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.