The Academy - First Days (19 page)

My eyes flickered to Gabriel for only a moment. I looked back at
the bully and I jerked my chin toward Gabriel. “What are you playing around
with him for?”

“What? You mean gay ‘tard, here?” the guy asked, pushing into
Gabriel’s shoulder.

Gabriel grunted.

My fingernails dug into my palms. My heart thundered to life in my
chest and my lips flew open. “What are you? Some kind of homophobe?”

The guy reeled his head back, letting go of Gabriel and pointing a
pudgy finger at my face. “What did you say?”

“I just wondered why you were here playing with the boys instead
of the girls.”

“Sang,” Gabriel called. He was on his feet, his back against the
wall and breathing heavily. Did they hit him already? “Don’t,” he puffed out.

“Shut the fuck up,” the guy said, and he jabbed his fist into
Gabriel’s gut.

Gabriel bent over, holding his abs. “Yeah, yeah, you’ve said that
already,” he quipped, sucking in a breath through his teeth.

The guy’s hand moved into a fist again but my hand shot out,
cupping around his knuckles. He paused, his eyes widening and confusion
covering his face.

What was I doing? My mind blanked out. I wasn’t about to let him
hit Gabriel again. Where the new sense of bravery came from, I wasn’t sure. All
I knew was someone who liked me was in trouble and I wasn’t about to let him
down. “Dude, seriously. Are you going to play with him or me?”

Feet shifted around me. Mumbling, laughing. Were people only going
to watch? Did they think this was funny?

“Go home, Sang,” Gabriel called to me.

“She doesn’t want to talk to a fag,” the bully spat at him. He
turned to me. “You’re Sang? I’ve heard about you.”

My eyebrows shot up, shaking me out of my faux confidence. “What?”

“Greg said you were kinky shit.” His lips pulled back, revealing
yellowed teeth as he grinned.

I bit my lower lip, losing the anger as the focus turned to me.
Rumors were spreading about me. What did Greg tell them?

I took a step back, bumping into someone behind me. It forced me to
stop. Hands grabbed my biceps, locking me in place against someone’s chest. I
yanked to free myself. The hands tightened. I twisted to check over my shoulder
but he held me in place.

The crowed of guys started laughing, circling around me. The main
bully let go of Gabriel and closed off the circle.

“Let her go,” Gabriel warned. I couldn’t see him around the group.

My throat seized. I wanted to tell him to run like he did for me
but I couldn’t find my voice. I’d taken this too far. I redirected attention like
I thought I wanted. Now what? He should go get the others. Go find a teacher to
stop this.

The guy ignored him, his yellowed teeth parting. “What do you guys
think?” he asked the group around us. “Do we want to see what kinky shit looks
like?”

His hand shot out, his fingers hooked the collar of my shirt and
wrenched. Two buttons broke, bouncing to the floor.

“Get your fucking hands off of her,” Gabriel flew into the air,
dropping hard on the back of the guy who yanked my shirt. His feet connected with
the back of the bully’s knees. His fist struck the side of the guy’s neck.

The bully slumped to the floor. His voice erupted into a howl. He
choked. His palms wrapped around his throat, and he slurped at the air.

The guy who’d grabbed me pulled back, yanking me with him. The
others started piling on top of Gabriel. I cried out Gabriel’s name. Gabriel
disappeared amid a pile of students, all swinging at his body.

I tugged, kicked and jerked myself to get free. The guy behind me
gripped my arms tighter until my knees buckled at the pain.

A body flew into the fight in a blur, landing on top of one of the
students. He moved like a blur. My heart leapt that someone, anyone, was trying
to help Gabriel. His head turned, looking my way.

My heart went from pounding a mile a minute, to dead still.

It was Kota. His glasses were gone, which was why I didn’t
recognize him sooner.

Victor sailed in behind him. They wrenched at the shoulders of
guys piling on top of Gabriel.

Kota’s fist swung at someone’s abdomen. Victor lifted a foot, his
heel making contact with someone’s chest.

