Push and Shove: The Ghost Bird Series: #6 (The Academy) (52 page)

“Until the day you ask me not to,” he said quietly, but with the same concern and command. “I’ve promised you, and I’ll repeat that promise until the day you actually believe me.”

“I believe you,” I said quietly, afraid to suggest otherwise, or to let the moment pass and not say it out loud.

His eyes narrowed behind his glasses, and his lips tightened. The fingers at my chin lifted my head higher.

“I’ll be waiting,” he said. He released me and walked around me, heading to the door.

I stared at that table long after I heard the front door of the condo open and close, and the start of the gray BMW, and it fading away down the street.

I did believe him.

I vowed to prove it.

––––––––

I
bathed and dressed in a downstairs bathroom. I put on clothes from my bag, a sporty dark skirt, a T-shirt and the white angel hoodie. I wasn’t sure who picked out this outfit, but I thought perhaps Victor or Nathan. It was all Victoria’s Secret items, from the new clothing Victor had brought, but the style was sporty like Nathan often wanted me to wear. Were they all deciding which clothes ended up in my bag?

I hurried and met Dr. Green at the door. The journey to the school was quiet, except for a short stop at Starbucks to pick up breakfast.

Perhaps he sensed I didn’t want to talk. I kept thinking about Mr. Blackbourne, his words haunting me. At some point, I had done something wrong, and I didn’t know how to take it back. Now I was the one that broke something in him, and I needed to fix it.

“I hate to do this to you,” Dr. Green said once the school was within sight. “But we should probably split up in the parking lot, and go in through different doors.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t want to start any additional rumors,” he said. “Not even ones that might be true.”

Despite us being only three years apart, he still had to pretend to be my teacher, and us arriving at school together could be disastrous. “I understand,” I said.

“And please forgive me if I’m a little distant,” he said. “If I don’t... I mean, I can’t just kiss you in the middle of class.”

The corner of my mouth lifted. “You almost did once.”

He laughed.

We parted in the parking lot as he suggested. I headed straight for the courtyard where North, Silas and Luke were already waiting.

After a cold Frappuccino and a breakfast sandwich which I split with Silas, I was leaning against Luke before class started. My nerves were jumbling from the coffee, but my body was refusing to use the energy, the effects of those sleeping pills lingering.

And maybe part of me was worried about seeing Mr. Blackbourne later in the day. For some reason, I felt I should talk to him as soon as possible, but I didn’t know where to start or what to say to him.

I wondered about the other boys. "They're going to be late," I said, using my phone to check the time before tucking it back into my bra.

Silas placed a hand on my back between my shoulder blades and rubbed slowly. "Don't worry about them,
aggele mou
."

"Is something wrong? Is it Academy stuff?"

North grunted. "Kota was trying to make sure your sister got to school."

"Is she okay?"

"Let's just say she's unmotivated. But they are on the way now."

"How was Dr. Green's?" Luke asked.

I was filling them in on dinner but stopped when Kota and Nathan arrived, trailed by Victor and Gabriel. But not even Gabriel's makeup could hide the swelling on Nathan's face.

I started to jump up but Kota sliced a hand through the air between us. "Don't draw attention to it."

I sat down hard on the bench. Nathan checked with Silas, who nodded, before Nathan sad down next to me on my other side. His white shirt that went with the faux school uniform was crumpled. His eyes were intense, the blue shimmering as he squinted at everyone. And the swelling almost forcing his eye closed.

Despite Kota's warning, I couldn't stop my staring. "What happened?"

Nathan grunted. "I had to go back to my house for some stuff. I thought he was asleep. He surprised me. Payback for putting him in the hospital. Guess he got it out of his system."

I sucked in a breath. "We should show Mr. Blackbourne. He should..."

"He already knows, Peanut. It’s why I slept at your house last night."

"There's got to be something we can do. We have to... I don't know. Maybe now we have to move you out."

Kota sighed. "Sang, we can't..."

I interrupted, "You guys are trying to get me out, I know but Nathan's the priority. Was Mr. Griffin always like this?"

