Ghost Bird: The Academy Omnibus Part 1: Books One - Four

by C. L. Stone

  Seven pairs of eyes landed on my face, seeking a million answers, making my cheeks heat. My finger pushed at my lower lip. “I just... I mean... I don’t know.”

  “You all are forgetting her parents,” Nathan said, wrapping his fingers around my wrist to pull my hand away from my face. “She’s not even supposed to be here right now.”

  “We are all getting arrested if they figure this out,” North warned.

  “We’re not getting arrested,” Kota said. “But let’s stop talking about it for now.”

  “Right,” Gabriel said. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Since it’s Sang’s first time, we’ve gotta do some girly shit. It’s truth or dare time.”

  “Try to keep the dares to a minimum,” Kota begged. “My mom’s probably asleep by now.”

  “Sang,” Gabriel said, fixing his crystals on me. “Truth or dare.”

  I pushed my lip into my lower teeth, tracing my finger across my mouth. “Truth?”

  Everyone groaned.

  “What?” I asked, and laughed. “I thought I had a choice.”

  “You’re no fun,” Gabriel said, as he brushed his palm against his chin. “Okay, I know you haven’t kissed anyone but has a guy ever wanted or tried to kiss you?”

  Mouths dropped open. Victor was sitting back against the base of the couch and his fire eyes caught mine out quickly. “You’ve never kissed anyone?”

  “Shut up,” Gabriel said. “I’m asking the question. I’m telling you, she’s never done it.”

  “We should do it now,” Luke said. “Get it over with.”

  “No,” Nathan barked at him. “First kisses are supposed to be all nice and stuff. You’re going to scar her for life making her do it now. No kiss dares.”

  There were arguments about this. Luke and Gabriel were vocal about getting kissing out of the way and one of them should do it. Nathan, Kota and Victor argued a first kiss for a girl had to be special. I brought my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around my legs and pressed my cheek to my knee. If I wanted to stop them from fighting again, I had to distract them.

  “There was a boy,” I said a little loudly to get their attention. When they heard me, they quieted. “I was in third grade,” I started, “it was snowing outside for recess and I was supposed to stay in the classroom. I had been sick the day before and my parents didn’t want me out in the cold. There was someone else there with me, I don’t remember who. He was playing on the computer in the back and I was just kind of watching him. Another boy walked in. He got sent in for being in trouble out on the playground.”

  “Huh,” North said. The others hushed him.

  “I don’t remember his name,” I continued. “He came in and watched whatever the other guy was doing for a moment and then asked me to follow him. I never talked to him before so I guess I was kind of surprised he wanted to. He had me go with him into the coat closet...”

  “I don’t know if I want to hear the rest of this story,” Luke said.

  There was a chorus of shushing.

  I pulled my cheek away from my knees to look up. “When I was inside, he closed the door and he said he wanted to kiss me. I was so shocked that when he stepped up to me, I pushed him away.” I started to smile at the memory, shaking my head. “I don’t remember how it happened, but he pushed back and suddenly I was on the ground. He was wrestling me, trying to kiss me. I remember really not wanting to. I think mostly it was because he was trying to make me and I didn’t think I needed to be made to kiss anyone.”

  “What an ass,” Gabriel said. “Did you make it out of the coat closet?”

  “That’s another question,” Kota said, grinning. “You only get one.”

  “It’s part of the same... God damn it, Kota.” He pulled a pillow out and tossed it at him.

  Kota caught the pillow in the air before it hit him. “Besides, if she’s never been kissed, then she got out of the closet fine without doing it.”

  “Oh yeah,” Gabriel said. “Good point.”

  “Your turn, Sang,” Nathan said. “Pick someone.”

  I closed my eyes and let my finger fly around the circle randomly. When I opened my eyes, I was pointing at Victor. “Truth or dare?” I asked.

  “Truth.”

  Everyone groaned again.

  I bit my lip trying to think of what to ask him. There were a million questions in my mind right then. What does this bracelet mean? What does opening up to you mean? I didn’t think it was the appropriate time, but it was tempting. I settled for something simple. “What did you say to me in Japanese on the first day of school? The kirei.. um...”

