His eyes scanned the page, reading quickly.

“We have to turn it in,” I said. “It’s nothing. Just a stupid
poem.”

My poem was about hidden hearts being everywhere in the world, and
a little girl who was the only one who could see them. Her parents thought she
was crazy, and they locked her up in an asylum. She was released only when she
promised never to talk about hidden hearts again. It was sad, and I didn’t
think it was really finished, but I didn’t have an ending.

“What’s it say, Gabriel?” Luke asked behind me.

“It says Luke’s a nerd.” He stuck his tongue out at him.

“Gabe,” Kota said. “You can read it later. Turn it in.”

Gabriel made a grunting noise and pouted but handed it to Kota,
who collected ours and passed them along.

I put my elbow on my desk, leaning my face in my hand, grateful
for Kota.

I walked into Mr. Blackbourne’s music class without a violin. I
know he said not to but if I wasn’t going to get a violin for the class, I
wanted to tell him myself why I had to quit. It felt wrong to go behind his
back and cancel the class after he went through all the trouble of making the
arrangements in the first place.

I hadn’t said a word to the others about this. Somewhere in my
mind I assumed I would simply get put into one of the study hall classes. It
couldn’t be helped. They would figure it out after I changed my schedule.

As I entered music room B, the space seemed to become infinitely
smaller. Mr. Blackbourne waited for me next to the piano, his arms crossed over
his chest. His steel eyes studied me as I entered, scrutinizing me so much that
my hand instinctively touched the collar of my blouse to ensure all the buttons
were closed.

All morning, I had envisioned the things I would say about how
sorry I was to have wasted his time. I wanted to encourage him to pick someone
else. I thought there had to be other students here who would relish such an
opportunity like I did.

As he stood there looking back at me across the room, I felt my
heart tripping in my chest and the words I had worked on escaped my mind. The
coolness of his gaze settling on me was enough to solidify my muscles and make
my mind melt into nothing.

“Miss Sorenson.” His voice was so smooth and confident, commanding
without asking anything of me.

I opened my mouth and felt the words escape me but the voice
sounded different than my own. Soft. Weak. “Mr. Blackbourne.”

He stepped away from the piano. His arms dropped from his chest
and he closed the distance between us. I didn’t move a muscle. Would he yell?

“Are you not coming in?” he asked.

“I...” I felt my face heating up and my shoulders started to
shake. “I’m sorry. I just came to tell you...” My tongue darted across the roof
of my mouth, finding it parched. With my eyes on the floor, released from
penetrating stare, I tried again. “I can’t take your class.”

A gentle finger traced my chin, lifting my face until I could see
the spark of almost silver in his eyes, shimmering in the light through his
glasses. “Didn’t you tell me a week ago this was what you wanted?” While his
voice had the same demand, his tone had softened considerably.

“Yes,” I said, pressing a hand to my chest to quell the shaking I
felt as his gaze sought out answers I wasn’t able to offer.

“Are you suggesting that you don’t want to now?” His eyes demanded
my answer, unrelenting.

“My mother won’t allow me to play. I won’t be able to get a
violin.” My tongue felt rough against the dryness of my mouth. “I know you said
not to come to your class without one but I didn’t want to leave without
thanking you first for at least giving me a chance.”

His lips were pursed for a moment as he looked over my face. He
released me. “Tell me what your mother said to you.”

My face radiated. Why couldn’t he just tell me to go? Why wasn’t
he yelling at me for wasting his time? “She... she wanted me to drop the
lessons. She said I had no business in a music class.”

His eyebrow raised a fraction.  “Isn’t your elder sister in
the school band?”

I nodded.

“Hmm.” His hand went to his chin. He turned around and headed
toward the piano.

I thought that would be it. I turned around, ready to leave the
room.

“Where are you going?” his stern voice was back.

I remained facing away from him, fixing my eyes on the shiny metal
handle of the music room door. I was positive it would be the last time I ever
saw it. “I was going to the main office to...”

“Class isn’t over yet.” He paused. “The boys offered to buy you
one, didn’t they?”

I spun to face him. “How did you know?”

“But you refused?”

My finger found my lower lip. “They wanted to buy one for me. I
told them not to. I couldn’t ask them to do something for me when I couldn’t be
sure I could ever pay them back. They’ve done so much for me already.” How did
he find out about my contact with the boys? Didn’t Kota say something about not
letting Mr. Blackbourne know we knew each other? It was hinted at before. Did I
make a mistake? Was it okay now?

He turned away from me. From behind the piano, he picked up a
black case. I thought it was the same one from yesterday, but this one had a
cloth material on the outside instead of a hard case. There was a strap along
one edge for carrying it on your shoulder. “Should I give this back to them?”

My head tilted forward, an eyebrow going up. I recognized what he
held in his hands for what it was, but my brain didn’t want to make the
connection as to why and how.

He brought the case to me, undoing the zipper as he walked. He
balanced the case on one palm. He opened the lid.

Underneath was a violin. The wood was a rich brown, gleamingly
polished. The fingerboard and chinrest were black. Delicate black pin striping
outlined the edge of the smooth curves.

“Where did you...” I breathed out.

“Victor brought it to me this morning.”

I flushed. I blinked to get rid of the tears. “I can’t, Mr.
Blackbourne. They shouldn’t have done it.”

