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Silas grunted.
Kota fell back onto his butt. He put his knees up, pressing his elbows against his knees. He took his glasses off, placing them up on his head and pressed both palms to his eyes. “Why didn’t anyone tell us?”
“There’s a lot going on,” North said, seeming calmer now that everyone else was realizing the full impact he was trying to stress. He pulled from his pocket folded notes and tossed them at us on the floor. “I don’t know what it is, but they’re all crazy for her. You’d think she was the only girl at this school. I think the only thing holding them back from Sang is us. If we back off, there’s no telling what they’ll do.”
“Maybe Dr. Green is right though,” I said. “Maybe it’s like Hendricks thinking I’m with your group. The others are only interested in me because of you all. Dr. Green wanted to set my phone up so I could reach you quickly if I need, and it won’t be for forever. It’s just until they check out McCoy and make sure you guys aren’t getting into fights over uniforms.”
“She might be right,” Silas said. “McCoy’s hot for her right now but it might be because he thinks she’s the one that Blackbourne let slip in with us. If she can separate herself from us, they might turn their attention directly on us instead of her.”
“I’m not leaving her alone,” North said.
“I didn’t say leave her alone,” Silas replied. “We’re still all in the same classes. I can keep an eye on her from across the classroom and walk behind her for a few weeks. We’re still right there if something happens.”
“What were we going to do if something did happen and she’s around? That last fight started with us. What about the next one?” Kota asked. He pulled himself together, putting his glasses back on. The serene calmness of Kota was back. “Dr. Green is right. Are we going to be the hunted or the hunters? We need to focus on paying attention to the students. Mike seems harmless enough and the notes... well she can ignore those.”
North frowned. “I’m worried about the attention she’ll get when other students realize we’re no longer watching over her. What if we get caught up and she’s alone?”
“We’ll train her,” Silas said. He gazed down at me, his hand drifted up and held steady at my neck. “I’ve been meaning to do that, anyway.”
My cheeks heated at his dark eyes full of concern.
“That’ll work,” Kota said, nodding. He glanced at me. “Can you make it out this weekend?”
“I can try.”
“We’ll take time for some self-defense lessons,” Kota said. “We’ve got a busy weekend.”
I fingered the folded notes on the ground. Some had my name spelled wrong. What could anyone possibly want with me? Right now, it seemed so trivial. I was with a group who were about to put themselves in one of the worst possible positions so they could save the students that got picked on and beaten up. They were working together to make the school safer. What were these other boys doing? Hiding behind a piece of paper.
Maybe over the years I would have gladly accepted such attention but with the Academy changing my life, notes seemed so weak. I collected the notes and clutched them in my hands, crumpling the papers between my fingers. I passed them off to Kota dismissively. I may have been shy and I could understand where the writers were coming from, but I didn’t have time right now to play that game. “Maybe we should get homework out of the way,” I said.
Kota took the notes and tossed them into the trash. North’s eyes lit up. Silas’s hand wrapped slightly at my neck and he pulled me close to whisper in my ear, “Good girl.”
F RIDAY
A lone
I dreamed I was in a building, urging others around me to run. There was a bomb about to blow that would injure everyone. No one listened. The explosive detonated.
The alarm woke me from a dead sleep the next morning. I stumbled around half awake to get ready. My muscles were stiff. I thought I was sorer at that moment than I had been the day before. It was tempting to fall back into bed, but I forced myself to get up. Again, it was the thought of the guys needing my help today that got me moving.
I picked out a modest gray A-line skirt and I put on Luke’s blue button up shirt that I had washed. If I was going to be alone today, I wanted to at least wear something that belonged to the boys. It felt important to me. I made sure to use a clip to put my hair up and out of my face. I didn’t need to stand out with my hair down today.
I pulled out a text book I knew we wouldn’t need today for class and some paperwork that I didn’t need any more, lessening the load. I left the bundle on the bed. My room was still a mess from Marie’s meddling the other day but I promised myself I’d clean it later when I got the chance. I wanted Friday to end quickly, as comfortably, and as easily as possible.
I started out into the hallway at the same time Marie did. She wore her usual t-shirt and jeans. Her book bag looked like it carried only a couple of textbooks compared to my very full bag.
“Are you still going to... um, this weekend?” I asked, trying to keep my voice down. When I got in last night, my mother was still dead asleep but that didn’t mean she would stay that way. She could be listening to our conversation.
Marie nodded. “Do you have the key?”
“Come find me at lunch,” I said. “Or wait until we’re on the bus this afternoon. You’ll have it then.” I pulled out the ten dollars that I had kept for her and handed it over. “They’re taking care of it. Keep the money.”
She seemed relieved. She pocketed the bill. “You’ll be at that boy’s house?”
“I should be,” I said. “I’ll try to pop in here. Don’t forget to show up every once in a while.”
She gave me a dismissive nod and headed down the stairs. I couldn’t make her take my suggestions and I had a feeling if she didn’t find it opportunistic, she’d probably ignore it altogether. It was her risk to take. We were both taking big risks at the moment and maybe we had gotten too used to getting put on our knees or sitting on hard stools for hours on end for things as ridiculous as a boy coming to the door and asking to play or for a bad grade on a test. What could be worse? Take the punishment and move on. That’s all we could do. Even with kneeling in rice, even with the lemon and vinegar and that I had experienced and she hadn’t yet, it was still very much a possibility we could both have that happen to us again.
I thought the guys were worth it.
We walked the distance to Kota’s house. Marie immediately went to stand on the other side of the driveway.
Kota and Nathan were there waiting for me. They wore matching dark gray trousers, white button up shirts and the blue blazers, almost identical to the sketches that Gabriel and Luke put together. Nathan’s shirt was unbuttoned all the way, revealing the white t-shirt underneath. Kota wore a red tie, shirt buttoned formally. Even wearing the same things, they still varied slightly to their personality.
The sight of them had me feeling better. It had been the longest week of school I had ever had to deal with and I am sure they felt the same after the craziness that happened. No wonder Gabriel and the others seemed to miss the Academy so much. I couldn’t imagine doing this all year when something so much better waited for me.
“Ready for this?” Nathan asked as I approached. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his slacks. He looked a little better today. While he still had bruises, his eyes were alert and he stood straighter.
I nodded, dropping my bag and violin on the ground at my feet. “Let’s hope today is quiet.”
“Did you bring your phone?” Kota asked.
I glanced over at Marie, who was turned away and looking at Danielle and Derrick coming down the road. Nathan caught my gaze and he stepped in the way to provide a barrier. I reached into my bag for the phone, showing it to Kota.
“You don’t have a pocket?” Kota asked. “You should keep it close.”
I didn’t think about that. I pursed my lips and then slipped the phone into the cup of my bra against my heart. I was blushing as
I did it, as it felt almost like I was exposing something of myself even though they couldn’t see anything. When it was in place, it was unnoticeable.
“Holy shit,” Nathan said as he watched the phone disappear. “We need... no wait, I didn’t say that.”
Kota laughed. He reached out to me to plop a palm on my head and rub. “Girls do have a few tricks.”
The patch on the pocket of the blazer caught my eye. I smoothed my fingers over Kota’s patch. The two marks I had made on Gabriel’s sketch were in place. I traced my finger over it.
Kota’s eyes sought out mine. “What?” he asked.
“The hidden heart,” I said. “He kept it.”
He beamed. “Yeah.”
“It’s not too girly?” I asked. I shifted my eyes between Kota and Nathan.
