The Academy - Introductions (20 page)

The vibration rattled right to my bones. My fingers dug a
little into his stomach, but I tried not to claw him with my fingernails. He
felt so big in front of me. My face pressed below his shoulder blades.

He turned the bike in the lot. I hung on with my legs and
he took off.

I could only see to the left or right as we passed by the
homes as I couldn’t see around him. The strands of hair near my ears fly out
behind me.

When he neared the bend in the road, my grip on his stomach
slipped as he angled his body. I wasn’t prepared for it.

He moved one hand away from the handle of the bike, grabbing
my hand. He pulled it in front of him until he had my palm pressed to his
chest. He kept his hand covering mine for a second and then let go to make the
turn into Kota’s driveway.

My heart was pounding as he shut off the bike and it leaned
as he stepped to hold it up.

“Swing your leg around to get off.”

I did, probably revealing way too much leg from my skirt to
do so. I used his arm to hang on to until I was standing and then let go.

He got off the bike, putting the stand into place. He
turned to me. “You okay?”

“My legs are tingly.”

He smirked. The sight of his lips like that made my heart
stop. “Mine, too.”

I sat on Kota’s bed with my ankles crossed, the only place
I thought I could really sit in the skirt I was wearing. North sat next to me,
so close I could feel the warmth of his side on my arm. He leaned back a
little. I couldn’t see as I was too nervous to look but it felt like his arm
had crossed behind me and part of his arm was very close to nearly supporting
my back.

Kota and Luke sat on the floor. Luke was sitting near my
feet, almost on top of my right foot. Luke just finished filling Kota in on
what they were planning.

Kota seemed particularly interested in this, asking a lot
of questions about capital and marketing plans. “It sounds like your uncle has
it figured out,” he said, sliding his glasses up his nose. “I suppose you’ll
ask the rest of us to fill in shifts.”

Luke beamed. “So you think it will work?”

The question surprised me. Were they seeking his approval?

“You know it means working during the school year. Are you
going to keep up with classes?”

Luke nodded fervently. “No problem.”

Kota looked at North. “What about you?”

North shrugged. I felt his arm push gently at my back as he
did. “It's the usual.”

Kota’s mouth dipped in the corner. “I mean it. I don’t care
if you think you know more than the teacher. This isn’t like...” Kota glanced
at me and then back to North. “Don’t go falling asleep during class, even if
you know all the answers.”

“I’ll keep up,” North said.

Kota seemed pleased with this. It was as if the whole thing
was settled. I admired the way they looked up to Kota and everything, but this
was beyond what I had expected. He was giving them instructions. He had a
natural leadership, even if he wasn’t the biggest or the most aggressive.
However, it had me wondering about this group of guys. I just couldn’t put my
finger on it.

“Well,” Kota said. “I’ll call Victor and the others to let
them in on it.”

“Where are they?” I asked.

“Victor and Gabriel are over at the school. It’s open today
for touring. They’re checking it out before registration and the general open
house tomorrow. They’ll be bringing us a couple of maps.”

“It seems like you guys have this down,” I said. “It’s like
you’ve done this a lot.”

“We’ve been in the same grade since forever,” Luke said.

“Since kindergarten,” North corrected. “You guys have. I
got in late.”

“And Silas,” Luke said. “I think when he moved here, he got
held back a grade. Not his fault. It was just the age difference.”

I moved my ankles, switching them around. The action caused
me to lean back a little. My back pressed into North’s arm. I blushed, sitting
up more and mouthed the words, “Oh, sorry.”

“Relax,” he said. “You can lean against me.”

I wasn’t sure if I should, but the look on his face left my
insides quivering. If I didn’t, would it seem like I wasn’t comfortable with
him? If I did... well it felt strange to me. I relaxed a little, lightly
sitting back, feeling his arm steady behind me. When the conversation turned
again to schedules, classes and the school, my mind was whirling, totally
focused on North’s arm. Did that mean he liked me? I wondered what Luke
thought. Were we friends already?

At one point, Luke grabbed at his stomach. “Is it breakfast
time yet? I’m hungry.”

“We can make breakfast,” Kota said. “My mom’s gone to work.
What do we want? Pancakes?”

“Do you have chocolate chips?” Luke asked, looking at me
with a grin.

North caught the look. “My god, not you, too.”

“Huh?” I asked.

“Luke’s favorite breakfast is chocolate chip pancakes.”

My eyes went wide and I turned again to Luke. “Really?”

He grinned, nodding enthusiastically.

North leaned away from me, falling onto his back on the
bed. His hands went up to his face, rubbing, his elbows arching in the air.
“You two are terrible. You can’t have chocolate for breakfast.” The edge of his
black shirt drifted up slightly on his body, revealing his belly button. There
was a line of coarse hair starting from his jeans, making a thin line up to
almost where his belly button was. I know I stared for way too long but I
couldn’t help it. The sight made my breath catch.

Luke jumped up from the floor. “You can have anything for
breakfast,” he said. He held out a hand to me. “Let’s go cook.”

I smiled, reaching out to him. He held my hand as I stood
up and then part of the way across the room until we were near the stairs. He
let go then so we weren’t tripping over each other on the stairs. Kota came
with us on my heels. I spotted North getting up from the bed, looking right at
me before I moved down the stairs too low for him to see me anymore.

I could have sworn I saw a smile.

Downstairs, I stood with Luke in the kitchen. I wasn’t sure
what to do. It wasn’t my kitchen.

Kota came up behind us and opened up the pantry. He pulled
out a container marked as pancake mix. “Sang, there’s butter, milk and eggs in
the fridge.”

I opened the fridge, peering in. It felt so strange to be
looking inside, like I was peeking inside their drawers. I found the milk and
other things, collecting them in my arms and bringing them to the counter. Luke
found the frying pan and a spatula.

