The Academy - Introductions (3 page)

I smiled. Who didn’t love marshmallows?

He tilted his chin toward me. “Scoot over.”

I tucked my knees into my chest and moved toward the
window, my back pressed to the wall. Kota took the outside, his back against
the opposite wall, and handed me the mug. The warmth from the outside of the
cup was a little too much for my hands that were still chilly, so I held it
carefully by the handle with my fingertips barely touching the bottom. Blowing
gently to cool it, I took a sip, letting the warm, sweet liquid pool over my
tongue before sliding down my throat.

“So where did you move from?” He took a sip from his own
mug, but his eyes fixed on me.

I blushed and glanced out the window. “A tiny town in
Illinois.”

“Did you leave any friends?”

I shook my head and turned back toward him. “No one I would
write to. I really wasn’t that close to anyone.”

His hands rubbed at the mug, his thumb tracing the lip and
he cast his eyes to the marshmallows floating on top. He had a knee up on the
cushion of the window seat. His leg was just a breath away from mine. The
almost-touch made my heart flutter. “You’ll be going to the public school,
right?”

Why did he say it like that? “Like everyone else, I guess.”
For which I was grateful. Despite my mother’s complaints about sending us to
school, my father insisted we were allowed. It was the only thing he stepped up
to her about. I believed he was sure if we didn’t go to school that she could
never keep up with a home school system and the state would be after them.

He looked up, confusion in his face. “What grade?”

“Sophomore,” I said. I hoped it was okay to be honest.

His head tilted, his eyes sparked. “Me, too. What are you
going to take this year?”

I shrugged. “I don’t really know what I want.”

He blinked. A silence stretched between us. We sipped our
cocoa together and my eyes flickered from his knee that was so close to mine
and the window. It was a strange feeling, like something I had seen out of
movies. Two people sharing an evening together and dabbling with small talk.
Did people really do things like this? My mind whirled with something to say
but I was never good at starting conversations.

After a few moments, he spoke. “Do your parents want you to
take something in particular?”

I sighed and nodded. “The daughter of an electrical
engineer should have a degree in something. My older sister already started in
the arts. I’m getting pushed into science.”

“Would it be that bad? Science is pretty awesome.”

I grimaced. I didn’t want to insult him by being honest. I
liked science but I wasn’t sure if it was my favorite. “I don’t know if I want
to do that.”

His head tilted as he gazed down at me. “What do you
prefer?”

“I’m not sure really,” I said. Thoughts of the paperwork in
my room filled my head. I liked this conversation better. It didn’t feel too
personal. “There’s so many choices. I don’t know if I want to devote my life to
science. Or art. Or something else. It all sounds good.”

He laughed softly. “That sounds familiar.”

I blushed again because I didn’t understand what he meant.
I moved the mug up to my lips mostly to feel the heat from the cocoa. “I don’t
hate science. I don’t hate anything. It’s like I want everything. Not fully. I
just want a touch.” I felt I was rambling and took a sip of cocoa just to get
myself to shut up.

He fiddled with his own mug. “Sang... where were you
going?”

I kept the mug close to my lower lip and breathed deeply,
letting the warm sweet air fill my lungs. “There’s that new house up the road.
I was going to sleep there for the night.”

“You were running away?”

I closed my eyes. I hated those words. “No. Not for
forever. I just wanted one night out of the house.”

“So you wanted to break into a house? Alone? In the middle
of the night?”

My face burned and I turned my head away to look out into
the night again. Only this time the sight was blurred by tears. “It sounds
crazy.” I blinked a lot, trying to force the tears back. When I felt a little
calmer, I turned again to look at him. “I wasn’t going to hurt anything. My
parents are... different. I don’t get out much. I just wanted to get away for
the night. I didn’t want to feel trapped anymore.”

“You just needed a release.”

I felt my heart lift. He understood! “It was just a bad
night to do it. I shouldn’t probably have thought of the empty house. I just
knew the back door was open and I wouldn’t have harmed anything.”

The corners of his mouth lifted. “I have to admit, I can’t
imagine you committing a breaking and entering. You don’t look like the bad
girl type.”

I made a face at him and he laughed. When he did, I
couldn’t help it. I giggled too. “I guess it seems pretty silly. It’s just a
single night.”

He tilted his head. “Why tonight? I mean what happened
today that you felt you had to get out?”

I blushed again and I held a palm to my cheek, pretending
to rub it so I could hide the redness. “It’s complicated.”

“I’m pretty smart. Try me.”

Now that I’ve said all this out loud, it did seem dramatic
and silly. “It seemed a better idea than hiding away forever. I don’t want to
believe the world is all that terrible.” My voice shook as I spoke. I worried
that I might cry in front of him.

His smile softened and his eyes sparked again. “Sang,
you’re an idiot.”

The insult made my mouth pop open and a rush of heat
radiated from my face. “But... I...”

He lifted a hand and dropped a finger on my open lips to
stop me from talking. “Three reasons. For one, you picked a bad night to take
off.”

I couldn’t disagree with him. I also couldn’t think
clearly. His finger remained on my lips and I wasn’t sure how to move. It was
hard to concentrate on what he was saying.

“Two, if you knew the house was empty, someone else could
be lurking in there, too. Maybe a hobo or some other teenagers. It might not be
true of you, but people who break into houses are often not very nice people.
You’d be walking in on them.”

I hadn’t even thought about that. “What’s the third?” I
asked, even as his finger was still on me and I was more than mumbling. He
grinned at it and moved his finger away.

“If your parents caught you, you might have been grounded
for a lifetime and I would have never met you.”