  Victor’s face turned red. “I don’t want to say it.”

  “You have to,” Gabriel said to him. “It’s the rules. You picked truth.”

  Victor grunted. He curled his fingers at me and leaned into the circle. “Come here. You’re asking. You’re the only one who gets to know.”

  “Oy! Cheating!” Gabriel howled.

  “Keep it down,” Kota said. “He’s right. She asked. He only has to tell her.”

  I crawled over until I was close enough for Victor to whisper in my ear.

  “Your eyes are beautiful,” he whispered.

  I blushed, trying to remember that day. He barely knew me!

  The others laughed as Victor pulled away and my cheeks were still red. Victor shared a secret smile with me.

  “Your turn to choose, Victor,” Kota said.

  “Sang,” Victor said.

  I rolled my eyes. “I just had a turn.”

  “I get to pick whoever I want,” Victor said. “Pick one.”

  “Truth.”

  Groans.

  Victor was quiet for a moment as if considering his question carefully. “Why did your parents name you Sang?”

  This perked everyone up. Again eyes fell on me.

  “My grandmother’s name was Sangrida. My mom shortened it to Sang.”

  “Which grandmother?” he asked.

  “My dad’s mother. She died when I was eight, I think. I don’t really remember her. Marie was named after my mom’s mother.”

  “That was two questions,” Gabriel said. “Pick someone, Sang.”

  “Your turn, Gabriel,” I said defiantly.

  He smirked. “Dare.”

  “Crap,” I said. Not that I had a truth picked out, but I wasn’t sure what to dare him to do. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to...”

  “Anything,” he said. His crystal eyes sparkled. “Just don’t make me burn the house down.”

  “Make him kiss something,” Luke said.

  “Make him drink from the toilet,” Victor said.

  I thought about it. “You know the lip gloss in your bag?” I asked him.

  “Uh huh,” he said, his eyebrow lifting.

  I nodded toward his bag. “Go get it for me and I get to put it on you.”

  The others roared with laughter. Kota had to ask them twice to calm down.

  “God damn it,” Gabriel said. He stood up, ran over to his bag and dug through it for the tube of gloss. He brought it back and knelt next to me, smacking the tube into my open palm. “You’re so fucking mean.”

  “You said anything,” I said. I pulled the brush from the tube and held it out toward him. “Pucker up, sweetie.”

  He made a kissy face at me, smacking his lips as he kissed the air. I handed the bottom part off to Nathan to hold. I grabbed Gabriel’s cheeks and made him do a fish face like he’d had me do. I got the brush close to his lips and he made some strange face and poked his tongue out at me that I stopped, turning my head to laugh.

  “Don’t mess up,” Gabriel said through his squished mouth.

  “Then stop making faces,” I said. I swiped the brush across his lips. I smeared it pretty well, marking up part of his upper lip just under his nose.

  “Hey,” he said. He pulled back his head and reached with his palm to rub it off.

  “No. You have to leave it on.”

  “
For how long?”

  “Forever.”

  He grunted.

  I shrugged. “Until the end of the game.”

  He growled. A flash went off. We both turned and there was another flash. Luke had his cell phone out, pointing it at us.

  “Oh my fucking god,” Gabriel said and he lunged after Luke. Luke ducked out of the way, shifting to hide behind North. North took the phone from his brother and sat on it, giving Gabriel a look as if daring him to come get it.

  I was leaning against Nathan, laughing way too hard. Nathan wrapped a hand around my waist to hold me up, pressing his cheek to the top of my head.

  “Fine, fine,” Gabriel said, going back to sit cross-legged in his spot. “Sang’s turn.”

  I was going to say truth again but everyone was looking and waiting for it. I relented. “Dare,” I said in a small voice.

  Gabriel beamed, his shiny pink lips glinting in the light. “I should make you kiss a toilet.”

  “Please don’t,” I begged.

  He smiled and curled his fingers at me. “All right, come here. You have to sit on my lap until the end of the game.”

