The Academy - Friends vs. Family (24 page)

My core vibrated.

“We came to make sure you weren’t dead,” Kota said. His eyes
hadn’t left my body but he smiled as he touched a forefinger to the corner of
his glasses. “No one checked in but I can see why.”

My cheeks radiated again. “Sorry.”

Gabriel chopped at my head. “Shut up. You’re not sorry.”

“I’m not?”

He smirked, and tugged at my arm. “Let’s do it, Nathan.”

Nathan seized me around the stomach and Gabriel snatched up my
legs. They held me so that even as I squealed and laughed and tried to break
free, they hauled me up over their heads. They walked over to the pool and
shifted until I was hanging above the ground. Nathan had a hold of my wrists
and Gabriel had my ankles and they started swinging me like I was a hammock
between them.

“One,” Nathan shouted.

I drifted precariously over the water.

“Don’t...” North bellow at them.

“Two,” Gabriel said.

There was no three. I flew, splashing into the water sprawled out
on my back. I twisted under the surface and swam for the other end of the pool.
I pulled my body hard against the water resistance, using an arm motion Nathan
had showed me before to get to the end. I slapped the brick with my hand.
Nathan had been on my heels but he was too late.

“I win,” I said, making a face at him. It wasn’t a real race, I
knew. I just wanted to say it.

“Shit,” he said, but he didn’t look at all disappointed.

The new arrivals disappeared into Nathan’s house. When they came
back out, I was up in Nathan’s arms about to get flung across the pool. I only
caught a glance of them all in bathing suits before I started flying. I hit the
water, letting myself sink to touch bottom.

I felt the water shift. Silas came at me, wrapped his arms around
my stomach and hauled me up until I was cradled in his arms.

“Hi Silas,” I said in a soft voice, oddly shy again as his big
hands held me at my back, hugging me. My bare, soft stomach met with his hard
muscles.

“Hi
aggele mou
,” he said. His black hair stuck wet to his
forehead. A droplet slid down against his cheek. “Miss us?”

I brightened. “Yup.”

 “Well we’ve got all night.”

My fingers traced my parted lips. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t you know? Erica said to come over and we’re all hanging out
tonight.”

Was that what she meant? “You mean sleeping over?”

He laughed, nodding.

My heart beat wildly at the thought of spending the entire night
out with all of the guys. Were they sure we could? I was having so much fun now
that I was completely forgetting my parents and everything that had happened. I
checked the others as if they had been listening and looking for confirmation.

North, Luke and Kota stood in the pool. They were talking together
at one end with Victor, Nathan and Gabriel.

At first I was distracted because it was the first time I had seen
Kota without a shirt. I was thrown into near shock. He seemed just as well-built
as the others. Why had I thought before that he was weaker or was it just the
almost geek-like stereotype he resembled? He almost as defined as Nathan, but
Kota was slightly slimmer, smoother.

Then it was seeing them altogether with their shirts off. I felt
myself taking in a slow breath, in awe of their bodies, their striking
handsomeness. How in the world did I end up friends with them? It felt like an
eternity had passed since the first day and I had forgotten where this started.
I felt so out of place compared to their shocking good looks and their various
talents. Plain Sang didn’t belong.

After I had gotten my eyeful of them, I overheard my name being
mentioned and I was straining to hear.

Silas lifted me a little higher in his arms. “So do you really
want to fly?”

My eyes popped open and I grinned wickedly. I knew this was a
distraction but I was too excited to care. “How?”

He let go of me until I was standing next to him. He backed up
until he could stand waist deep in the water and positioned his hands out in
front of himself as if he wanted to give me a boost. “Put both of your feet in
my hands,” he said.

I dropped my hands onto his broad shoulders. My fingertips tingled
at the touch of his bare skin. I slipped a foot into his hands, and pushed
myself up until I could get the other one next to it. He wrapped his fingers
around my feet.

“Bend your knees a little,” he said as he lifted me slightly out
of the water.

I wobbled, mostly due to nerves, and my hands gripped at his
shoulders.

“I’ve got you,” he said. His face floated close to my belly. I
sucked in my stomach but steadied as he used his shoulder to bolster me at my
thighs. “I’m going to move down into the water and push you up and out. You
should get ready to jump from my hands at the same time. Push yourself off.”

I let out a slow breath as he grasped at my feet. He slipped into
the water until it was up to his shoulders.

I bent my knees slightly, waiting.

“Ready?”

“No,” I said in a tiny voice. I shut my eyes and squealed. “Do
it.”

He grunted as he lifted, shoving me up to boost me into the air.

“God damn it, Silas,” North yelled as I put my full energy into
jumping from Silas’s hands.

I was flying. I somersaulted, flipping over until I hit the water
with my knees, almost upright.

I surfaced and I could hear Gabriel hooting. The others laughed.
North tried to give me an angry eyeball but his mouth was grinning.

Gabriel backed away from the others and stepped to the edge of the
pool. He jumped, doing a full front flip and shallow dive, zooming under the
water for me.

I scrambled to get behind Silas thinking Gabriel was after me
again. Gabriel surfaced, nodded at Silas and they did that silent
communication.

“Watch this,” Gabriel said. He positioned himself like I had done
in Silas’s hands. In a flash he was up in the air, light as a feather, flipped
twice and landed smoothly into the middle of the pool.  

My mouth was open, impressed by the acrobatics.

“I can do better,” Luke shouted. “Let’s do it at the same time,
Sang. Gabriel, you push her in the air.”

“Shit, make them stop, Kota,” North said.

“I think there’s enough of us around to make sure they aren’t
going to drown,” Kota said calmly.