"He used to be pretty bad," Nathan said. "But we managed to keep him at his job and it was a big salary jump for him to take those longer routes. When he works, he’s pretty calm. When I went in yesterday, after he’d been back from the hospital, there were whiskey bottles everywhere. He hasn't responded to phone calls from work."

"Is he quitting? Is that why he’s staying home?"

“He won’t talk to me right now.” Nathan rubbed his face, just under his tender eye, as if testing it out. The bell rang. The others got into motion. Nathan continued to look at me. He was as lost as I was right now.

But why didn't they go to the Academy for help? This couldn’t continue.

I wanted to ask, but North grabbed my hand, tugging me along to class. While walking, I was going over in my head how I could talk to Mr. Blackbourne about this. Maybe he already knew, but I felt I needed to say something.

As soon as I was sitting in homeroom and the bell had rung again, the door to the classroom opened.

Mr. Hendricks loomed in the doorway. He took one look at Mr. Ferguson and nodded to him. “I need Miss Sorenson, if you please.”

Mr. Ferguson nodded and slipped a look at me that silently asked what I had done for the principal to come and fetch me himself.

I rose and started to collect my book bag, when North caught my eye. The slight nod of his head toward the bag, and I dropped it on the floor again, leaving without it.

When the door closed behind us and we were in the hallway, I hoped North or Luke would send a message to Mr. Blackbourne. I had my phone, but wasn’t sure if I could get a message to him.

“Follow me,” Mr. Hendricks said.

I wanted to decline. I wanted to run off. I had to tell myself again and again Mr. Hendricks wasn’t Mr. McCoy. Mr. McCoy was gone. I don’t know why I was so nervous now, but everyone was on edge, and now I did know something.

That I knew who he was working with.

I couldn’t shake off my need to escape. Maybe it was because I was tired and stressed and he had rattled me by coming for me, not giving me time to talk to anyone about what this might be about or to confirm someone was listening.

“I’ve been meaning to get a hold of you for a while,” he said as we walked. His hands were behind his back and his face was taut, his forehead wrinkled compared to the smoothness of his shaved head. His scowl was prominent. “You weren’t in class yesterday.”

Alarm seized me. Of course I wasn’t in class, but he wouldn’t have been notified, would he? He doesn’t track
all
the absent students in school. “No, I wasn’t,” I said, answering honestly and leaving it at that.

“So you’re admitting to skipping class?”

“I thought you wanted me to snoop on the Academy.”

A graying eyebrow rose on his face. “Is that what was going on?”

I hesitated, “I didn’t realize it would take so long that I’d be out of class. I’m sorry.”

He held his palm up. “Hang on until we get to my office.”

We bypassed the front desk. The secretaries and other administrators in the back giving me a suspicious glance.

When we got to his office hallway, he hurried to his door and opened it.

I started to enter, but stopped short.

Marie sat in the same orange chair I usually sat in, a terrified look on her face.

I questioned silently at what she was doing here. Her brown eyes narrowed at me, asking me what I could have said to get her into trouble.

And if she thought she was in trouble, she’d say just about anything to get out of it. Pointing fingers was her specialty.

“Have a seat, Miss Sang.” Mr. Hendricks side-stepped around me, dropping into his big wingback chair. He sat back, putting his elbows on the arm rests and folded his hands together.

My lips clamped shut and I tugged an extra seat from the back wall closer to where Marie was sitting.

Mr. Hendricks glanced between us, as if waiting. “Are you two not even going to say hello to each other? You are related, aren’t you?”

“You called us down to have us tell each other hello?” Marie asked.

“I thought it would be better if we all acted from the same page. Perhaps we have different interests, but we’re trying to reach the same goal, after all.”

“I told you everything I know,” Marie said. “They sleep at my house. They eat my food. They try to tell me what to do. What else do you want?”

My heart nearly exploded. She’d been telling him all of that?

And then I realized how naïve I’d been. Of course she would. She hated the boys. She hated me. Was this why she didn’t want to come to school? Because Mr. Hendricks had been quizzing her, too? She knew this was coming?

Mr. Hendricks made a pyramid with his hands, directing his pointer fingers toward me. “Is this true, Miss Sang? Are they staying at your house?”

