The Academy - First Days (28 page)

“With the vice principal?” I asked. “He was the one that started
it at registration.”

“Yes,” Dr. Green said. Locks of his sandy hair fell into his eyes
and he brushed them away. “But maybe if I hadn’t intervened, he might not have
been so determined to come after you.” He dipped his hands into his pockets.
“What do you know about us, Miss Sang? I believe they’ve mentioned the Academy,
right?”

“It’s a private school,” I said. “They normally attend there and
this year they’re on loan to try to be an example. If you can help improve the
grades, there will be some approval for more money to build a second school.”

“Right,” he said. He unlatched the gate of the baseball field. He
held it ajar for me and I entered. He closed it behind himself and strolled
toward the pitcher’s mound. “Although I think we’ll have to make a change of
plans. Mr. Hendricks wasn’t very happy that we stepped in. He would never admit
he needed us. Since we’re here, though, I believe he has developed a new idea
on how to utilize us.”

“And he wants uniforms to get other students to pick on them?” I
asked. “I thought the point of the boys being here was to try to get the good
students to do better. Like setting an example?”

“That’s part of it,” he said. He stumbled onto the mound, drawing
still and staring out toward the tree line. “A quick way to boost grades for
school is figuring out the worst students and catching them out in something to
legally expel them. We didn’t like that idea. It’s only depositing bad students
into other schools or ensuring they drop out altogether. It displaces the
burden instead of solving anything.”

“But Mr. Hendricks wants quick results?”

He nodded. “The original plan was to only observe and only report
on the most dangerous students, those who were leading fights or abusing the
girls. I think Hendricks wants to perpetuate the fighting and kick out students
who are going to be problems as soon as possible. Maybe he feels he can get rid
of our students from his school if we do our job faster. Whatever the reasons,
he seems determined to expose our team. First it was interviews. Now it’s
uniforms.”

He was going to let me in on this? Was he going to tell me more
about the Academy? Questions hung on the edge of my tongue to ask. “That’s
terrible,” I said. I stood off to the side of the mound, feeling small.
“They’ll get into more fights.”

Dr. Green smiled down at me. “I’m not really worried about that,”
he said. “The boys can take care of themselves. Haven’t you noticed?”

I turned my head to look back at Luke, Gabriel, and Victor on the
benches. Luke gazed back at us. Gabriel focused on his notebook paper. Victor
was talking in his cell phone. The others hadn’t blinked when they heard Mr.
Blackbourne give the order. They weren’t worried about what uniforms might mean
for them, and didn’t hesitate to make those preparations. They weren’t afraid.

“Is that what happened on the first day?” I asked him. “Did Nathan
get in a fight here?”

Dr. Green’s eyes darkened. “Nathan barely managed to get a message
to Victor before he was overwhelmed. As I mentioned, our original plan was to
hang on the sidelines and see who was starting fights and figure out the worst
offenders. Groups of students would lie, either for loyalty or self-protection.
Nathan wasn’t supposed to get involved but the fight started over a boy who
wasn’t able to defend himself. I fully believe Nathan saved his life. Victor
needed to create a diversion so Nathan could get out from under it.”

My heart started thudding. I had a vision of Nathan, as strong as
he was, being kicked and beaten up as I’d seen in other fights at my old
school. How many kids would it have taken for someone like Nathan, trained in
jujitsu, to need help?

“Is this normal for the Academy?” I asked him. “Is this what you
do? Drop in on other schools and save them?”

Dr. Green laughed softly. “If only it were that simple.” He
sighed. “Miss Sang, I want to tell you about it but...”

“You can’t tell me,” I interrupted. “I know.” I sighed. It was a
strange school that needed students like Kota and Silas and the others so well
trained and working together. That secret school with silent ninjas, that wired
students and faculty, and bought each other what they needed without question,
and stood up for each other.

