by C. L. Stone
“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.
From across the schoolyard, Silas, North, Kota, and Nathan appeared and headed for us.
“We’re done,” North said. He hopped up on the bench next to me, and leaned on the seat behind him to prop up on his elbows. The others collected on the benches again.
“Mr. Blackbourne’s in the office now fixing the detentions,” Kota said. “He’s explaining to Hendricks that the school board won’t like to see detentions on our records.”
“What about Sang?” Victor asked. “What about her record?”
Kota frowned. “Well we can’t ask special permission for her without making it look like she’s with us, right? They already assume she’s with us. We don’t want to sway their judgement.”
So they were still not outright saying I wasn’t a part of their group. Why not? Wouldn’t that be the fastest solution? “I don’t mind,” I said. “It’s just one detention.”
Dr. Green moved his hands behind his back. “Okay guys,” he said. He glowered at us but his eyes held a glint of humor. “Do you think you’ve learned your lesson and won’t misbehave in class again?”
They all diverted their eyes to me. I almost choked. “I didn’t... I don’t... I told you guys...”
They all laughed, including Dr. Green. “Sounds good to me,” he said and winked at me. “Time to go home. Do your homework. Eat your vegetables. Get some good sleep. I’ll go save Mr. Blackbourne before he ends up with detention from Mr. Hendricks.”
I bent over to collect my things but Kota picked up my violin case and Silas hefted my book bag on his back. I swallowed my protest. They still didn’t know yet about how I needed to keep my distance while at school. For the moment, since everyone was mostly gone, I supposed it didn’t matter. Gabriel caught me by the neck to tug me toward the parking lot. I looked back at Dr. Green, who was watching after us, that same soft and reassuring smile on his lips. It was like he didn’t expect anything less of his own students.
How strange it felt now. I wasn’t part of the Academy, but I was part of their plan. It amazed me how the others could focus on anything like school work when they had so many other things to worry about. How would I focus on another math assignment without thinking of the boys getting ready to get into fights and my own need to stay out of trouble? It was hard enough keeping an eye out for McCoy.
A tingling sensation swept through me. This was more than another day at high school. I was part of something so much bigger. Maybe what the Academy students did wasn’t what other students did. The work was important. It excited me. Maybe I should have been afraid. Maybe any other girl would have bowed out rather than dealt with a mean vice principal. Maybe most girls would have given up and left the guys entirely.
Maybe I was never meant to be normal.
B ait
Victor, Luke and Gabriel needed to head out to get started on the uniforms, so they left in Victor’s car together. I followed the others to a black Jeep Wrangler parked in the lot. North fished keys out of his pocket, hitting a button to unlock the doors. I wondered where North got so many vehicles. Maybe it was one of those necessities that the Academy provided. If so, why didn’t Nathan have a car? What about Gabriel? Or did they have cars and I hadn’t seen those yet?
Kota and the others piled our bags in the back. Nathan held open the rear side door, stepping back to look at me. I slid into the middle, with Kota and Nathan beside me. North started the car and Silas sat down in the passenger side next to him.
“Where are we going?” North asked as he started to back out of his spot. Instead of using the rearview mirror, he put a palm on Silas’s seat and half-twisted to look out the back window. I ducked my head in case he was having trouble seeing. He grinned back at me. “Stop it, short stuff,” he said. “If I need you to move, I’ll tell you.”
Nathan leaned against me in the seat as he pulled off the long sleeve shirt he was still wearing. “I am done,” he said. “I’m going home for a hot shower and I’m going to sleep.”
“Do your homework first,” North said.
Nathan grumbled. He sat back in his seat, tossing the shirt at t
he floor. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders. My nose filled with the scent of cypress. My cheeks started to heat up again. Did it mean he liked me? No one else seemed to notice. I wasn’t going to complain.
Kota was sitting so close, his leg was touching mine. He punched something into his phone. “First we have to make sure Sang isn’t in trouble.”
“Agreed,” North said. He flicked his eyes to this rearview mirror as he pulled out into the lot. He caught my eye. “Can you go in the back door or roof or what?”
“No roof,” Kota said. “Besides, it’s broad daylight. They might not notice you monkeys at night but they’ll for sure see you now.”
“The side door should be fine,” I said. “There’s a chance no one’s noticed I’ve been gone. Marie is the one I have to watch out for. If I’m lucky she went off to Danielle’s right after school. If that’s the case, I think we’re good.” And if that wasn’t true, I’d end up on my knees or something similar again. Manageable as long as she never found out why I arrived late.
North hit the buttons on the dashboard and turned up the radio to some rock music. “Just say the word,” he said. He glanced at Silas. “You want dropped off first?”
“I’ll tag along,” Silas said.
Now that we weren’t on a bus, the drive to Sunnyvale Court was much shorter. North pulled into Kota’s driveway. When Nathan hopped out, he held the door open for me. I climbed out and he shut the door and stretched. “Want me to walk with you?” Nathan asked.
“Nathan,” I said. “Will you please go home and sleep? Let’s just get through Friday and we’ll all relax this weekend.”
“You’re getting as bad as Kota,” he said.
“Hey,” Kota said, but he smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Nathan pulled his bag out of the back and hobbled down the road to his house.
“I’ll walk Sang home,” Silas said.
