The Academy (6 page)

I wiped at my mouth. “It’s Broward’s. I bit him.”

“Bit him, huh?” He gave me a look of grudging respect. “You’re a scrappy little guy—I’ll give you that.”

“Thanks a lot,” I said sourly. “That means a lot coming from a big lug like you.” My small stature was really turning out to be a handicap.

“You’re welcome,” he said again, taking the empty drink container and putting it down on the bedside table.

“Why?” I asked, looking up at him.

“Why what?”

“Why did you help me?” I tried to sit up but he pushed me back down.

“Better wait a minute before you get up. I came to see what all the commotion was about. You scream like a girl, you know that, shrimp?”

“I was frightened,” I said stiffly. “And don’t call me that. My name is—”

“I know, Kristopher Jameson.” He sighed. “Hinks told me when I went to ask about the rooming situation.”

“What did he say about that?” I asked.

North ran a hand through his dark blond hair, looking frustrated. “He said I would just have to deal with it. Look—” He pointed at me. “I was serious when I said I had to study. I don’t want any loud music or partying in here, I mean it.”

“I don’t want that either,” I told him, frowning. “I’m just here to learn so I can get my piloting license. I’m not interested in any of the social activities I saw in the halls on my way up here.”

“
Social activities?”
He raised an eyebrow at me and burst out laughing. “You have a really strange way of talking, Jameson. What moon are you from, anyway?”

“Dianna,” I said stiffly. “From the province of Victoria.”

North frowned. “I’m from Apollo. I’ve heard about Victoria but I’ve never been there. Isn’t that the province where everyone is so stiff and formal you can’t even sneeze without apologizing about a thousand times?”

“It’s
civilized
,” I corrected him. “Which is more than I can say for the way people act around here.”

He shook his head. “You must not have been away to school before. The Academy is pretty standard.”

“If being threatened and beaten twice in the same day is standard I don’t know how anyone graduates,” I snapped. “I haven’t even been here two hours and I’ve already been assaulted.”

“Assaulted? Come on.” He slapped my shoulder. “You took
one
punch, don’t be such a girl about it.”

I opened my mouth to give an angry reply and then closed it again. Apparently being a man involved stoicism in the face of pain and right now I was doing a fairly poor job of it. “It hurt,” I pointed out at last.

“Getting punched in the face usually does. Let’s see how it looks.” Leaning forward, he lifted the cold wet cloth he’d placed on my wounded cheek and frowned thoughtfully. “Well, you’re going to have a hell of a bruise but I don’t think anything is broken. We can go down to the Infirmary for an X-ray if you want, though.”

“No, thank you,” I said, trying to sit up again. This time he helped me.

“Better?”

“Yes.” I was finally able to look around without feeling like I was on a tilt-a-whirl at the fair, which was a vast improvement.

“So what did you do to earn that, anyway?” North motioned to my hurt cheek. “Or was Broward just being his usual charming self?”

“I saw something…in the Administration building.” I frowned down at my hands. “I’m not sure I should tell you.”

“If it’s something to do with Hinks, everybody already knows. Although I didn’t think Broward went that way.”

“What do you mean? Went what way?” I asked.

“You know.” North made a side to side motion with one large, well-shaped hand. “Gay.”

I had only heard the word once or twice before but I had a general idea of what it meant. “You think I saw Broward and Hinks…doing something immoral together
?”
My voice rose slightly. “But they’re both males. Is that standard at the Academy too?”

North shrugged. “Not really but you do hear about it from time to time. You know how it is—too many horny guys and no girls allowed.”

I had a sudden disturbing thought. “Are
you…
that way?”

“Gay? Me?” He gave a surprised laugh, as though the very idea was preposterous. “No, absolutely not. There are too many pretty girls in the solar system to waste my time on another guy. But Kinky Hinks definitely is. Don’t tell me he didn’t try the old ‘let’s see how your uniform fits’ routine on you.”

I could feel my cheeks getting hot. “Yes, he did,” I admitted. “I, uh, managed to get away though. Would he really have tried to…to…” I couldn’t finish.

North laughed incredulously. “I can’t believe it, you’re actually
blushing
.”

“He…I…” I put my hands to my hot cheeks and winced when I touched the injured one. How could I tell him that we didn’t speak of sexual matters of any kind in Victoria? And why did talking about this with him make my heart pound so hard?

“Never mind.” He shook his head, a trace of a smile still lingering on his lips. “Hinks is pretty harmless, actually—he just likes to look. He gets away with it because he has some kind of in with the powers that be around here. So what happened with him and Broward?”

“Nothing like that,” I assured him. “Actually, nothing that had to do with Hinks at all. It was the headmaster.”

His eyebrows shot up. “The
headmaster?”

Quickly, before he could get the wrong idea, I filled him in on everything I had seen and heard while waiting in the headmaster’s office. When I was finished, North sat back and gave a long, low whistle.

“And Broward caught you watching him get paddled? No
wonder
he’s after you, Jameson. He wants everyone to think he’s invincible because his father is on the Board of Trustees. If word got around that he actually got punished,
and
that he chose the paddle over the cane, his reputation would be shot all to hell.”

