AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My eyes widened. “But why?”
“I’ve never seen a group of friends like them before. I wish I had friends like that when I was your age.”
My eyes flicked to the window. “What does it mean?”
Her smile warmed. “I don’t know what this means. I just have a really good feeling. I’ve asked Kota a million times about why they did certain things. I made him promise me that if he ever wanted out, he would tell me. He never once indicated he would ever leave those boys. The Academy changed everything.”
I reached over to the window to tug one of the blinds up to look back out at them. The boys were now sitting in circle together, cross legged. Kota talked. They listened. They looked exhausted, especially Luke, Nathan and Gabriel. They were hunched over, with dark circles under their eyes.
“They’re almost done. This is some pep talk before he dismisses them,” Erica said. She patted my arm. “Go get a shower or you’ll never get any warm water.”
I didn’t really care about warm water but I did as she suggested. I didn’t want to be there when they came in. I didn’t want them to know I knew.
I grabbed my bag and ran upstairs to Kota’s room, locking myself into the bathroom just as I heard the back door of the house opening. I couldn’t face them, knowing this punishment was all my fault. If I hadn’t been there, if I hadn’t had that dream, if I hadn’t hurt North or made them bicker, they wouldn’t have had to do it.
Why was it that no one complained about it? North had resisted at first but he got up and went with them. None of the others said anything about it. They did what Kota said. Kota the boss. Luke and Nathan and Gabriel weren’t even there last night.
Despite what North said last night, I wasn’t part of them. They didn’t tell me their secrets. I wasn’t really part of the Academy. I wasn’t even included in the punishment when it was my fault in the first place.
So what did Kota and the others mean? Or were they trying to make me feel better when they said I was one of them?
I’d slept with Victor’s bracelet on. I removed it, placing it on the counter by the sink. My fingers flicked over the tiny heart attached to it. Victor said he wanted me to open up. Maybe that was what was wrong.
It was too confusing to think about. North was right. What was I going to do? Run off and tell them to go away? I had to stay, behave, try not to cause any more problems, be as helpful as possible and maybe at some point it would all make sense to me.
Maybe I had to do what Nathan suggested. Don’t worry about it and eventually they’d figure out where I fit in.
HAIRCUT
I turned on the water in Kota’s shower tub, plugging the hole quickly. I didn’t care about hot water. I’d bathe in something lukewarm and save them as much heat as possible. I didn’t work out like they did. I didn’t need it. Plus if I bathed, I’d use less of the warm water anyway.
When the bath was only a quarter of the way filled, I hopped in, shivering and leaping to my toes at the chill. I cranked up the hot water. I slipped into the tub, kneeling and sitting back on my heels. I forced my chattering teeth closed and powered through, grabbing Kota’s soap and washing.
The water warmed, and I settled in more, shutting off the faucet. I was rinsing away the last of the soap from my back and chest when there was a knock. The air shifted around me like the door opened.
“Oy, Trouble,” Gabriel called.
My spine tingled from my butt to my neck. I shifted up to draw my knees in the water over my chest, and wrapping my arms around my body. I didn’t dare turn around and look at him. I hadn’t drawn the curtain. Could he see me? “Gabriel?”
“Did you wash your hair yet?”
Of all things! “No.”
“Don’t. I’ll wash it. I’ve got something for it.”
“Ga...”
“After you put a towel on. Sheesh.” The sound of the door closing caused another tingling to sweep up through me. I peered over my shoulder, but I was alone again. Didn’t I lock the door?
I really was finished with the bath, but I remained for a moment as if to make sure Gabriel wouldn’t pop his head back in. Did he even do that or did he open the door and call in? I wasn’t sure. I would never know.
I hopped out quickly, dripping over the blue carpet. I opened the closet door and dug out a plush green towel, big enough that I could wrap myself up. It reached to my mid-thigh while still covering my chest. I hit the drain so the water could flow out. Was I really going to open the door with just a towel wrapped around myself? Gabriel said I needed to trust him, right? Maybe this was part of what I needed to do to become closer to this strange family.
I stepped behind the door to use as a barrier and opened it slightly. “Gabriel?”
Gabriel stepped through, with two white unmarked plastic bottles collected in his hands. There were heavy shadows under his eyes. His hair was wet and combed back. He was wearing a neon orange tank top and Levi jeans, barefoot. Deep blue crystals sparked in his lobes, along with the usual three black rings.
His eyes did a sweep across me in the green towel and his cheeks tinted. “Oh.”
“You said...” I started. Was he just kidding me? How was I supposed to know? “Do you want me to wash...”
He rolled his eyes. “Shut the fuck up. I’ll do it.” He jerked his head toward the sink. “Get your head in there, Trouble. We’ve got work to do.”
“I don’t want to model today,” I said, stepping over to the sink. It’d been a long day yesterday, a long night, and it was already a crazy morning. The last thing I wanted to do was parade in front of the others.
“No. I’m going to cut your hair. I didn’t have time to do that yesterday.” He dropped the bottles onto the counter and turned the sink faucet on, testing with his fingers to find the right temperature. His eyes were barely open slits as he leaned his body against the sink.
“Do you have to do it today?” I asked. “You look sleepy.”
“I’m fine,” he said, his eyes on the water.
“Are you really?”
His crystal eyes flashed and settled on my face, puzzled. His smirk shifted and he patted me on the hip. “Come on. I can cut your fucking hair.”
I swallo
wed, moving to bend over and let the water run over my head, mostly to please him. Maybe if I let him cut my hair, he could take a nap and relax.
Gabriel remained quiet as he cupped his hand to change the flow to wet my hair. He pulled back to open one of the unmarked bottles he brought in. A dolloped chilled a spot on my head, the coolness sending another shiver through my spine. I adjusted the towel against my body.
The smell of the shampoo hit my nose. Acidic, a pang of metallic odor. I held my breath, wondering if it would go away. When I breathed in again, the scent lingered strong.
“Gabriel...”
His fingers lathered the shampoo into my hair, massaging against my scalp. “What?”
“It smells.”
“It’s a special formula. Just let it work.”
I swallowed, trying to hold my breath. The scent accosted my nose and mouth every time I breathed in. It was like the air was dripping with fermented fish and pennies.
He rinsed my hair, applied conditioner and had me back my head out of the water so he could work it in. The conditioner was worse than the shampoo, and I moved a hand from the towel to clutch my palm around my nose.
“It’s not that bad,” Gabriel insisted.
Was his nose broken? “Will it stick to my hair?”
“Will you stop worrying? Fucking shit, let me do my job, please?” He pushed my head into the water again.
He was getting the last of the conditioner rinsed out of the ends of my hair when a knock sounded at the bathroom door.
“Gabe,” someone called from Kota’s bedroom.
“What?” Gabriel called back.
The door rattled and North’s head poked in, his hair messy and dripping water onto his cheeks. His eyes fell on me in the towel, to Gabriel half bent over me with his fingers in my hair, and back to me in the towel.
“Oh hell no,” he boomed. The door crashed against the bathroom wall. He had a towel wrapped around his waist, one hand clutched at his hip to hold it in place.
“Get out,” Gabriel barked at him. “I’m washing her hair.”