  My mouth popped open but what could I say? I sat on laps all night. No one argued his dare. I smirked, crawling over to him. He opened his arms and pulled me in to sit in the middle of his crossed legs, my back pressed to his chest. He put his cheek next to the side of my head. His arms threaded around my waist.

  “Nathan?” I said, hoping he might be able to save me.

  “Dare,” he said.

  Gabriel’s lips traced my ear as he whispered. I started repeating what he was saying. “You have to... get three pieces of ice... and... oh man that’s so mean!” I said to Gabriel.

  “You aren’t supposed to help her,” Nathan said.

  “She wants you to put ice in your underwear,” he said. “That’s tame shit. I just did you a favor.”

  Nathan turned to me. “Is that what you want?”

  I blushed, putting my fingers to my lips, but I couldn’t hide my smile. I didn’t have a better idea and Gabriel’s suggestion was funny.

  “Fuck,” he said and he got up to go to the kitchen. He came back with three pieces of ice which he held out to me so I could see. He sat down in his spot, yanked out the elastic to his shorts and dropped the ice inside. “Christ,” he barked, and he closed up his legs, shoving his face into his knees. “Sang!”

  “Dare!” I called out, still hoping he’d have pity on me.

  “Bite Gabe,” he said through his teeth, seething. “Hard enough to leave a mark.”

  “Hey,” Gabriel said.

  I started a giggle fit. Gabriel shifted his legs so I bounced in his lap. I grabbed his arm, brought it to my mouth, and stopped short to laugh again.

  Nathan’s head lifted. They all stared in silence as I opened my mouth and sank my teeth into Gabriel’s skin. I tasted salt, felt the hair on the back of his arm tickle my tongue.

  “Good girl,” Gabriel said, nearly purring.

  “I said hard, Sang,” Nathan said.

  I bit down.

  “Ow, fuck,” he said, yanking his arm from my mouth. His forearm had my teeth marks indented into his skin.

  “Silas?” I asked.

  “Truth.”

  I knew exactly what I wanted to ask him. “What did you say...”

  “You have a beautiful laugh,” he said. His brown eyes zeroed in on me. “That’s what I said to you outside of class in the hallway. I’m not ashamed to say it out loud.”

  The others giggled.

  “He’s right about that,” Gabriel whispered in my ear. He bounced me on his lap again.

  “Sang,” Silas said.

  “Dare,” I said.

  He was quiet for a minute, looking at my face as if weighing in on what he could ask me. “I want another hug.”

  The guys laughed again. I crawled out of Gabriel’s lap and knee walked over. Silas held open his arms for me, catching me. He wrapped his strong arms around me and squeezed me against his chest. My cheek pressed against his bare shoulder and chest. His nose pressed to my neck, and he inhaled deeply. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my fingers curled into his hair, breathing in his ocean scent.

  When he let go, Gabriel called out to me, “Get back here.”

  “Luke,” I said as I crawled back into Gabriel’s lap.

  “Dare,” he said.

  “I want the damn photo deleted,” Gabriel said.

  “That’s not what I want,” I said, laughing. “I want... um...”

  North caught my eye. He made a kissing motion with his lips.

  “I want you to kiss...” I started to say.

  North wiggled his toes.

  “My foot,” I said, getting another round of giggle fits.

  “I said no kiss dares,” Nathan growled.

  “It’s her foot. That doesn’t mean anything,” North said, shrugging. “I actually meant to get her to say her shoe but close enough.”

  Luke laughed, pushing blond hair away from his face. “I’ve got the easy one.” He crawled over. I held out a leg. He grabbed at it, and puckered, pressing his lips against the top of my toes.

  A spark slipped from my foot to my stomach.

  The others were laughing.

  Luke gazed up at me and we locked eyes. He winked. “Sang,” he said.

  “Tru...,” I said, but I got a jab in the ribs from Gabriel. “Ugh, dare.”

  Luke’s brown eyes flickered. He stood up and held out his hand to me. “Come with me for a minute.”