How far did this go? Would I ever figure it out? I bit back the
questions in my mind. I had promised I wouldn’t try to ask too much about the
Academy as no one could tell me. I would keep my promise. It would take time to
be trusted with such secrets.

His eyes lit up again. “Kota was right about you.”

I tilted my head at him. “What did he say?”

Dr. Green slowly reached out to me to catch a lock of my hair that
had escaped my clip and tucked it behind my ear. I was looking into his eyes,
still in awe that someone so young was a doctor and seemed to be in such
control and so nice. “He said there’s this beautiful angel who has her heart on
her sleeve and we have to keep her safe.”

My cheeks heated up. Was this more of the flirting that Victor
told me about or was he being honest? It didn’t seem like something Kota would
say.

“I don’t think telling you about your own school would be against
our policy,” he said, dropping his hand from my cheek. “Besides, you’ve been
rather helpful. It seems the fights and grades aren’t our only priority.”

“Do you mean McCoy?”

He nodded. “We’ll install cameras in McCoy’s office and keep an
eye on him. If he’s interested in you, he might be interested in other young
ladies. Kota seems to think there is a problem. I don’t want to think so. I
want to believe it is a rough first week and he’s just getting back at us for
upsetting him at registration.”

I blew a breath out slowly. “What do you need me to do?”

His smile touched his lips again. He tripped off the pitcher’s
mound and tucked his arm around my shoulders. He turned me around to walk back
to the gate at the fence. “I’m afraid you’re not going to like it. I hate to
ask this, but I need you to test Mr. McCoy. I believe we need to figure out for
certain if his interest is in you or if he’s just trying to irritate us.”

“How?” I asked. I shoved my fingers into my palms, pressing my
knuckles against my thighs. The boys now regularly wrapped their arms around my
shoulders in the same friendly gesture. With Dr. Green, I felt that same
fluttering nervousness as when the others first started to touch me. I steeled
myself from pulling away, wanting to prove to myself that I wasn’t as
unconfident as I felt.

“I think we need to get you to interact with other students.
You’ve been close to the boys but we need to see if Mr. McCoy will lose
interest in you if it looks like you’ve lost interest in us.”

“You want me to back off,” I said softly. “All the time?”

“Only during school hours,” he said. He let go of me to open the
gate again. “I know you’ve sat next to Victor in class. I’m going to assume you
do the same with the rest of the guys. For the moment, try to vary it up. Sit
next to other students. Make some new friends. Eat lunch with someone else.”

Easier said than done. “For how long?” It was nerve wracking to
think of being alone again. He was probably right, though. I did need to make
other friends if I wanted to be able to keep going to Ashley Waters after the
boys returned to the Academy full time.

Dr. Green hesitated while we were still out of earshot of the
others. Gabriel and Luke looked like they were arguing over something. Victor
was leaning back on his elbows as he gazed out at us.

“Let’s get the boys these ridiculous uniforms,” Dr. Green said.
“It’ll be safer if you started separating from them anyway. The other students
might not have noticed how tight you all have become and they won’t be as quick
to pinpoint you as one of us if you won’t be wearing something similar.”

“They’ll be okay, won’t they?” I asked, uncertain. How could I
stand back and just watch as my friends are picked on and possibly getting into
fights?

“Don’t worry, Miss Sang,” Dr. Green said. “This is a cake walk. They’re
more worried about you than themselves.” His gaze softened as he looked down at
me. “Will you be okay?”

Being alone in school? No problem. Out of all the things I thought
I should do to help with the boys, becoming invisible again was something I thought
I could realistically accomplish. “I’ve made it this far.”

Dr. Green started forward again. “If you get into trouble, you
should come find me. I’ll do whatever I can.”

My heart warmed that he would say so. Out of all the boys, Dr.
Green and Mr. Blackbourne had the least knowledge of who I was. They could have
easily dismissed me and left me on my own. I was more than sure Mr. Blackbourne
could have gotten the boys out of detention and left me alone with Mr. McCoy.
He might not have said so out loud but he was watching out for me, too.

