The Academy - Friends vs. Family (29 page)

His body stiffened as bad as mine had earlier. I thought perhaps
it tickled, so I switched from fingertips to the flat of my palm to smooth out
the shirt.

He grunted, hooked his arm under my thighs and picked me up. He
deposited me into Kota’s lap and walked around the couch. I heard Kota’s
bedroom door open, close again and North’s footsteps on the stairs.

“Kota,” I whispered. “What...”

He pushed a finger to my lips, stopping me from saying anything.
“Don’t ask,” he whispered back.

I snuggled
into Kota’s lap, worried that I did something wrong. Kota’s hands rubbed at my
back. He wasn’t massaging like before, but tracing his fingers over my shirt. I
relaxed, my cheek pressed into his collarbone. I wasn’t facing the movie any
more. With Kota rubbing me, I closed my eyes and listened to the boys laughing.

F
irst
e
ver
s
leepover

I woke up when the light was flicked on.
The movie credits rolled on the screen. I rubbed at my eyes, sitting up and
yawning.

Kota laughed at me, brushing a lock of
hair away from my cheek. “I guess it’s time to get some sleep,” he said. He
picked me up as he stood and deposited me on Silas’ lap.

Silas’ muscled arms wrapped around me,
cradling me. It was almost warm and cozy enough to fall back asleep.

“I’ll go get blankets,” Kota said.

I blushed, wondering why I was deposited
with Silas instead of just being put down on the couch but I was too lazy and
comfortable to care. I didn’t mind anyway, I was just curious and confused.

“You better keep your eyes on that one,”
I heard North say behind me to Silas.

“What’s the matter, North?” Silas asked.
“Scared of a little girl?” There was a thud and Silas flinched but his eyes
were laughing. I could only guess that North punched him in the arm.

The others moved into action
repositioning the bean bag chairs off to the side by the wall. Some of them
left to go change and the others took over laying out blankets. I pushed myself
off of Silas’ lap so I could help Victor when he came in with an armload of
pillows. Silas got up and walked off to change.

Seven makeshift beds were made across
the floor, one on the couch. Gabriel wore red pajama bottoms and a fitted black
tank shirt. Nathan, Silas and Luke wore shorts, no shirts. Victor had a white
t-shirt and gray striped pajama bottoms. North wore black pajama bottoms and
his black t-shirt. Kota wore a soft gray t-shirt, green pajama bottoms.

We sat together as a group on top of the
blankets in a circle. The others were talking about the movie. I sat between
Luke and Nathan. Luke had a glass bottle in his hand and was taking sips from
it.

“What’s that?” I asked, nodding to his
drink, noting the milky dark liquid. “Isn’t that coffee?”

His eyes narrowed at me and nudged me in
the arm with his elbow. “Maybe.”

“Won’t that keep you up all night?”

A chop landed on my head and Nathan
leaned into me. “Drinks one coffee and she’s suddenly an expert.”

I laughed. “I was just asking.”

“Oy,” Gabriel said from across the
circle. “Alright we’ve got do some girl shit,” he said.

The others laughed at him.

“No,” he said. “I mean for Sang.” He
looked at me. “Girls do something like truth or dare or pillow fighting or
something like that, right?”

I blushed, shrugging. “I don’t know.”
Who did he think I was? I’d told them before no one really talked to me and I
wasn’t close to anyone. Didn’t they believe me?

“What did you do...” Gabriel started but
he caught on to my confused look and slapped a palm to his head, laughing. “God
damn it, Sang. Why didn’t you tell me you’ve never done a sleepover thing? I
thought girls did that stuff all the time.”

Seven pairs of eyes landed on my face,
seeking a million answers and my cheeks were radiating. My finger pushed at my
lower lip. “I just... I mean... I don’t know.”

“You all are forgetting her parents,”
Nathan said, wrapping his fingers around my wrist to pull my hand away from my
face. “She’s not even supposed to be here right now.”

“We are all getting arrested if they
figure this out,” North warned.

“We’re not getting arrested,” Kota said.
“But let’s stop talking about it for now.”

