The Academy - First Days (20 page)

“We took care of it,” Kota said. “They’re going to be reluctant to
do it again if they think we’ll be coming.”

“They know her,” Gabriel said. They all turned on him. “They knew
her name. Now they know her face. Rumors are going around about her.”

“What kind?” Kota demanded.

“I don’t know,” Gabriel said. “They called her kinky shit or
something like that. No specifics.”

Kota pressed a palm to his forehead, blowing out a puff of air.

“We need to find out,” Victor said quietly. He shifted the
compress, moving my hand up to hold it for him. When I had it and pressed it to
my own face, he turned to look at them. “A couple days in, and they’ve already
started. If we let this go, they’ll never stop. We need to divert, redirect
attention from her.”

“That coach deliberately disobeyed new security requirements,” Mr.
Blackbourne said. “I’ll have to talk with him about leaving the area before
students have cleared off.” He turned to Kota, his hands on his hips. “I want a
report tonight. Take Victor and Gabriel through records. Pick out the ones
responsible. I want them wired before tomorrow.”

Wired? My head was starting to throb. At the speed they were
talking, I had no time to intervene with questions. Why are they taking over
security for the high school? I shifted the compress against my face, applying
it to my temple. My head hurt too much to think.

This averted attention back to me. Victor swept a finger across my
cheek. Mr. Blackbourne caught this, the corner of his mouth dipping. Victor was
focused on my face and didn’t notice. Did Mr. Blackbourne not like me now? Was
he mad that I seemed to make things worse?

“We need to get her home,” Kota said.

Mr. Blackbourne’s frown softened. “Take her,” he said in a quiet
voice. “Reports on my desk and wires set up by start of school tomorrow.” He
turned, opening the office door, stepping through. The door crashed behind him.

I cringed.

Dr. Green moved around the desks to me again. Victor stepped aside
for him. Dr. Green checked my eyes again. “Head hurt?” he asked.

I nodded.

He smiled. “Shock is wearing off. That’s good.” He stood back and
opened a drawer, fishing out a bottle of Tylenol and a bottle of water.
“Someone deserves a night off and a hot bath at home. You should take it easy
tonight. You’re forgiven tonight’s homework from my class and do the minimal
required to do before tomorrow for everyone else. If you need an excuse, come
see me tomorrow morning.” He handed two pills to me and opened the water. I
swallowed the pills, sipping the water to clear my throat.

“We’ll take her home,” Kota said.

Dr. Green nodded, standing back. Kota started collecting bags
again. Victor fished out his keys and picked up the violin case.

Gabriel crossed the room, stopping in front of me. His face was
wiped clean and he looked almost normal again except for some minor swelling at
his nose and at the crest of his cheek. He hooked an arm under my thighs and
around my back to pick me up.

“I can walk,” I said.

“Like I give a shit,” he said, his deep voice softening.

He lifted me. My arms threaded around his neck. His fingers
gripped me tight to his body. My head sunk into his shoulder. I breathed in
musk and lavender.

Dr. Green held open the door for us. “I’ll go find Mr. Blackbourne
before we’re one coach short tomorrow.” He followed us out into the main
hallway and took off in a direction I couldn’t see.

Gabriel, Kota and Victor marched together toward the parking lot.
Gabriel carried me like a badge of honor, his arms tight around me. He pressed
his cheek against the top of my head.

At the BMW, Victor held the back door open. Gabriel angled himself
into the car, keeping me in his lap. The bags and the violin were dropped into
the seat next to us. Kota slid into the passenger side and Victor started the
car.

I wondered if my sister noticed I was missing. Would they say
anything about my face? How would I hide it? I trembled.

“Okay, you need to stop shaking,” Gabriel said against my forehead.
He slipped fingers into the straps of my sandals, sliding them off of my feet.
He dropped them onto the floor. He tucked his arm over my thigh, pulling me to
snuggle against him. “It’s too hard to be mad at you when you’re shaking.”

“You’re mad at me, too?” I asked. Now that we were away from
school and he was holding on to me, I felt calmer. I wondered why I wasn’t
blushing from being in his lap but in the moment, I didn’t really care. It felt
too good to have him touching me, enveloping me like a blanket. I felt I should
be embarrassed. Kota and Victor didn’t seem to blink an eye at this so I could
only assume it was okay to do.

“I told you. You’re grounded.” His jaw and his nose nuzzled
against the side of my head by my ear. His lips curled up.

“For how long?”

“Until I’m done being mad at you. I don’t know. A billion years.
Fucking shit, Sang.” He squeezed me to him, knocking my breath from my lungs.
“Don’t you ever jump in like that again. I don’t care if my head is on fire.
You ever see shit like that, you run.”

“You didn’t run,” I said.

He released me and a chop fell on my shoulder. “Fuck you. I was
saving your pretty ass.”

“Stop yelling at her,” Victor said, “or I’m kicking you from this
car.”

“See? Victor’s mad at you, too. If you do it again, he’ll kick
your ass. And then Kota will, but then I’ll do it again because Kota will
probably be all soft and shit.”

“Nope,” Kota announced, turning in his seat to look back at us. He
smiled at me, winking. “I’d have to beat her, too.”

I chuffed, feeling the smirk on my face even though it hurt to do
it with my lip bruised.

“See?” Gabriel said. “And don’t even get me started on Silas and
North and Luke.”

“And Mr. Blackbourne,” I said. “He’s mad at me, too.”

“Girl, he’s about to go murder some teenagers. I’m probably at the
top of the list for letting those goons anywhere near you.” He shifted. He
pulled back to look down at my face but he glanced down at my shirt, fingering
the missing buttons. “Aw, they ripped your shirt. Victor, we have to get her a
new shirt.”