My heart stopped in that moment. I thought he was just
teasing me but something in his eyes shimmered honest. It melted me at the
core. He cared. But why? About me? How?

He tilted his mug and drained the rest of his cocoa. “Do
you have to be somewhere tomorrow?”

I shook my head.

“Are you still intent on staying out for the night?”

Would he tell my parents about it? Somehow I didn’t think
he would. He was giving me a choice. Did I really want to do it? He was right
about not going to the empty house. Walking out in the middle of the night was
not the best way to prove anything other than I was taking a big risk. However,
I couldn’t stand by and let myself be caught forever in the small world they
built for us. “If I could figure something else out...”

He put the mug down and then planted a palm on my knee. “So
how about this, I’ll let you sleep here tonight. I think you’ll feel better in
the morning about it all. After that, give me a month.”

It took everything in my will power not to pull away from
his touch. It felt so intimate that it made me shake. I blinked at him,
confused. “To do what?”

“We’ll get your parents to relax so you don’t have to sneak
out.”

I smirked again. “Now who is being idiotic?”

He smiled, sincere and warming. “I mean it.”

“You don’t know me. Why do you care?”

He shrugged. “Friends help each other. We’re friends now,
aren’t we?”

I couldn’t answer him right away. Could it really be that
simple? Growing up, I wasn’t allowed to attend parties or even just hang out. Outside
of school, I saw no one. Friends were the people who I sat with at lunch, and
never said a word to them otherwise, never called, never went to the mall with.
The truth was I didn’t have a clue what a true friend was supposed to be like.
Was it supposed to happen so quickly? “I suppose so.”

He nodded and then stood up. He took my mug from me. “I’m
going to take these downstairs and put Max into his crate. You go hop into
bed.”

My mouth fell open and I glanced at his bed. “But...
you...”

He laughed at my expression. “Don’t worry. There’s a
roll-away bed underneath that one. When I get back I’ll pull it out and will
sleep there.”

My parents would have a fit. Still, I shivered with
excitement. I’d never been out anywhere and my first night alone, I would be
sleeping in a boy’s room. “But maybe I could sleep on the roll-away thing. I
mean it’s your bed.”

“Just get in, will you? It’s late.” He turned and thudded
his way back down the stairs.

I froze where I was for a moment. Again tears came to my
eyes. He was so nice to me. How could I leave now? Maybe he was right. Would he
keep his promise though? Could I trust him? I’ve already told him so much and I
couldn’t believe I admitted out loud what I had never told a soul. It was those
green eyes and the way he looked at me. He made it so easy to talk to him
because he was so calm and he instantly knew what to do. It was almost like
magic.

I fidgeted with the hem of his shirt as I stepped toward
his bed. I swallowed thickly, trying to still my heart. Forbidden territory. I
inched myself down, sitting carefully on the edge until I heard it creak. Was I
afraid it would bite me? I think I was more afraid of my parents somehow
finding out.

Only they wouldn’t find out.

I tucked my toes in between the sheets, relaxed my head
onto the pillow and yanked the blanket up over me. With the blanket pulled up
to my chin, my body warmed a few degrees. I hadn’t realized how cold my body
was before. When my bones thawed, my whole body melted into the bed. I inhaled
a delicate pang, a spicy fragrance. Is that what he smelled like? The softness
of his pillow forced my eyes shut. Kota’s bed. A boy’s bed.

The next time I opened my eyes, the room was dark. From
what little light came through the window, I could see the roll-away bed that
had been pulled out. Kota was on his back, his elbow against his forehead. His
mouth was open and he was breathing slowly. With his glasses off, he looked
completely adorable. I stayed awake as long as I could to watch him.

My new friend.

V
ictor

I dreamed about fire in a house I didn’t recognize. I was
running to find a door, knowing someone was chasing me but I couldn’t see his
face. I didn’t want him to find me. I didn’t want to burn.

M
y eyes
popped open the next morning when sunlight managed to filter through the sheet
I had over my head. I worried I would drool or something and Kota would laugh.
There was a chill and I pulled the blanket over my head. I pushed the corner up
an inch to peek out. I didn’t want to get up if he was still trying to sleep.

I wondered how awkward he must have felt having a strange
girl sleep in his bed.

Kota wasn’t there. Neither was the pull out bed. How early
did he wake up in the mornings? Usually I was a very light sleeper, so it
surprised me he could get up without me hearing him. I wasn’t sure what to do
so I rolled onto my back, covering myself with the blanket fully and waited. I
didn’t want to get up and poke around without him.
That was clever of me
,
I thought.
Too scared to get up when he’s here. Terrified when he isn’t.

Time passed for so long I thought maybe he’d forgotten
about me. I turned on my side to face the wall, trying to will myself to relax
and just get up and face whatever was downstairs. I was just getting myself to
sit up when the sound of a door opening broke the silence, followed by thudding
at the stairs.

I fell back onto the bed, trying to feign sleep. I pulled
the blanket over my head to cover my face. I wasn’t sure why I did that, but it
seemed like a safe thing to do to pretend to wake up while he was nearby.

After the thudding ended on the stairs, there was only
silence. What happened? I held my breath while underneath the blanket. My ears
strained to hear any sound. Was he being quiet to me sleep? My heart thudded
against my chest, loud and I wondered if I would hear him at all. Should I get
up now? Was he doing something? I was tempted to take a peek only I wasn’t sure
if he’d notice.

“Hey Kota!” A male voice called out, clearly trying to be
loud on purpose. There was something striking in the voice though. Smooth. The
baritone was like a familiar singer but I couldn’t remember the name. “Still
sleeping? What’s wrong with you?”