The Academy - First Days by C. L. Stone

Not that it mattered as other students held
hands. It just mattered to me as my already overworked heart quivered at his
touch.
    He pulled his cell phone out with his free hand and was typing
something in.
    “If Victor’s gone, does that mean you’re stuck here?” I asked him,
knowing Victor had driven him there that morning.
    Gabriel looked up for a moment and gave me another reassuring
smile. “Oh don’t worry. I’ll probably just catch the bus with you.”
    “With me?”
    “Yeah. I’ll hang out at Kota’s. It’s okay.”
    I bit my lip. This felt like a pre-arranged plan. So Victor’s
sudden disappearance was expected to happen at some point. If that was the
case, then Gabriel knew more than he was telling me. I couldn’t think of the
questions to ask to figure out the truth.
    Gabriel’s phone vibrated and beeped in his hand. He checked it.
“Victor and Nathan have training. They’re with Mr. Blackbourne now.” He put his
phone in his pocket. “See? They’re fine.”
    “What kind of training?” I asked. “What does that mean? Is it for
the Academy?”
    He shrugged, squeezing my hand. “Don’t worry about it, okay?”
    How could he be so calm? They skipped a class on the first day and
the administration knew about it. “They can’t skip class like that,” I said.
“Why is the principal checking up on everyone? It’s the second time I saw him
today.”
    Gabriel blinked at me. “What do you mean?”
    I described to him what happened in homeroom with North and Luke
and how he had asked about uniforms.
    Gabriel rubbed the back of his head. “Now that’s really weird.”
    We got onto my bus. Kota was already in a seat in the middle. I
slid in next to him and Gabriel took the seat across the aisle.
    “Good,” Kota said. “You made it. In this mess, I was worried I would
go home alone.” His lips curled up and his green eyes brightened at seeing me.
He didn’t seem one bit fazed that Gabriel was on the bus, too. He appeared used
to getting unexpected visitors.
    “Do you know where Nathan is?” I asked Kota.
    His smile faltered for a moment but he recovered it quickly. “He’s
at training?” he looked over my shoulder at Gabriel. I turned in time to see
Gabriel expressing something to him but Gabriel changed his face and flashed me
a grin.
    I sighed, sitting back with my arms folded over my chest. “What
kind of training is this?”
    “Probably jujitsu.” Kota said.
    “During the middle of school?”
    “Uh...”
    “With Victor and Mr. Blackbourne?”
    His face turned pale. “Well...”
    I pursed my lips and rubbed a palm over my forehead. What kind of
Academy was this school they went to? They would take their students out of
class for surprise jujitsu training? I didn’t need to ask. This was a lie to
mask whatever secret the Academy made them swear to keep. I wasn’t allowed to
know. “Fine,” I said. “You don’t have to tell me.” They both blinked at me in
reply so I went on. “I mean you said it, Kota. There are some things you can’t
tell me. Just tell me that. It’s something you can’t tell me.”
    A smile crossed his lips. He leaned in to me so close I could feel
his breath on my ear as he whispered. “It’ll be fine,” he said. “I promise.”
    It would have to do for now. There was no way I could make them
tell me. But why did they make it sound so dangerous? Or was it they didn’t
want to put me in the middle in case they got into trouble? Plausible
deniability? A secret school for unusual people. In my mind, the dark mystery
school I envisioned the Academy being was full of ninjas all sparring in
silence.
    The bus was warm and as it filled up with students, I started
sweating. There were nearly double the amount of kids from that morning.
Eventually Kota and I moved over to make room for Gabriel. We were sitting with
our thighs pressed against each other. All the students were like that.
    “How many students can this bus hold?” I wondered out