I rolled my eyes, twisting my mouth awkwardly to grin and trying
to do it without hurting.

“What’s the plan?” Victor asked.

“We’re taking Sang home,” Kota said. “We need to cover her face.”

“Have to do everything around here,” Gabriel said. He pulled his
book bag out of the bundle near us and started pilfering through pockets. “I
might have something that’s your color. You’re lucky I brought this today.”

“Sang,” Kota said, his green eyes focusing on me, “when you get
home, keep me in touch. Let me know if your family says anything. If they ask,
tell them it was a crazy dodge ball in gym class.”

I nodded. “What are you guys going to do?”

“We’ve got work,” Kota said.

“Wiring those guys? What does that mean?”

Gabriel juggled compacts in his hands, looking at the back labels.
“Stop asking questions.”

“It means you’re going to listen in on their conversations. You
can’t do that,” I responded.

Gabriel popped a palm against my thigh. “I said shush.”

“You said stop asking questions,” I retorted. “I didn’t ask. I
answered.”

“She already knows,” Victor said. He turned down Sunnyvale Court.
“It involves her now.”

Kota grunted. “Let’s just stop talking. We need to focus. We can
have this discussion later.”

“I just have one more question,” I said.

Kota swung his eyes at me, his head tilting. “What?”

“So… Dr. Green is an actual doctor doctor?” I smirked because my
question was ludicrous. It hadn’t occurred to me until he was looking at my
eyes earlier that his doctorate might mean he was a medical doctor and not a
doctorate in physics or something like that. I just wanted validation and to
change the subject.

Gabriel snorted. Kota beamed, laughing. Victor chuckled.

“Fuck,” Gabriel hooted, his eyes glossing with tears. He dropped
his arms around my shoulder, hugging me. “Yes, okay. That’s it. We’re keeping
her forever.”

S
winging
H
ammers

W
hen Gabriel finished applying makeup to my face, Kota dismissed me
to my house. Gabriel and Victor wanted to walk me home but Kota insisted I go
it alone.

When I got in, the house was silent. Marie was gone. I suspected
she ran off to Danielle’s house. My mother was asleep. That was good news for
me. I went unnoticed.

I sent a quick text to Kota to let him know I was in the clear for
the moment at home.

Kota:
“Good. Now do your homework and relax. I’ll call you later.”

I checked my face in the bathroom mirror. There was a dark spot on
my lip if I pouted enough, but otherwise it was mostly just a little swollen.
My cheek felt puffy. Any redness or bruising was masked by a thin veil of
concealing foundation thanks to Gabriel.

I spent some time curled up in my bed. I kept trying to review
what happened, analyzing my actions. How did I lose so much control like that?
I reimagined the warmth from Victor’s arms around me. I missed the way Gabriel
held me in the car. I wondered why Kota was so quiet with me. He’d kept his
distance the whole time and I wondered if he was angry, too. I worried how the
others would react when they learned what happened. What would happen tomorrow?
Would those bullies see me in the hallway and try again?

And why were Academy students now in charge of security at the
school? Suddenly Nathan’s and Victor’s disappearance on the first day of school
seem obvious. There must have been another fight. Nathan got the brunt of it.
Did Victor swoop in and help?

The speculation was annoying because I didn’t have a method of
figuring out what the truth was. I didn’t think they would be honest with me.

I was finishing up homework when I heard the phone buzzing in its
hidden spot in the attic.

Luke:
“Are you busy?”

Sang:
“Not busy. Where are you?”

Luke:
“At the diner. Can you come? And bring some water?”

I put on a pair of shorts and brushed my hair. I checked in on my
mom. Every once in a while, my mother got hit hard by the medication she took
because she was sick. There were times when she would sleep for long hours, day
and night. She was passed out now. I wondered if this was one of those cases or
if it was just a nap. To test it, I made a little noise outside of her room,
knocking the door into the wall.

Nothing.

She was out. If I was lucky, and I hated to think that because she
was my mother and it was unhealthy, but I hoped she would be out for a while.
The peace of mind of knowing she was asleep made it safer to venture out of the
house for both Marie and I.

I wasn’t quite sure where Marie kept running off to, but I was
hoping this was a good sign. If she was with Danielle or anyone else, that
meant I had more opportunities to get out of the house, too. We never had such
a chance before. Would we finally get to here on this street? If our mother was
kept in the dark about where we were, if Marie and I were careful, maybe being
on our knees, or worse, wouldn’t happen as often.

The old church at the end of Sunnyvale Court had the cross removed
now on the outside, though there was still a smudge outline over the top of the
door. Otherwise, it looked like a big storage building.

There was a black truck parked in front of the doors that I didn’t
recognize. When I got closer to the church, I heard shouting inside. I paused,
unsure if I should enter if they were fighting. I’d had enough of that today.

I opened the front door and followed the sound of voices and
crashing until I found the kitchen. Silas and North were shirtless, causing me
to do a double take. Their muscular chests were caked in patches with dust.
Each held a sledge hammer.

Silas was standing back, wiping his brow. His broad shoulders and
smooth chest had that exotic olive complexion. His muscles flexed as he caught
his breath.

While North wasn’t quite as tall or as broad as Silas, North’s
tapered shoulders and long torso were just as exquisite.

I caught myself staring at their defined abs and the sweat that
coursed over their skin. North had dark hair trailing up from his jeans, up to
his belly button. Silas had something similar but it wasn’t quite as thick as North’s.

The kitchen was a disaster. The fridge and stove had been pulled
out. Half the cabinets were demolished. It looked like they were working on the
other half. There was a collection of broken wood and yellow Formica piled up
by the door.