“Right,” Gabriel said. He clapped his
hands and rubbed them together. “Since it’s Sang’s first time, we’ve gotta do
some girly shit. It’s truth or dare time.”

“Try to keep the dares to a minimum,”
Kota begged. “My mom’s probably asleep by now.”

“Sang,” Gabriel said, fixing his
crystals on me. “Truth or dare.”

I pushed my lip into my lower teeth,
tracing my finger across my mouth. “Truth?”

Everyone groaned.

“What?” I asked, and laughed. “I thought
I had a choice.”

“You’re no fun,” Gabriel said, he
brushed his palm against his chin. “Okay, I know you haven’t kissed anyone but
has a guy ever wanted or tried to kiss you?”

Some mouths dropped open. Victor was
sitting back against the base of the couch and his fire eyes caught mine out
quickly. “You’ve never kissed anyone?”

“Shut up,” Gabriel said. “I’m asking the
question. I’m telling you, she’s never done it.”

“We should do it now,” Luke said. “Get
it over with.”

“No,” Nathan barked at him. “First
kisses are supposed to be all nice and stuff. You’re going to scar her for life
making her do it now. No kiss dares.”

There were arguments about this. Luke
and Gabriel were vocal about getting kissing out of the way and one of them
should do it. Nathan, Kota and Victor argued a first kiss for a girl had to be
special. I brought my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around my legs and
pressed my cheek to my knee. If I wanted to stop them from fighting again, I
had to distract them.

“There was a boy,” I said a little
loudly to get their attention. When they heard me, they quieted. “I was in
third grade,” I started, “it was snowing outside for recess and I was supposed
to remain in the classroom. I had been sick the day before and my parents
didn’t want me out in the cold. There was someone else there with me, I don’t
remember who. He was playing on the computer in the back and I was just kind of
watching him. Another boy walked in. He got sent in for being in trouble out on
the playground.”

“Huh,” North said. The others hushed
him.

“I don’t remember his name,” I
continued. “He came in and watched whatever the other guy was doing for a
moment and then asked me to follow him. I never talked to him before so I guess
I was kind of surprised he wanted to. He had me go with him into the coat
closet...”

“I don’t know if I want to hear the rest
of this story,” Luke said.

There was a chorus of shushing.

I pulled my cheek away from my knees to
look up. “When I was inside, he closed the door and he said he wanted to kiss
me. I was so shocked that when he stepped up to me, I pushed him away.” I
started to smile at the memory, shaking my head. “I don’t remember how it
happened but he pushed back and suddenly I was on the ground. He was wrestling
me, trying to kiss me. I remember really not wanting to. I think mostly it was
because he was trying to make me and I didn’t think I needed to be made to kiss
anyone.”

“What an ass,” Gabriel said. “Did you
make it out of the coat closet?”

“That’s another question,” Kota said,
grinning. “You only get one.”

“It’s part of the same... God damn it,
Kota.” He pulled a pillow out and tossed it at him.

Kota caught the pillow in the air before
it hit him. “Besides, if she’s never been kissed, then she got out of the
closet fine without doing it.”

“Oh yeah,” Gabriel said. “Good point.”

“Your turn, Sang,” Nathan said. “Pick
someone.”

I closed my eyes and let my finger fly
around the circle randomly. When I opened my eyes, I was pointing at Victor.
“Truth or dare?” I asked.

“Truth.”

Everyone groaned again.

I bit my lip trying to think of what to
ask him. There were a million questions in my mind right then. What does this
bracelet mean? What does opening up to you mean? I didn’t think it was the
appropriate time, but it was tempting. I settled for something simple. “What
did you say to me in Japanese on the first day of school? The kirei.. um...”

Victor’s face turned red. “I don’t want
to say it.”

“You have to,” Gabriel said to him.
“It’s the rules. You picked truth.”

Victor grunted. He curled his fingers at
me and leaned into the circle. “Come here. You’re asking. You’re the only one
who gets to know.”

“Oy! Cheating!” Gabriel howled.

“Keep it down,” Kota said. “He’s right.
She asked. He only has to tell her.”

I crawled over until I was close enough
for Victor to whisper in my ear.