North huffed but slipped into the water. He eyed me intently and
swam for me.

His wide tapered shoulders parted the water in a wave. The line of
coarse hair starting from his black bathing suit and ending above his belly had
me hypnotized.

He hooked an arm out, and grabbed at my waist to drag me with him
in the water until we were next to Silas. “If anyone’s going to, I’ll do it.
Make sure you don’t break your head.”

North boosted me in his hands like Silas had done. Again I sucked
in my stomach as North’s warm breath teased my belly button. Silas lifted his
hands again for Luke. Luke grabbed Silas’s shoulders and hauled himself out of
the water.

“Ready?” North asked. His dark eyes focused on my face.

I squealed a little. “Okay.”

North counted off with Silas and I was flung into the air. Luke
did a double flip and I managed simply to twist and flip almost completely
over. I crashed into the water, bobbing up and laughing.

North swam up to me, catching me by the hips. My arms
instinctively wrapped around his neck and he held me against his body. “You
okay?”

I started to nod, trying to assure him I was fine, but my eyes
caught on something over his head.

A face was looking in at us over the fence.

North caught where I was looking. North pulled me down again into
the water, turning to block me from view of whoever it was and covering the
side of my head with his big hand to pull me closer to him.

Gabriel shot out of the water and raced toward the fence. The face
disappeared. Gabriel caught the edge of the fence and scaled it, hanging off of
the top to look over. His head twisted to watch whoever it was and he dropped
down again, walking back toward the pool.

“It was Danielle,” he said. “She ran off.”

North grunted near my ear and his arm tightened around my hips.
“I’m getting really tired of her.”

Kota was insistent that we not worry about Danielle. I wondered
why she was spying on us or how she knew we were there. Was Marie with her?
Would she tell our mom?

Despite my questions, everyone obeyed Kota. It wasn’t mentioned
again.

It was easy to lose track of time swimming with the others. Silas,
North and Nathan took turns flipping us and each other. Victor and Kota chose
to stay out of the water most of the time, watching us with their feet dangling
into the pool. On occasion they gave instructions to us on how to do it better
or offered a challenge.  

When I was exhausted, I swam up next to Kota, pulling myself up to
sit next to him. Without his glasses, his green eyes sparked.

“Hi,” he said, the friendly smile warm and inviting. “Having fun?”

I nodded, breathless. “I can’t flip as high as the others.”

“It’s practice,” he said. “You have to work at it.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “When am I ever going to get to
practice?”

He brought his face close until his forehead was touching mine.
“You ask nicely.”

I blushed. “Are you going to swim?”

“I thought you were flipping.”

“I haven’t raced you yet,” I said. “I’ve been flipping so much I’m
dizzy. Let’s just swim.”

He chuckled. “Are you sure you want to race me?”

Victor nudge Kota’s arm. “It’s a trap. If you win, you get a favor
or something and she totally cheats.”

“Shhh,” I said. “Don’t tattle.”

Victor smirked back at me. “You’re lucky I haven’t won yet.”

“Let’s go,” I said. “You can’t win if you don’t race.” I splashed
into the water again, reaching a hand out for his.

His fire eyes ignited. His hand drifted out toward mine. I grabbed
it and tugged lightly. He slipped into the water.

I glanced over at Kota. “Ready?” I stretched my free hand out to
him.

His smile was strange to me and I didn’t quite understand it. He
clutched my hand, his fingers enveloping mine. He pushed himself off into the
water and kept hold on to my hand.

I was holding both of their hands at the same time. I laughed,
trying to deflect when I felt awkward. Friends touch, I kept repeating in my head.

We positioned ourselves at one end of the pool. Gabriel and the
others backed out of the way, understanding what we were going to do and giving
us room.

I was in the middle, Kota to my left and Victor to my right. From
what I remembered, Victor was slower than the others. I was questioning how
fast Kota was. I bent my knees against the side of the pool and readied myself.

“On your mark,” Nathan shouted over the buzz of voices surrounding
him.

I shot off before he finished what he was saying. I accidentally
started laughing at the same time, which wasted a whole bunch of air. It felt
so wrong to be cheating against Kota.

Kota started to pass me and out of desperation, I grabbed at his
leg, trying to pull him backward in the water as Nathan had done to me before.
I meant to distract him long enough to breeze past him. I wasn’t as strong as
Nathan and my effort only caused Kota to look back at me, confused. He turned
in mid-stroke. He swam after me, picked me up in his arms and lifted out of the
water.

I gasped as we surfaced, squirming against him. “Hey,” I said.
“We’re supposed to be racing.”

“No way,” he said. “If I’m going down, you’re going with me.” He
re-gripped my waist and splashed backward into the water, sinking.

I fidgeted to get out of his grip. Those green eyes sparked,
locking on me and I stilled. I didn’t completely understand the look we shared
together in that moment but it was the happiest I could ever remember being.
Under the water with him, my parents had faded away from my mind. The Academy’s
heavy secrets disappeared. All of the worries about school and stress melted
away. Here was Kota. My friend. Holding me. Laughing with me. The other guys
were close by and watching over us and blocked out the rest of the world from
our own little place here in Nathan’s backyard. I didn’t want to be anywhere
else.

Kota beeped my nose with a forefinger and released me, floating to
the surface. I drifted up next to him.

When he broke out of the water, my breath caught at how the water
rippled away from his broad, tapered shoulders and down his long, defined
torso. Droplets traced along his high cheekbones, curving under the angle of
his jaw.

His head tilted, as if he didn’t understand why I was staring. I
released a laugh to break the tension. He laughed with me, shaking his head.