We approached the benches. I slid in next to Victor again. His
concerned face relaxed when I drew near and he offered a small smile.

“Victor,” Dr. Green said. “Sang and I agree that for now it might
be best if she tries to go it alone while you all are getting situated with
these new uniforms.”

Victor frowned. “I don’t think that should happen.”

Gabriel and Luke turned their heads toward us and closed the space
between us on benches. “Oy,” Gabriel said. “What do you mean?”

Dr. Green cleared his throat. “She might not wear a uniform but if
you guys are the only ones she hangs out with, the other students will target
,too. I think it might be safer if you don’t approach her in school anymore.
For now.”

Victor’s fire eyes scorched. “She can’t go out alone. Have you
seen the trouble she’s been in lately?”

“Did you stop to consider half of her problems are how you guys
act around her?” he asked. He turned to me. “What happened to you in your old
school, Miss Sang?”

My face was hot from the sun and from the conversation. I pushed a
palm to my cheek to rub gently at the bruises. “Not a lot,” I said. “No one
ever talked to me.”

Dr. Green tilted his head at me as if he were confused. Did he not
know? Did Kota not tell him? “But you didn’t get into this kind of trouble?” he
asked.

“No,” I said. “I was ignored for the most part.”

“She’s not ignored here,” Victor said.

“Maybe not totally. Healthy student interaction will be adequate
to what most of you will be experiencing. If there’s fights around you, she’ll
be in the middle of it if she’s right next to you.”

The others frowned together as if this thought wasn’t considered
before.

“What about McCoy?” Luke asked.

Dr. Green rubbed at his forehead. “Can you guys keep an eye on her
without walking next to her?”

The boys looked at each other, silently asking and figuring out
the answer together. “I guess so,” Victor said. “The hallways get crowded
between classes and she’s pretty small. It’ll be more difficult.”

Dr. Green’s fingers at his forehead stopped. “I think we can make
it easier. Can you bring your phone to me tomorrow?” he asked me. “We’ll
program it so you can reach us quickly. If something happens and we’re not
around, push a button and we’ll find you.”

I nodded. “I can do that.”

Dr. Green smiled in a satisfied way. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and
things will settle down soon. If that happens, I don’t see a problem with any
of you hanging out together in school.”

Victor darted his fire eyes away, looking out in the distance.
Gabriel’s lips were pursed, his crystal eyes dark. Luke was frowning. None of
them seemed happy with this solution, but they didn’t seem to have a better
one.

“Well, here’s what we’ve got for the uniforms,” Gabriel said. He flipped
over his notebook until it was pointed in our direction. There were a couple of
styles put together in a quick sketch. The dark gray pants and dark shoes,
white shirts and red ties would be quick enough to locate at the store. There
were blazers in a dark blue. In the corner was a badge with wings, an A in the
middle, with a key and an arrow below it. “It’s probably generic but looks
official, right?”

The others nodded. Victor made a comment in the positive that I
didn’t hear well.

I squinted at the badge. “Is that a heart?”

Gabriel lifted his eyebrows, taking his notebook back to look over
his work. “What do you mean? What heart?”

“Let me see,” I said. He flipped the notebook back at me. I took
the pen from his hand and I scratched out two small embellishments to the
bottom of his A just to show where I was seeing the heart at.

Gabriel smirked when I showed him. “Well hell,” he said. “Random.”

“A hidden heart,” Luke said. He looked up at me, grinning. “Sang
found it.”

I blushed. Gabriel read enough of my poem and told Luke. Victor
looked confused. Gabriel shot him a look that I understood. He’d tell him about
it later.

Dr. Green’s eyes focused on me so intently that I felt the air
escape my lungs. He remained quiet, and I had no idea how to ask him if there
was something wrong or if I did something silly. Maybe I was being too
distracting.