October Academy

Chapter 2

The coaches waltz into the room –possibly more furious than the boys.

"What the fuck is going on in here!" Coach Goscicki yells over the room.

The students freeze up and watch Coach Goscicki. They must have a lot of respect for him, given the amount of docility I see in their eyes. They're almost like dogs – and Coach Goscicki is their master.

"This is unacceptable behaviour! What are you? Barbarians? Neanderthals?"

I try not to scoff. As my skin tightens into an almost smile, I feel pain shoot up into my eye socket. Fuck, that's going to hurt in the morning.

I look at Xander. He looks back at me – but with a confused expression. Maybe he doesn't know how I got here. Maybe he's concussed?

Coach Goscicki sends the boys to their respective change rooms before his eyes fall on me.

"Go on," he says, as if to shoo me away.

It works. I scram.

Half the rink is empty by the time I get back. Perry waits for me on the bleachers, hunched over her hot chocolate. Her blonde braid seems to be about to dunk itself into her beverage.

"I'm back," I say.

"What took you so long? You didn't even do a good job of getting the chocolate out," she says, giving me a once over. "Oh my sweet goodness – have you been crying?"

"What? No."

"Your eye is so red," she says.

"I doubt it's as red as your nose," I laugh and loop my arm into hers, "Come on, let's go home, Rudolph."

.

.

.

I tell Perry about the fight as I drive. She texts Xander radically, so fast I think she might burn her fingers. "Mum is going to be so mad," she says to me.

"I think he might need to go to a hospital," I think out loud.

"The nurse checked everyone over before they were sent back to the academy. He reckons he's fine."

"I don't know about that. For a minute there, I thought he could die."

"I can't believe him. Mum's going to be so peeved."

"You're such a tattle tale," I tease her. "Surely you aren't going to tell your mother."

"I already have," she says innocently.

I pull up onto the driveway of the Nine Lives. "You can wait in the car, I'm just grabbing my phone charger."

She nods absently, typing away furiously onto her phone.

I step out of my car. I pull my keys out of my bag for the front door of Nine Lives, and then the keys for Ben's apartment upstairs.

Nine Lives just happens to be the only cool bar anywhere near October Academy. Luckily enough for me, my foster brother is the main bartender. He's basically run the place since he graduated a couple of years ago. The real owners live in India somewhere so they let Ben run the joint and live upstairs for free. Which is a real good deal, considering we're pretty broke.

As I shimmy the key into the lock, I swear I can hear music. Which is strange, because Nine Lives isn't open on Monday's this late. I open the door slowly so I can peek my head in without being obvious.

All the lights are off, except for one shinning coolly on the piano. I look around the room quickly. In front of me is the bar – empty. Across from that is some high tables, a dance floor, the stage... I notice a shadow lingering on the stage. Playing piano? Is someone robbing us?

Since when do robbers play Bella's Lullaby? Can you even be a Twilight fan and a criminal?

I have no other option than to sneak in and attack them. I slip into the room – hoping the piano player hasn't noticed me – and crouch down behind the bar. I text Ben.

Me: Yo – are you awake? There's someone downstairs. Come down quick!

I find the bat that Ben keeps hidden behind the bar and grip it tightly in my hands. Crawling closer to the piano, I notice the sickening smell of alcohol stuck to the floor. My heart beats faster as I crawl closer to the stage.

As I near the end of the bar, I check my phone quickly and send Ben a few more texts.

Me: Ben! Wake up!

Me: Ben! Ben! Bennnnnnnn!

No response. I peak behind the bar. The piano player seems to be completely bewitched by his own piano playing. And I won't lie – he's pretty good. If he wasn't a thief.

I sneak up behind him, noiseless as a mouse. I hold the bat up high, ready to whack it down on his head and knock him out cold.

Just as I'm about to swing, my foot makes a creaking sound and the piano player turns around.

I shriek as I try to land the bat on his body somewhere – but I'm too slow. He grabs the bat with both his hands.

"Woah woah woah!" he says as the lights flicker on.

"Jade!" I hear from behind me, "Chill, chill! That's my friend."

I turn around to see Ben in his Elmo pyjamas at the foot of the stairs near the edge of the bar.

I look back at the piano playing thief. I notice now how tall he is, how he looks about the same age as Ben, how he's handsome with dirty blonde hair.

Instantly, heat rises to my cheeks. My shoulders, which were tightly bound and up to my ears, relax, and I drop the bat.

Ben rushes over to us. "Shit, what were you doing?"

"I thought – I thought he was a burglar," I stammer, now embarrassed I almost decapitated this man.

"So you got a bat...?" Ben says, completely shocked.

"Ruthless," the piano player says with a sly smirk. "That's pretty badass. I'm Callum," he says, extending his hand.

I hesitate before I shake it, "I'm Jade. Uh, sorry for almost home-running you."

"My pleasure," he says.

"What were you doing in the middle of the night, in the dark, playing piano anyways?" I ask.

"Inspiration struck me," he says sarcastically.

"Callum's staying with me for a while," Ben interjects.

"Great," I say, mimicking his sarcasm. Now that I've excruciatingly embarrassed myself, it's time to go. "I just came to get my charger," I say to Ben, avoiding eye-contact with Callum.

"I'll get it," Ben says and disappears up the stairs to his apartment.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side, huh?" Callum attempts to joke.

"I didn't even land a swing on you."

"I better not give you another opportunity to."

"Just don't be an ass and we'll get along fine."

"I have a feeling we'll get along better than fine."

I look up at him through the dim lighting to see a cheeky grin. Luckily, it only takes thirty seconds of intensely being alone with Callum before Ben returns with my charger.

"Thanks," I say as he passes it to me. I head towards the door.

"See you tomorrow," Ben farewells me.

"Good night," I call out, taking one last glance back. Callum's eyes lock on mine and he gives me a nod that shouldn't feel so close given how far away we are. 

I sit in the car and Perry is just how I left her, ferociously typing away.