North came downstairs and leaned against the counter with
his arms crossed over his chest, observing. “You need protein,” he said. “Make
some bacon.”

“He’s right,” Kota said. “Sang? Can you grab it?”

I went back to the fridge, checked the drawers and found
the bacon. Luke pulled out another frying pan and flicked on the heat on the
stove to warm it up.

I pulled bacon apart, waiting for the pan to heat up. Kota
found a fork for me and then moved away to start mixing pancake batter. I got
left in charge of bacon.

“We’ll have to make chocolate chip pancakes part of the
diner menu,” Luke said. “Like a special.” He stood next to me, watching as I
released bacon into the heated pan and it started to sizzle.

“We’re not serving chocolate chip pancakes,” North said.

“Other diners do it,” Luke said. “And Sang likes it.”

North chuffed.

“You could serve it with fruit,” I suggested. “Bananas?
Strawberries? That would make it healthy.”

“I think we have to build the place first,” North said,
“before we start planning a menu. Besides, Uncle will make whatever he wants.
It’ll be his place.”

“You’re going to work with us, right Sang?” Luke asked,
smiling as he lit his burner and slapped butter into the pan so it could melt.

“Um,” I started. How could I promise to work when I wasn’t
sure when I could get out of the house? I looked behind me at Kota, who caught
my glance.

“We’ll have to see how things work out,” Kota said for me.
“I’m sure we can all pitch in when it gets busy.”

“I’d like to help,” I said, poking at the bacon and then
using the fork to flip it over. It was easy to picture working near Luke. He
seemed nice. North wasn't so bad, either. I thought. If he cared about Luke,
and he clearly did, he wasn't all bad and gruff.

I was about to flip over the last piece when some of the
hot grease popped and it caught the underside of my forearm. I sucked through
my teeth, mostly out of surprise and pulled the fork away, shaking my arm a
little to bring cool air to my skin.

“Easy, Sang,” Luke said. “Don’t hurt yourself.”

I felt a hand on my arm and turned to see North holding me,
reaching for the fork. He took it from my grasp. He moved forward, nudging me
out of the way and taking over the bacon.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I can do it.”

“Don’t worry about it,” North said. “Go help Kota.”

I blushed, feeling like I got reprimanded. Or maybe not? It
wasn’t like that. He took over because he didn’t want me to get popped again.
He was concerned about me. North’s face was unreadable but I was touched.

Kota stirred the pancake mix. When I stepped up beside him,
he smiled. “We just need the chips. They’re in that food pantry,” he said to
me. He nodded to where there was a door at the other end of the kitchen.

I moved to it, finding the chips bag and pulling it off the
shelf. Kota was already pouring the batter in the hot pan.

I opened the bag of chips, collecting a handful. When Kota
moved out of the way, I sprinkled chocolate chips on top of the batter.

“Yeah,” Luke said. “Get a lot in there.”

“Don’t go crazy,” North warned.

Luke shared a conspiratorial grin with me. He leaned in and
whispered. “Put extra chocolate chips in his.”

“I’ll make his a smile face,” I said.

Luke’s eyes popped open. “Oh! Yeah. Do that.”

“I can hear you two,” North said. He started plating bacon
and putting more into the pan to cook.

Kota and I stood by while bacon was made and pancakes were
flipped. Kota stood so close to me that I felt his warmth from his arm.

He nudged at me. “How’s the phone working?”

“Fine.” I pulled the pink phone from my front pocket. “I’ve
never...” my voice cracked and I swallowed, patting my throat. “It took getting
used to,” I whispered.

“You should rest your throat,” he said. “You really
shouldn’t be talking. Do you need some water?”

“What’s wrong with her throat?” North asked, his dark eyes
fixing on me. “Are you sick?”

I glanced at Kota. His eyes darkened. “Might as well tell them,”
he said. “They would have found out.”

I sighed. Kota put a hand on my back, rubbing softly as I
said it as loud as I was able. “My mother made me drink a glass of lemon juice
and vinegar.” It was easier to say than I thought. It was like Kota’s hand on
me made me feel brave.

Luke dropped the spatula into the pancakes. He cursed under
his breath and then fished it back out.

North appeared stunned. “She forced you?”

I nodded, blushing.

“And it made your throat...” he started to ask but never
finished. He fixed his eyes on the bacon. “Shit.”

Kota moved away from me and found a glass and grabbed a
pitcher of water from the fridge. “Her parents are pretty strict. So that’s why
we need to text only. No calling her house directly or showing up unexpectedly.”

“Why did they make you drink that nasty stuff?” Luke asked
softly, plating pancakes. He started spooning more batter into the pan.

I re-opened the bag of chocolate chips and sprinkled smile
faces into all of them. “Silas called me on the house phone.”

North looked back at me over Luke’s head. “That’s it? You
weren’t talking sex or something?”

I blushed, shaking my head and waving my hand in the air.
“No, of course not.” Why would he ask that? Who did he think I was? “He barely
said hello.”

“Is your voice going to be okay?” Luke asked carefully.

“She’ll be fine,” Kota said, holding the glass of water out
for me. “It burned her throat but it should heal fully in a few days.”

I sipped the water, feeling the coolness relaxing my
throat. “It’s not so bad right now,” I said, using a soft voice so it wouldn’t
crack and they wouldn’t worry. I should have been uncomfortable. After
yesterday when they hadn’t kicked me out, I was feeling a little unreal around
them. What reason did they have to be so supportive and nice to me?

“Is that why she’s here?” North asked. He looked directly
at Kota. There were looks exchanged between them that I simply couldn’t get.
The silent communication worked with all seven of them. I studied their
expressions, trying to catch on.