I took two pencils out of my book bag and put them on the desk. “I didn’t want to show him this,” I said. I fingered my hair, combing it back and then twisting it into a small bun behind my head. I stuffed the two pencils into my hair like hair sticks. A couple of strands close to my face fell out but I pulled them behind my ears.
Luke beamed, his wide lips curling up. “Hey. I want that.”
I dug two more pencils out of my bag. I held them out to him but he twisted in his chair. Did he expect me to do it? I bit my lower lip and combed my fingers through his hair. He sighed. I did a quick twist, stabbing the pencils into the bun. A lock of hair fell away but he tucked it behind his ear. His appearance was different. It was like I was finally seeing him with short hair. His brown eyes looked bigger, and his smile was brighter.
The girls across the classroom narrowed their eyes at us but I ignored it.
North was slumping in his seat, tracing his fingertip on the edge of the desk. I glanced at him but North was looking at the other students.
The door opened again. A tall, lean man with a tight set jaw and hollow cheeks walked in. He was wearing thick, brown-rimmed glasses, his head was shaved clean. The muscles under his light gray suit looked bulky.
“Principal Hendricks,” Mr. Ferguson said. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m just making rounds today. Saying hello,” he said. He smiled at the rest of us. “Don’t let me interrupt.”
Mr. Ferguson stood straighter and everyone in the room was quiet as he finished up roll call. There were school announcements over the loudspeaker but my focus was on the principal. His gaze settling on Luke and North.
After the announcements were over, the room started a low hum of chatting. Principal Hendricks walked over to us, standing over my desk. “Aren’t you boys from the Academy?”
He knew? I glanced at Luke.
“Yes, sir,” Luke said. “Although I thought we weren’t supposed to mention...”
“Where are your uniforms?”
Luke blinked at him.
“Uniforms?” North asked.
“I thought your school had uniforms.”
Luke and North exchanged glances over my head. What was going on?
“Well,” Luke said, scratching the back of his neck. “We do have a dress code, I guess.”
“Hm,” the principal touched the knot of his pale gray tie. “I believe there may have been a misunderstanding.”
The principal thanked them and walked out of the room. Was he really only there to talk to Luke and North?
“What was that about? Did he expect you all to wear uniforms here?” I asked.
North frowned. “I don’t think so. I thought our job was to blend in as much as possible. We weren’t supposed to stick out.”
“It’d be too dangerous for us to start wearing something like that,” Luke agreed. “We’d be isolated out quickly.”
North mumbled something even I couldn’t hear, folded his arms and put his head down on the desk.
When the bell rang again, we all stood up. We found a hallway that led outside. North’s first class was at trailer thirty, almost all the way at the end of the row. I walked between him and Luke, following the sidewalk that lead away from the main building.
“Who was that guy?” North asked. “The one that kept looking at you?”
My face heated. I didn’t have to ask which one. I knew exactly who he meant. “I bumped into him at the mall one day.”
“You mean that day with Silas and Victor?” he asked. His eyes widened and hands clenched. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“North,” I said, my fingers brushed his arm to get his attention “He backed off when you two showed up.” It surprised me he heard about that. How much did the boys tell each other about me? Did he tell the others about what happened yesterday?
“Yeah,” Luke said. “We don’t have to worry. Sang’s schedule is covered and he didn’t seem that interested in her.”
North’s lips pursed. He walked us to our trailer.
“I’ll wait for you,” I said to North, “so we can walk to the next class.”
He nodded and turned away. I kept an eye on him until I lost him among the other students.
Luke put a hand on my shoulder, urging me inside. “He’ll be fine,” he said. “You might not have noticed, but he’s pretty scary looking. No one’s going to mess with him.”
I widened my eyes at him. “I’m supposed to be worried he was going to get messed with? I was just thinking he was walking too slow and he might be late to his next class.”
Luke’s eyes lit up and he grinned like he wanted to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
He said nothing and opened the door for me.
U nusual C lassmates
Luke and I found seats near the back of the room together. Kota entered a minute later, falling into the seat in front of me and adjusted his glasses. “Oh good,” he said, looking at Luke behind me. “I was worried you wouldn’t make it.”
“Traffic was crazy,” Luke said.
Kota glanced at our seats and the others that were still available in the room. “Let’s change this.”
Luke shrugged. “You’re the boss.”
“He is?” I asked. Kota’s orders were strange to me and it was weird to hear Luke acknowledge them.
They exchanged glances and Luke laughed. “We’ve been friends for so long, we’re just used to him bossing us around.”
“I don’t boss you around,” Kota said. “I make suggestions.”
“We’re too nice to say no.”
The looks that passed between them told me there was more to this. Was Kota really in charge in some official way from the Academy? I pursed my lips, biting back the questions.
Kota pointed to three seats. Luke sat in the last one near the back. I sat in front of him and Kota sat in front of me.
“I’m always in the middle,” I said. I wasn’t really complaining, just making an observation.
“How can you say that?” Kota said, turning around. “We just started.”
The bell started to ring as Gabriel rushed in the door. He collapsed into a seat to my left. “Walking from the second floor is a bitch,” he said.
“Gabe,” Kota’s tone was warning enough.
Gabriel shrugged, putting his hand on his chest as he breathed heavily. His red tie was flipped over, revealing the Gucci brand label. He smoothed his hand over his chest to straighten it. “You try getting down those stairs. You’d let one slip, too.” His head twisted and his crystal blue eyes narrowed at me. “Nuh uh,” he said. “Hand them over.” He snapped his fingers and pointed to my hair.
“Kota,” I whispered.
Kota turned to look at me and the pencils in my hair. His green eyes lit up. “It’s cute.”
“Nope,” Gabriel said. “I’ll take all your pencils if you don’t get it out of your hair right now. I want it down.”
I twisted my lips, tempted to ignore him. I felt a hand near my hair and the bun loosened. Luke handed back my two pencils. He kept the ones in his own hair. I dropped the two pencils on the desk. Luke ran his fingers through my hair to undo the twist.
Gabriel grinned, satisfied.
The class started and we were handed an agenda and a list of books we were to read outside of class with instructions to take special tests that were in the library.
Ms. Johnson stood in front of the room. The trailer walls were a faux wood panel and with her brown dress, she almost blended in. She was thin, pale, with curly dark hair cut short around her ears. “I know you don’t have your books yet, but that doesn’t mean we have time to slack off. I need everyone to take out some paper.”
There was a subtle collective groan and a lot of shuffling. I reached for my bag, pulling out two of the notebooks and two pens, handing a set to Luke behind me before he finished poking me in the shoulder to ask.
He blinked as I handed it to him. “I guess we did need
to bring stuff.”
“You can keep it,” I said, “if you want.”
He smiled at me in a way that made me shiver. I turned around as I didn’t know how to respond.
Ms. Johnson put her hands in the air in an effort to quiet the class. “I don’t have a loud voice so I can’t talk over you.” She paused to allow the class to quiet down. “Today, I want a poem. We’ll be starting with poetry and I want you to write a poem for me.”
Another wave of groans swept through the room.
“I know kids don’t like poems but I know you’ve heard of at least one in your life. I want one original poem from each of you by tomorrow morning on my desk. You can start now.”