  I dropped my hand into his and he hauled me to my feet. He tugged and I followed him to Kota’s bedroom door. He opened it and pulled me up the carpeted stairs. The others trailed behind us.

  We clustered together in Kota’s room. Luke went to the closet and then held the door open. “In,” he said, jerking his head toward the dark space.

  I blushed. He wanted me to stand in the closet?

  “I don’t think so,” North said.

  “She said dare,” Luke said. “She gets to sit with me in the closet for two minutes.”

  “No way,” Victor said. “That’s too far.”

  “You guys don’t trust me,” he said. “I slept in her room all night and you won’t trust me in the closet for a minute. I’m not going to hurt her.”

  “No kissing, either,” Nathan warned.

  Luke pouted. “You guys ruin everything.” He grabbed at my arm and yanked me into the closet, closing the door.

  We stood in the dark.

  Luke pressed himself close to me, enough to where I could inhale his vanilla scent. His fingers brushed against my chin.

  “Luke,” I whispered. “They said no.”

  “I know,” he said. He felt for my cheeks. “Trust me.” He traced his hand over my mouth, his fingers covering my lips. “Now, I’m going to let go for one second, okay? When I do, yell at me about something. Tell me to stop. When they open the door, I’m going to make it look like I am kissing you.”

  I smothered a giggle. I should have known. He was trying to prank them all.

  Luke uncovered his fingers over my mouth.

  In my best distressed voice, I cried out. “Luke! Stop it! No, they said not to!”

  Luke’s hand flew back over my mouth. The door was opened quickly and Luke bent his head down and kissed the back of his fingers, tilting his head in a way that made it look like we were making out.

  I still felt the warmth of his face so close to mine. His fingers were pressed to my lips. Was this what a kiss felt like? I was too flustered and my heart was thundering from being exposed.

  The guys gasped together in surprise. Luke lifted his head away to reveal his hand had been there all along.

  “You little shit,” North said. His brown eyes shot bullets at his brother. He reached into the closet and yanked Luke out by the shoulder. “I should take you home right now.”

  “I didn’t kiss her,” he cried out. “We were just kidding.”

  My face w
as radiating as I stepped out of the closet. Maybe that was too far. How was I going to lighten the mood again? “North? Want to go next?”

  “I don’t want to play,” he said, letting his brother go with a glare.

  “You have to,” Gabriel said. “It’s Sang’s game.”

  North huffed. “Dare.”

  Gabriel stood behind him and tugged at his shirt and tried to mouth something to me but I wasn’t understanding.

  “Take off your shirt?” I asked out loud.

  Everyone laughed. North shook his head with a smirk but pulled his shirt off of his body, hanging it over his shoulder. His muscles flexed, my eyes lingered for much too long on his abs and the trail of hair below his navel.

  Gabriel laughed, shaking his head. “I was trying to tell you to get him to strip.”

  “That’s too far, Gabriel,” Kota said.

  “It’s truth or dare. It’s what girls do.”

  “He knows so well,” Luke said.

  “Sang,” North said, looking at me intently.

  “Tru...” Nathan tagged me in the ribs. “Ugh, dare,” I said quietly, sighing. Of all the people to dare, North was scariest. His eyes were intimidating.

  He curled his fingers at me. “Come here. Get on my back.”

  I bit my lip, crossing the room. He turned and lowered to the ground so I could wrap my arms around his neck. His hands clutched my thighs to pick me up off the ground. He dug a cell phone from his pocket and flicked the camera on.

  “Smile, Sang Baby,” he said. I grinned and he snapped the picture. He kept me on his back as he turned the phone around to look at it. His face was almost grumpy, tough and serious and I had a crazy face while I smiled. Night and day. “Not bad.”

  “Kota!” I called.

  “Dare,” he said.

  North put me down on the floor. My eyes flitted around the room for an idea. I was trying to ignore Gabriel since he picked so many. Luke popped into view. I did my best to mimic what he was trying to pantomime.

  “Rub your nose... against mine?”

  The others laughed. My heart seemed to stop when I realized how close he’d get if he did that.