My lips glued shut, afraid to utter a syllable. I didn’t know how much he’d heard from Marie, but I didn’t want to admit to anything else.

And part of me wondered if he already knew the truth, and he was using this somehow, manipulating us.

“Perhaps I should talk to your mother,” Mr. Hendricks said, in a tone that said he was displeased with my silence. “She should be concerned about this.”

“My mother isn’t home,” Marie said.

“That’s fine. I’ve got your father’s cell phone number.”

I glanced at Marie, who met my eyes. Our father never responded to any of my calls. If Mr. Hendricks couldn’t reach anyone, then what? Would Marie admit no one was home at all? I mean, that would make sense if the boys were able to come and go. Did she even realize what she was doing?

Mr. Hendricks waited a few minutes with the phone receiver pressed to his ear after dialing. He stared right at me the whole time. I think he expected me to admit to something, but I didn’t know what to tell him.

He perked up. “Mr. Sorenson? Hello, this is Principal Hendricks over at Ashley Waters High School.”

My mouth fell open. I did my best to suppress it and not reveal my shock.

My father had answered the principal’s phone call on the first try. He probably got all of our messages. He simply didn’t care to respond.

My heart ached when I realized he hadn’t been too busy to help us or come to see us or even take our calls.

“No, Mr. Sorenson,” Mr. Hendricks continued. “Don’t worry, your daughters are fine. I just wanted to let you know we had a little bit of a misunderstanding here. I’m afraid little Sang skipped a few classes yesterday. ... Oh, she said she felt ill, but if I fell for that excuse every time, I wouldn’t have any kids in class. I’m sure you understand that I should call. Well, I know it’s tough, but I just wanted to get it cleared up with you. I won’t issue a suspension this time, because I know she’s normally an excellent student. I just wanted to reach out to you.”

I shoved my hands down into my lap to hide them. I kept stealing glances at Marie, pleading with her not to say anything more. We were already in enough trouble.

Mr. Hendricks hung up the phone. He looked at us both and pointed to the receiver. “Don’t make me call him back,” he said. “I want answers.”

“I can’t tell you anything else,” Marie said. She shoved a finger toward my face. “She’s friends with them. Ask her. I don’t know anything about Mr. McCoy. I don’t know where the Academy is. If I did, I’d tell you.”

Mr. Hendricks directed his attention to me. “Is there something you want to add to this?”

My jaw locked. I had a distinct urge to curl up and not say anything, as crazy as that would have looked. But not saying anything at all would have been like a beam of light on me, telling him I had plenty to hide. I didn’t know what to offer him.

But Mr. Hendricks had reached his tipping point, and he wanted answers. He suspected I knew more than I was telling him, and this was his way of making sure I’d tell him everything.

Before I could come up with a response, Mr. Hendricks stood up. “Perhaps you two need a moment. I’ll let you borrow my office. Why don’t you figure out what you want to tell me, and I’ll come back when you’re ready.”

. I knew this was a ruse; there were cameras in here. Some were planted by Mr. Blackbourne. Were the others hooked up and wired so he’d listen in? Karen had said he was watching his office.

Mr. Hendricks went to the door, opening it. “I’ll give you ten minutes. If I don’t get the truth, I’ll be calling your father back and I’ll be telling him a lot of things you don’t want him to hear.”

The door shut behind him, and to me it may as well have been a coffin lid closing.

The moment he was gone, my hand flew to the cup of my bra. The coffee from that morning woke up every nerve ending inside of me, and my panic was the fuse setting it all off. I didn’t care that cameras might be on. I needed someone to tell me what to do.

But I didn’t have to type a word, because Mr. Blackbourne had already sent messages to me.

Blackbourne: Remember what I taught you.

Blackbourne: I’m with you. I’m listening.

Blackbourne: If you’re not sure what he wants to know, ask him.

Blackbourne: And no matter what, you’ll be with us.

My heart swelled and those once lit-up nerves ceased. His words were all I needed.

“What are you doing?” Marie barked at me. “We’re in enough trouble here, and you’re using your cell phone in school.”

“We’re a little beyond that right now,” I said carefully. I was about to put the cell phone away when the screen illuminated again with an incoming message.

Blackbourne: Negotiate with her if you can.