“Your eyes are beautiful,” he whispered.

I blushed, trying to remember that day.
He still barely knew me!

The others laughed as Victor pulled away
and my cheeks were still red. Victor shared a secret smile with me.

“Your turn to choose, Victor,” Kota
said.

“Sang,” Victor said.

I rolled my eyes. “I just had a turn.”

“I get to pick whoever I want,” Victor
said. “Pick one.”

“Truth.”

Groans.

Victor was quiet for a moment as if
considering his question carefully. “Why did your parents name you Sang?”

This perked everyone up. Again eyes fell
on me.

“My grandmother’s name was Sangrida. My
mom shortened it to Sang.”

“Which grandmother?” he asked.

“My dad’s mother. She died when I was
eight, I think. I don’t really remember her. Marie was named after my mom’s
mother.”

“That was two questions,” Gabriel said.
“Pick someone, Sang.”

“Your turn, Gabriel,” I said defiantly.

He smirked. “Dare.”

“Crap,” I said. Not that I had a truth
picked out but I wasn’t sure what to dare him to do. “I don’t know what I’m
supposed to...”

“Anything,” he said. His crystal eyes
sparkled. “Just don’t make me burn the house down.”

“Make him kiss something,” Luke said.

“Make him drink from the toilet,” Victor
said.

I thought about it. “You know the lip
gloss in your bag?” I asked him.

“Uh huh,” he said, his eyebrow lifting.

I nodded toward his bag. “Go get it for
me and I get to put it on you.”

The others roared with laughter. Kota
had to ask them twice to calm down.

“God damn it,” Gabriel said. He stood
up, ran over to his bag and dug through it for the tube of gloss. He brought it
back and knelt next to me, smacking the tube into my open palm. “You’re so
fucking mean.”

“You said anything,” I said. I pulled
the brush from the tube and held it out toward him. “Pucker up, sweetie.”

He made a kissy face at me, smacking his
lips as he kissed the air. I handed the bottom part off to Nathan to hold. I
grabbed Gabriel’s cheeks and made him do a fish face like he had me do. I got
the brush close to his lips and he made some strange face and poked his tongue
out at me that I stopped, turning my head to laugh.

“Don’t mess up,” Gabriel said through
his squished lips.

“Then stop making faces,” I said. I
swiped the brush across his lips. I smeared it pretty well, marking up part of
his upper lip just under his nose.

“Hey,” he said. He pulled back his head
and reached with his palm to rub it off.

“No. You have to leave it on.”

“For how long?”

“Forever.”

He grunted.

I shrugged. “Until the end of the game.”

He growled. A flash went off. We both
turned and there was another flash. Luke had his cell phone out, pointing it at
us.

“Oh my fucking god,” Gabriel said and he
lunged after Luke. Luke ducked out of the way, shifting to hide behind North.
North took the phone from his brother and sat on it, giving Gabriel a look as
if daring him to come get it.

I was leaning against Nathan, laughing
way too hard. Nathan wrapped a hand around my waist to hold me up, pressing his
cheek to the top of my head.

“Fine, fine,” Gabriel said, going back
to sit cross-legged in his spot. “Sang’s turn.”

I was going to say truth again but
everyone was looking and waiting for it. I relented. “Dare,” I said in a small
voice.

Gabriel beamed, his shiny pink lips
glinting in the light. “I should make you kiss a toilet.”

“Please don’t,” I begged.

He smiled and curled his fingers at me.
“Alright, come here. You have to sit on my lap until the end of the game.”

My mouth popped open but what could I
say? I sat on laps all night. No one argued his dare. I smirked, crawling over
to him. He opened his arms and pulled me in to sit in the middle of his crossed
legs, my back pressed to his chest. He put his cheek next to the side of my
head. His arms threaded around my waist.

“Nathan?” I said, hoping he might be
able to save me.

“Dare,” he said.

Gabriel’s lips traced my ear as he
whispered. I started repeating it. “You have to... get three pieces of ice...
and... oh man that’s so mean!” I said to Gabriel.

“You aren’t supposed to help her,”
Nathan said.