Shouting echoed to an all-encompassing thundering in the hallway.
Most of the guys who had been watching and laughing fled. The handful that
remained swung fists at the boys. Most flailed, trying to launch themselves at
the Academy guys to knock them over.

Kota, Victor and Gabriel struck with precision. They waited,
dodged and jabbed. Nathan was not the only one who had training.

I was shoved aside like unwanted trash. I landed on my knees, and
pain radiated from my bruises. It knocked the breath from my lungs.

The guy who had held me stepped over my body to join in. He seized
Victor by his shirt, heaving him back.

I flew to my feet, wanting to help and not having a clue what to
do. My hands found the guy’s shirt, and I yanked as hard as I could.

The collar of his shirt jerked into the guy’s neck hard. He let go
of Victor, whirled with his hand out. It made contact with my face.

“Sang!” Victor’s shout filled my ears.

My back rammed into the wall.

I fell to the floor. My sandals slid out from under me on the
tile. Tears filled my eyes at the sting at my cheek. My tongue shot out,
tasting blood at my lip.

Victor’s fist and foot collided with the side of the guy’s head.
When the guy swung out again, Victor jabbed him with a fist at his face.

The guy reeled back, ducking away from Victor’s oncoming foot. He
backtracked and stumbled toward the exit.

Victor whirled on me, his fire eyes a roaring blaze. “Sang!” he
called out, dropping to his knees next to me. His fingertips brushed against my
forehead.

For the moment, all I could see were fire eyes.

Gabriel’s cursing barked over the others. Kota shouted to people
in the hallway to clear out, commanding anyone left to go home.

Victor collected me in his arms. My body trembled. I wanted to be
brave and stand up but my body wouldn’t allow it. I swallowed back tears. I was
ashamed. I’d been stupid. I couldn’t help Gabriel even when I wanted to. I made
it worse.

Victor’s arms encircled me close to his body, his cheek meeting
mine.

“Victor,” I whispered, finding my lips near his ear and tracing at
his skin. I was unable to speak louder. Now that it was over, I was a wreck.

Victor shuddered against me. He bent down, his arm going under my
thighs and he picked me up off the floor. My face buried into his shoulder. I
was worried about the others, but too afraid to look at them.

Victor held me, not asking, not judging. He simply held on. His
cheek pressed to my forehead.

“Sang,” Gabriel whispered. I opened my eyes and turned my face
toward his voice. Blood trickled from his nose and his cheek was puffy. His
hand sought out mine and he squeezed it.

Kota was next to him, looking over his shoulder. Blood stained the
shoulder of his white shirt. His tie was flung over his shoulder. His lips
taunt, his eyes dark. “Let’s get her to Dr. Green.”

I wanted to tell them that I was fine, that I could walk and that
I didn’t need anything. Gabriel looked worse than me. My mouth wasn’t working.
My lips felt swollen shut. My cheek stung. My knees ached. I didn’t want to let
go of Victor. I wanted to let go of him to hold Gabriel because he looked
terrible. I wanted Kota.

Victor carried me through the now empty hallways. Trying to figure
out where we were going made me dizzy. I forced my eyes closed, my forehead
against his neck. His breathing was ragged. He gripped my back and thigh. He
wasn’t letting go.

Kota and Gabriel marched beside him. The continued silence had me
trembling again. No one stopped us if they walked by.

Victor stopped. There was a gentle breeze of a door opening and
then another. Victor drew me in closer as the new hallway was smaller. I
cowered into myself in an effort to make myself smaller.

Another door opened.

“What happened?” Dr. Green’s voice floated to us.

Victor turned and I was perched on a desktop. I forced my eyes
open. Dr. Green’s face swam into view.

I peeled my lips apart. “I’m fine,” I whispered. I swallowed to
recover more of my voice. “I only got hit once.”

“Sweetie, you look like shit,” Gabriel quipped somewhere out of my
view.

“He backhanded her,” Victor said. “He hit her in the face and she
hit the wall.”

