The Academie (13 page)

“
Are you able to?” Stevie
asked.

Shara looked up.

“
You know, clear your
mind,” Stevie said.

“
Oh, yeah; most of the
time. Usually I can meditate just about anywhere, but this place
kind of threw me off at first. It went much better for me this
time.”

“
So, what was that?” my
bunkmate, Tina, asked as I gathered my things for bed.

“
What? That?” I asked,
looking back across the room where I’d been with Shara and
Stevie.

She widened her eyes
impatiently.

“
This girl, Shara, is
teaching me to meditate.”

“
Why?”

“
I don’t know. It’s
different, so I wanted to try it.”

“
And?”

“
Well, I wasn’t able to do
it right, but still,” I shrugged, “it was kind of cool.”

“
So, is that what you were
doing in class today?” she asked as she rummaged in the drawer
under her bed.

I paused, feeling slightly
humiliated.
Did she have to bring that
up?
“No, that wasn’t meditating. I don’t
know what that was. I passed out or something.”

“
I knew something had to
be up because you weren’t talking.” She stopped rummaging and
looked at me.

I stared back.

“
You talk in your
sleep.”

“
I do?”

“
You didn’t
know?”

“
I’ve never shared a room
before.”

She began rustling things in her
drawer again. “Figures.”

“
I only have
brothers.”

“
That never stopped
us.”

“
You roomed with
brothers?”

“
We didn’t have a
choice.”
She grabbed her things and headed
for the bathroom.

“
Did you see the guys?”
Ruby asked as we gathered once again for breakfast.

Stevie grinned. “I think it’s
cute.”

“
What?” I asked, taking a
look around. Then I saw it: all the guys had their heads freshly
shaved.

“
How’d they do
that?”

A clean-cut boy (they all were now)
with a tray in hand stopped abruptly. “They handed out shavers this
morning and told us to take care of it. Hello ladies,” he said,
smiling at our group. His eyes stopped on Ruby. “I believe we have
Calculus together. Miss Stanford is it?”

Ruby smiled and nodded.

“
Would you mind if I
joined you lovely ladies for breakfast?”

Stevie scooted over to make room and
he pulled out the chair next to her, causing her to
blush.

“
I’m Robert Cornelius
Bratten, III.” Still standing, he extended his hand to each of
us.

Stevie kept grinning. She cracked me
up.

“
So, do you ladies have
any plans for this weekend?” he asked, taking a seat.

“
Weekend?” I
asked.

“
Yes, it starts on a
Saturday and ends on a Sunday,” Robert answered.

“
What day is it? I’ve
totally lost track already.”

“
Thursday,” Ruby
said.

“
Really? Huh…Do we get
weekends here?” I asked.

“
Well now, darling, where
do you think you are?” Robert replied.

“
Prison.” It just came
out.

“
Come now. Surely it’s not
that bad. He put his hand on mine. His dark chocolate skin
contrasted with my olive tones. I sat across from him, but his arms
were long and he leaned over at the opportunity to console me. Not
that I think he was all that interested in me. He seemed to be your
regular lady charmer.

“
Well, it’s not good,” I
answered.

“
What don’t you like?
Surely it’s not these lovely ladies here?”

He was such a flirt. “No; it’s not
them,” I said, looking around the table at my new friends. “They’re
what’s making this place tolerable.

“
So what? The schedule?
The classes?”

“
It’s being trapped here.
It’s knowing that I won’t leave. I
can’t
.” The group was silent. “And
it’s being cut off from the outside world.”

“
Ah ha. I think I get it.”
Robert was grinning. “What’s his name?”

“
Nobody,” I
blushed.
Damn! How’d he know?

“
Right. Obviously,” he
said, spreading a napkin in his lap. “Well dear, perhaps it will
make you feel better to know that you do indeed get time off this
weekend, and there are lots of splendid, eligible bachelors
here—also trapped, if you will—at this very school.”

I smiled and shook my head. “So what
does the weekend schedule like? Do you know anything?”

“
Well, being the kind
fellow I am, the Sergeants,” he glanced at the meal Sergeants
posted around the room, “they feel comfortable with me.” He held
his silverware as he were dining at an upscale restaurant, and cut
neatly into a pancake.

I shook my head, smiling. He was a
suck up.

“
So what do you know?”
Ruby asked.

“
Well, young lady, it just
so happens that they have some mixers planned for us Saturday
evening and Sunday afternoon.”

“
Mixers?” Shara
said.

“
Yes, you know:
get-to-know-you activities. Icebreakers, if you will. They want to
create a healthy learning environment, where the students feel
comfortable with one another,” he said, looking at me.

“
Maybe you should do
commercials for The Academie?” I suggested.

“
I’d be glad
to.”

The rest of the day went smoother than
the first several had. Even fitness wasn’t bad despite the fact
that Fratelli made us run laps and do push-ups again. But we had
already started fencing and I was finding that somehow, I was a
natural. I loved everything about it: the protective gear, the
practice mats, the foil, and especially, the chance to finally
release some of my anger.

“
Hey! Take it easy on me!”
Jenny pleaded as we sparred.

“
Sorry! I think I got a
bit carried away!”

“
You’re a little too good
at this. I’m going to need to learn faster, or you’re going to have
to find a new partner so I don’t get killed!”

I laughed. After the dreadful testing
day and the humiliation of my class placements, it was nice to
finally feel good at something. “I’ll try to take it easy next
time,” I told her.

In the evening, I met Stevie and Shara
at Shara’s bedside again, along with my blanket so we could
meditate. Or at least that’s what I told myself. In reality, I was
searching for Bryan.

