Braxton Academy

Chapter 35

NAOMI'S POV: 

It's been a few days and Mr. Davis has kept his promise. Neither of the Administrators have even batted an eyelash at Ryan. They've been pretending to continue their investigation of the matter, prolonging the fear inside of everyone. Especially Ryan. 

Judging from some of the things I've heard about his response, he must know that they are suspecting him. Mr. Davis even found all of his other stashes in the Academy, now all he needs to know is how Ryan is brining everything in. That information will reveal itself in due time. 

Fear is unpredictable in people; usually it causes someone to shutdown and retreat, but in others it wakes them up. In Ryan's case however, it makes him paranoid and angry at everyone. I guess that was a shield of his. 

The suspicion has generated a quiet energy in the Academy though, as most students are trying to keep their noses as clean as possible. Everyone is 'crossing their 't's' and 'dotting their 'i's'; defaulting to the Academy's standard of orderly conduct. I wonder if that's the agenda of the Administrators...pretending to suspect everyone to keep things peaceful for a few days. It's not a bad strategy.

*Knock, knock* 

"It's open." I wiped my hands on my jeans, not being able to move anywhere else other than where I am. 

"Naomi." Mr. Davis said while entering, his eyes immediately widening as he got a good look around. 

I've been shut inside my room for the last four days; we didn't have school yesterday or today due to fall break so I had no new homework to complete, and I couldn't get anymore ahead than I already was. So, rearranging my room was the only thing I could think of to keep my mind occupied. It kept my hands busy and my thoughts sane, I hated sitting still for too long. 

"You're rearranging the furniture?" Closing the door behind him, he observed the progress I've made so far, which wasn't much. 

"Inspection isn't until tomorrow evening and there's no rule against it." I defended immediately as I noticed he didn't seem pleased. "I've never seen another student do it before but..." 

"There's no rule against it." He assured me. "And no one does it because they don't want to get too comfortable or used to the idea of this being long-term." He shot me an empathetic look.

Nodding, I continued to push my beg against the far-right wall. "Yeah, well I get that." 

"How were you thinking everything should go or are you just seeing your options?" 

"Well," I took a deep breath and wiped some of the sweat from my forehead. "the bed will go where the desk is, the dresser will be where the bed was and my desk will go against my window."

"Facing it?" His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to imagine everything I described.

"Yeah, I like natural light and a view."

"So do I." He smiled. 

"Really?" I had to paint the image of Mr. Davis' office to make sure I had my theory correct. "Your office seems so dark." 

"Image for students' sake." 

Oh. Message received. "Was there something you needed?" I was desperate to change the subject and, if I'm being really honest, I don't feel much like having an audience right now. 

"Yes." He ignored my hastiness. "Jess is leaving in a few minutes, you should go say goodbye." 

My head popped as my memory was jogged, ""She's leaving already?" I glanced at my clock; it was only nine in the morning. "I'm still grounded, am I allowed?"