Dr. Green opened a drawer, finding a flashlight. He clicked it on
and hovered the light over my face. His eased his fingers over my eyelids and
forced them apart. “I suppose you mean someone not Gabriel.” He swung the light
into my eye. I flinched at the onslaught of brightness, but he held me in a way
that forced me to keep still.

Gabriel snorted. “No, but I’m about to. What the fuck did you
think you were doing, Sang? I told you to get out.”

Spots of light hovered in my eyeballs after Dr. Green checked my
eyes. He poked with a gentle finger to my lip but I spoke around his prodding.
“They were hitting you.”

Gabriel laughed.

Dr. Green backed off and I was able to turn my head.

Gabriel was in Mr. Blackbourne’s chair, his hands hanging over the
armrests. “You should have seen her,” he said, beaming and swinging from side
to side in the chair. “Oh god, it was beautiful. She stormed down that hallway
and I swear if it wasn’t because she was so small, she’d have kicked their
asses. If I wasn’t so pissed off, I’d kiss her right now.”

Dr. Green’s lips twisted into a smile. “She doesn’t have a
concussion, but you should keep an eye on her.” He fixed his gaze on me.
“Anything hurt?”

I shook my head. Nothing outside of my lip and cheek and my own
pride. “I’m fine.”

He nodded and pulled away. Victor was against the wall behind
Gabriel, his arms crossed, his eyes blazing on me. Kota was gone. Where was he?

“You’re not fucking fine,” Gabriel barked at me. “You’re in a
whole lot of trouble. You know what you are? You’re fucking grounded.”

Victor popped him in the head with an open palm. “Stop shouting at
her.”

“No. God damn it, she didn’t listen to me. I told her to leave and
she didn’t do it.”

“Maybe,” Dr. Green said in a calming tone, a soft smile on his
face, “she didn’t listen because she was afraid you were hurt and she’s not the
type to back down.” He flicked a wink at me. “Reminds me of some guys I know.”

Victor crossed the room, giving Dr. Green some space to examine
Gabriel. Gabriel whined as Dr. Green poked at his face. Victor searched drawers
in Dr. Green’s desk and came back with a first aid kit. He found some gauze and
applied it to my lip. I flinched, pulling back as it stung.

Victor smirked, touching my chin gently and approaching my split
lip at a different angle and with a delicate stroke. “Didn’t think I’d be
returning the favor so soon.”

“Wasn’t really planned,” I breathed out.

Victor chuckled.

The door opened. Kota returned with a collection of book bags and
the violin case. Behind him, Mr. Blackbourne appeared with two cold compresses.
His steel gaze sought me out first, examining my face. He frowned, passing the
compress to Victor. Victor collected it from him and pushed it to my cheek and
lip. With Victor hovering over me, his eyes a gentle smolder now, my shivering
returned.

Victor squinted at me. “Cold? What’s wrong?”

I shook my head. “Nerves,” I said.

He smirked. “You know you’re supposed to be nervous before you
jump into a fight. Or at the very least during. I’ve never heard of anyone
waiting to be nervous until after.”

“Normalcy was never my strong suit,” I confided. It was true. When
we were forced into plays or speeches in school, before and during the event I
was fine. Afterward, I was a jumble of shaking and twisted stomach. Right now
if I wasn’t forcing myself to keep up, I would be crumbled on the floor. It was
tempting but I didn’t want to scare them.

Mr. Blackbourne turned to Gabriel. “Start talking,” he commanded.

Gabriel hovered the compress over his eye. “Typical homophobic
goons. They took one look at me, made an assumption. They waited until the
coach and most of the others were out of the locker room. They swarmed me when
I was in the hallway. I was waiting for them to get bored when Miss Trouble
herself showed up,” he jerked his chin in my direction. “She opened her big
mouth and got them to drop me and take her on instead.”

Mr. Blackbourne twisted his head and his eyes widening with
surprise. I shrunk into myself, quivering. His face was commanding I speak but
I couldn’t find the words.

Victor rubbed a palm at my back. “One of them grabbed her and kept
her out of it,” he said. “There were at least ten on top of Gabriel. We were
helping him when the guy who had her let go. When he came after me, she flung
herself at him and he hit her.”