As we closed our eyes and I found my
center, I recalled the dimples dotting the faces of Bryan and his
dad as they stood in the driveway. Bryan’s hair was cropped short.
But what I didn’t expect was that he was lean and built, as though
he spent half his time working out.

He certainly didn’t look like any
computer nerd I knew.

Anna had no sooner pulled into the
driveway and she was out the door, embracing her son. I took my
time getting out of the car, not sure how to greet this person I
had come to know so well online, but had never actually laid eyes
on until now.

Letting go of Anna, Bryan made his way
to my side of the car and opened my door.

“
Hi.” He had Anna’s
smile.

“
Hey.” I blushed and
looked away, suddenly shy.

“
Can I help you with your
things?”

I stepped out of the car and followed
him to the trunk, where we pulled out my bags and silently headed
to the house.

“
Hi Allie,” James said,
holding out his hand. “Good meet you.”

“
Thanks for having me.” He
had Bryan’s chestnut eyes.

Inside, I was surprised to see
balloons and streamers decorating the foyer. I knew of their plan
to celebrate Bryan’s birthday, but I didn’t expect a couple of
college professors to put up birthday decorations like normal
people.

In the kitchen, a freshly-prepared,
uncooked pizza sat on the counter. “Are you all hungry yet?” James
asked, motioning to the stove. “I could pop it in and it’ll be
ready in about 15 minutes.”

“
I’ve been dying to have
this again,” Bryan said.

“
I figured that,” his dad
answered. “I don’t suppose they serve it this way at school, huh?”
He smiled.

“
You have no idea.” Bryan
scrunched his face in a horrified expression.

“
I could eat if you guys
are ready,” Anna joined in. “I didn’t have much for lunch. I was
too excited. Besides, I had to eat on the road…” She looked at me.
“We don’t eat take out much.”

“
We don’t eat the typical
American diet,” James clarified.

“
Try eating that every
day,” Bryan said.

“
Oh, I’d rather not,” his
mom answered.

“
Thanks,” Bryan said. He
smiled at me.

“
I’m sorry, but I still
can’t believe they sold that FDA diet crap as a good thing! What a
load of—”

“
Here we go,” James said,
looking from Bryan to me.

“
Okay, thanks mom,” Bryan
said.

“
Fine,” she said, throwing
her hands up. “You’ve heard my rant before. But Allie
hasn’t.”

“
I’ll tell her later.” He
grinned at me. “Are you hungry, Allie?”

“
Sure.” Actually, I was
nervous, so hunger was far from my mind. I felt as though I was
burning through adrenaline so fast that I’d surely crash before the
night was through. I just hoped my anxiety didn’t show.

“
This probably won’t be
like any pizza you’ve had before,” Bryan said, “but trust me, it’s
amazing.”

“
Okay….” Bryan had told me
about a thousand times how good a cook his dad was. Knowing this, I
was ready to try anything.

“
Are you allergic to any
foods, Allie?” James asked.

“
Only peppers; right?”
Bryan said, looking for confirmation.

“
Yup.” I blushed that he
remembered from a conversation we’d had weeks ago.

“
Ah, excellent,” James
said. I was still looking at Bryan, but out of the corner of my eye
I could see James glance knowingly at Anna who was smiling about
the interaction that had just taken place. “There are no peppers in
here. Just fresh onion, garlic, tomato, basil, spinach, and tofu on
a whole wheat crust.”

“
Ever had tofu before?”
Anna asked.

“
Just once at school, but
they fried it.”

“
Eww.” They said it in
unison, which made us all laugh.

“
Yeah, it wasn’t very
good. But I’ll give it another try.”

“
I promise that it won’t
taste like that,” James said.

Anna pulled a package from the fridge
to show me. “It really doesn’t taste like much. For the most part,
it takes on the flavors of whatever you cook it with. Bryan loves
it.”

He blushed. “It’s true. Hope that’s
not too weird for you.”

I smiled. “Nah. Who knows, maybe I’ll
love it too?”

Being with the Allens felt like I was
in another world. Their understanding of everything seemed to be
different—and the way they did things too.

I looked around and noticed the
balloons and the streamers again. Well, I guess some things were
the same.

“
So, do I get a cake?”
Bryan asked, turning to James.

“
Of course,” he
said.

“
Wouldn’t be a birthday
without one,” Anna added. “Besides, do you think your dad would
miss an opportunity to bake?”

“
What’d you make?” Bryan
scanned the room for a cake.

James grinned. “Carrot
cake.”

“
Excellent.” Bryan licked
his lips in anticipation. He turned to me. “Normally, this might
not sound good, but carrot cake is my dad’s specialty.”

I smiled, not sure what to
say.

“
So, eighteen…”Anna said,
beaming at her son. “You’re an adult.”

“
Tell that to The
Academie,” he said.

“
Well…” For once she
appeared speechless, but already I knew better. Even I could see
the restraint that held her tongue.

“
So we figured we’d play
some games together tonight, if you guys don’t mind,” James cut in,
changing the subject.

“
That sounds great,” I
said.
But am I ever going to get to spend
time with just Bryan?

The rest of the day went by incredibly
fast. Bryan’s parents hung out with us most of the time, but I
tried not to mind. I knew how much they missed him, and as far as I
was concerned, I was a guest at their little reunion-birthday
party.

Mostly we just talked. It was so nice
to finally talk to Bryan in person, face to face, rather than a
line or two at a time, sent back and forth over the Internet. And
there were moments—tiny, seemingly insignificant moments, when his
parents would both be out of the room and we would be alone
together. In these moments things would suddenly be so different;
we were no longer kids, but adults that were still learning what it
was like to be around each other. Comfortable and awkward all at
the same time.