“I wasn’t going to
tell
anyone,” I protested. “And what does it matter which he chose?”

“The paddle’s for cowards.” North waved a hand dismissively. “Doesn’t even break the skin. The cane hurts a lot worse and it can leave permanent scars.”

I shivered at the idea of something worse than the paddling I’d witnessed earlier that day. Though Father spoke roughly to Kristopher and myself, he had never laid a hand to either one of us or allowed anyone else to either. Would Headmaster Chauser cane me if my secret was discovered? I couldn’t let that happen.

“Sounds like you’ll have to be on the lookout for Broward for a good long time,” North said, pulling me out of my dismal thoughts. “What’s your class schedule like? I’ll try and tell you the best way to avoid him.”

“It’s there.” I pointed to the disposable tablet on the desk and he got off the bed to get it.

“Hmm.” He frowned as he paged through the schedule. “Looks like you and I have a lot of the same classes. Inter-dimensional Calculus and Astro Navigation back to back. Unfortunately Broward is in the Calc class too.”

“At least you and I are in it together,” I said, without thinking.

North frowned. “Don’t get any ideas, shrimp. I’m your roommate, not your bodyguard. I don’t have time to come running to the rescue every time you stub your toe.”

“Of course not,” I said stiffly. “I wouldn’t expect you to.”

North pointed at me. “You’re going to have to learn to look out for yourself. Especially in your last class of the day—mandatory physical-fitness. Broward’s in that one too and I’m not.”

“I understand—I’m on my own.” I tried to sound calm and collected.

“Right.” He looked satisfied, as though he’d finally made his point.

“But how can we have the same classes if you and Broward are fourth-form and I’m third-form?” I asked, holding out my hand for the tablet.

North handed it back to me. “In Broward’s case it’s because he flunked those courses and he’s taking them again.”

“What about you?” I looked up at him curiously. He didn’t seem the type to fail at anything.

“I missed most of last year.” He glanced away, a troubled look passing over his sharp features for a moment. “For…personal reasons.”

“Personal reasons?” I said. “What—?”

“Personal means
private.
Do I really have to spell that out for you?” His voice, formerly almost friendly, had turned angry and there was an unreadable look in his piercing blue eyes.

“All right, all right. I’m sorry.” I held up my hands in a gesture of peace. “I didn’t mean to pry.”

“Just keep out of my business.” North looked at me coldly. “I may have to share this room with you but that doesn’t make us friends.”

“Fine.” I tried to make my voice as cool and distant as his. “I have no interest in your life or anything to do with you.” I lifted my chin, trying to look superior but just then, my stomach gurgled in a most unladylike manner. “Oh!” Forgetting I was supposed to be a male who didn’t care about such things, I put one hand over my stomach and another to my cheek. “Please excuse me!”

North shook his head. “You get embarrassed really easily, don’t you? So what if you’re hungry? It’s dinner time anyway.”

“Where do we eat around here?” I asked, getting off the bed.

He looked at me speculatively. “All right, just this once you can come with me to the mess hall. You’ll have to sit with the third-form cadets, though—you can’t sit with me.”

“Don’t do me any favors,” I said, not bothering to keep the anger out of my voice.

“The forms don’t mix.” He shrugged. “That’s just the way it is at the Academy. It’s standard. Not that I’d want a shrimp like you sitting with me anyway.”

I sighed. “Don’t call me ‘shrimp.’ And I’m beginning to think there are a lot of ‘standard’ things I’m not going to like about this place.”

“Well, like it or not, you’re stuck here now.” He jerked his head toward the door. “Come on, shorty, let’s go.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “It’s
Jameson
, not shorty or shrimp or runt or pipsqueak or any other derogatory term you can come up with. Or you can just call me Kris.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “So what do I call you?”

“Just North,” he said shortly. “I told you, Jameson, we’re roommates,
not
friends.”

He headed out the door without looking to see if I was following him. For a moment I stood there fuming, then I remembered that Broward was probably lying in wait for me somewhere near and hurried to catch up. Though he made a big deal out of not being my friend or my bodyguard, I didn’t think North would stand back and allow the big bully to beat me up.

At least, I hoped not.

We left the Goddard building without speaking and wound our way through the maze of ivy-covered dorms, our feet whispering over the short indigo grass. I stuck close to North and kept my eyes open, expecting to see Broward again at any minute, still intent on killing me. But to my relief, he was nowhere to be seen.

North said nothing as we walked and I got the distinct impression that my new roommate was only putting up with me because he felt obliged to—at least this once. He had a brooding look on his well cut features and appeared to be lost in thought. Though I had vowed to keep out of his personal life, I couldn’t help wonder what was going on with him. What was the ‘personal reason’ that had caused him to miss an entire year of school? And why was he so touchy about it?

Since North didn’t fill me in on any details of the campus, I tried to keep my eyes open and memorize where the various academic buildings were. I didn’t want to get lost looking for my classes the next day but the Academy grounds were such a maze I was afraid it was a real possibility. Soon enough we found ourselves in front of a large auditorium. It had high ceilings and pale green walls which were visible through the rows of tall, rectangular plastiglass windows that ran the length of the entire building. Inside I saw cadets talking and laughing and eating.