“You don’t want it?” he asked in a quiet voice.

How could they? After I had told him not to, he went ahead and got
one anyway and behind my back got Mr. Blackbourne involved. The others had to
have known about it. How could they not understand that I didn’t want the
burden of feeling like I owed them for this? I didn’t want them to ever think I
was friends with them for the things they bought for me. Guilt for their
charity etched into me, prickling my skin.

Even as I thought these things, my fingers shook as my hand
hovered above the wood of the violin in front of me. I was too afraid to touch
it. I did want it. It warmed my heart that Victor went out of his way, after
the day he had yesterday, and bought one for me.

“Miss Sorenson,” he said. “I’ve known Kota and the others since
they were ten years old. While it is true that they normally attend the Academy
and they are nice people in general, they don’t normally allow outsiders into
their circle. Quite frankly, I’m not exactly sure how you managed to get
involved with them so quickly. From what little Kota has shared about you to me,
and with great reluctance on his part, you’ve only known each other for a
couple of weeks.”

I blushed. “I just bumped into him one day.”

“And yet here they are buying you a violin.”

“I told them not to.”

“And they did it anyway.”

“Yes.”

“Do you understand what that means?”

I shook my head, unable to find my voice to reply.

“I’ll show you.” He closed the lid and tucked the violin case
under one arm. He held his other arm out. “Come with me.”

With trembling fingers, I touched the crook of his arm. He guided
me over to the piano where he motioned for me to take a seat. I sat at the
bench, crossing my legs at the ankles. He opened the new violin case again,
freeing the instrument from the restraints. He held the violin to his neck,
applying the bow.

He started playing a Chinese melody that I recognized, but didn’t
know the name of. The long, gentle notes vibrated at the smallest of changes
his fingers made across the fingerboard. The music poured out from the violin
like water, soothing, refreshing. It took only moments before I’d forgotten to
blush at my predicament. I was entranced by his artistry.

After a few minutes, he stopped. The silence that filled the room
felt like it had swallowed us both up.

“It’s an exceptional violin,” he said. He put the bow down and
turned the violin over, tracing his hand over the wood.

“You play beautifully,” I said softly. It was true. He was an
excellent violinist.

His eyes drifted from the violin to my face. I wanted to look
away, but the silent command from his gray eyes held me in check. He cradled
the violin in the case and approached me. He bent over until his face was level
with mine. “I’m going to ask you a few questions, Miss Sorenson, and I want you
to answer me as honestly as you can. And believe me, I can tell if you lie.”
His eyes looked over my face, and his gaze landing on my lips. “Do you like the
boys? I mean as friends?”

How else would he mean? I nodded.

“You should speak when you’re answering my questions.”

“Yes,” I said clearly. “I want to be friends with them.”

“And friends help each other,” he said.

I blinked at him, not understanding if this was a question. “Yes.”

“The boys have had an unusual lifestyle ever since they joined the
Academy,” he said. “Loyalty is a big part of our curriculum. Once you’re a part
of their team, anything you need, the Academy will provide it. It’s the way we
work. We don’t have time to waste worrying about self-inflicted pride.”

Hearing him talk about this mysterious Academy had me entranced.
“I thought I wasn’t supposed to know about the school.”

He stood up and crossed the room, putting his hands behind his
back and pacing in front of the piano. “Our work requires strict secrecy. We’re
exposing ourselves as it is being in this school. The school board and the
principal only know we’re a private school. There is a lot they don’t know
about it. We try to keep our students anonymous. I hope you’ll keep our
secret.”

More than just a private school. What did that mean? So this was
more than just a favor from a private school for the public school system or
else they might have asked a less enigmatic school for help. If that was the
case, what was in it for them to be here? “I’ve never told anyone,” I said.

His eyes darkened, narrowing at me. “You have to understand,” he
said. “You can never talk about this. Not with family. Not with your friends.
There’s more at stake here than this school.” He took a step toward me,
motioning in my direction. “Kota’s taken a big risk even mentioning it to you
at all. I don’t believe this is the best for the team, but I trust his
judgment. However, I need your absolute word that you’ll never mention anything
you hear us say to anyone else. It doesn’t matter how trivial you assume it
might be. Lips closed.”

I swallowed. This was more than I expected today, but I knew I
would never tell anyone. I had no one to talk to besides Kota and the others.
Didn’t he know that? Or was that why Kota felt he could trust me? Because I was
friendless and wasn’t close to my family? Did he not tell that to Mr.
Blackbourne? I forced myself to look him in the eyes. I wanted him to believe
this as I felt it was important to emphasize that I wanted to earn their trust.
“I’ll never say a word. Ever. If you want me to swear it to something, I will.”

His eyes softened. He turned on his heels as he paced. “As I was
saying, the Academy taught them to take care of one another.”

“But I’m not in the Academy,” I said.

“You are one of them now, though, or they consider you to be. That
instinct to simply do what the other needs has been worked into them so
fluidly. You’ll have to forgive this flaw. They don’t really think about what
it means to someone like you, who may feel indebted to them. Trust me when I
say you won’t ever have to. They’ll never ask.” His eyes sparked. “It’ll happen
again. If you want to be friends with them, you’ll have to let them do it. I
don’t think they’d understand if you rejected anything they give you. They
possibly wouldn’t allow it at all.”