Tenerife Academy

1

"This is an outrage!" Gabriel Hall turned in his seat to see what all the commotion was about. A young girl stood in the lounge area of the Tenerife Academy. "I was told that I would be training with the men, not learning 'Table Manners'," She said, anger and sarcasm dripped from her voice as she spat the last words. A few of the girls standing in the lounge area looked taken aback and rather offended. Gabriel could tell by the girl's voice that she was extremely pissed. His curiosity got the best of him and stood from his seat to get a better view over all the stunned students, whispering about the strange girl. The girl he saw was unfamiliar. She appeared to be 5'6. She had long blonde hair and her green eyes glimmered with a sort of challenge, as if they were daring someone to tell her she was being ridiculous. "Mrs. Blackthorn, please, this is just a mistake due to the sudden change. I will see to it that your schedule be fixed as soon as possible," said Mr. Tate from behind his Student Services desk. Mr. Tate was about 48 and spoke with a strong, confident voice. His words seemed to put the girl at ease. "Yes. Thank you. Sorry for the... interruption," she said as she turned and left the building almost as swiftly as she had entered it. Everyone went about their business as Gabriel walked over to Mr. Tate's desk. "Well, she seems... cheery," said Gabriel as he took a peppermint from Mr. Tate's desk. "Tell me, William; is she also this bright and peppy?" Mr. Tate chuckled a little. "Well, in her defense, she's been through a rough time because of her decision to train for the Beta Test. Even with the new law in place, not very many people like this change. And because she is the only girl training, I'm sure she's been a bit overwhelmed." Gabriel thought back to the day that the law had been past officially. There had been talk about it, rumors really. Nobody thought the government would actually go through with it. "But is it really much of a surprise that she is the only girl? Hardly any girl would pick pushups over tea," Gabriel laughed. Besides, he thought to himself, how likely was it that she would actually make it past training? "So who is she anyways?" Gabriel asked, trying to act totally uninterested. Mr. Tate raised an eyebrow at him. When he spoke, he had a firm tone, "Her name is Camille Blackthorn and she is completely off limits." Gabriel smiled and winked. "Do you really think I would go for a stickler like that? Especially a freshman?" he scoffed playfully. Gabriel turned to leave. As he was leaving he could've sworn he heard Mr. Tate murmur something under his breath.

"She's far more than that, Mr. Hall. Far more."

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Camille unlocked the door of dorm K228 and stepped into her new home for the next year. It was larger than she expected. She set her bags down, closed the door and began exploring her dorm. It was larger than she expected. There were four rooms: the kitchen, the entertainment room, the bedroom, and a bathroom specially installed for her since she was staying in the boys' complex. The board members of the Academy agreed that a girl showering in an all-boy locker room could cause some discomfort. Others had said that she should be treated as the boys if she wanted to train with them. She tried to forget the snarky voices of the people she knew were waiting for her to fail. They were the only reason that she had to stay in the boys' complex at all. Camille really didn't mind staying with the boys instead of the girls. It made sense after all. The boys and girls had different bell schedules that rang through each complex. She was more bothered at the fact that they assumed being put here would cause problems, which meant something bad was bound to happen. Camille shook her head at that thought and walked into her kitchen in hopes of finding coffee. She, of course, didn't find any. She did find $250 on the counter for groceries for the next two weeks. The sheet she had gotten in the mail with her acceptance letter to the Academy had informed her that only dinner would be provided for the students. If students got too many demerits, then their dinner tokens would be taken for a month. Camille decided that she would eat dinner and then go buy her grocery for the next two weeks. She was in desperate need of some black coffee. She checked her watch and saw that it was a quarter to five. She decided to head to the cafeteria on the ground floor. She left her dorm, making sure to lock the door behind her. She was not in the mood for anyone to walk into her dorm for a stupid guy prank that the seniors do to the freshman. She opened the door to the stairwell and made her way down. Unfortunately, a brick wall of a boy was running up the stairs and bumped into her. Camille started falling backwards and the boy caught her before she went tumbling down the stairs. He held onto her arm until she had balanced herself. She looked up to see a pair of deep blue eyes staring into her own. Camille found that she couldn't speak. The boy smirked and ran his hand through his shabby black hair. "Not gonna thank your hero, darlin'?" the boy spoke with arrogance. Camille smiled slightly and spoke with a natural sarcasm. "Yes. Well when you find my hero, do tell him that a buffoon just ran into me and tried to knock me down the stairs." She brushed past him swiftly, pleased at the shocked look on his face.

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Gabriel stood there in shock, but only for a few seconds. He immediately turned and followed her. "Well you're a bit cocky for a freshman, don't you think?" he said, only half joking. She kept walking down the stairs steadily ignoring him. "Come on. Don't you think I deserve a little gratitude, Camille?" She immediately turned on him at the sound of her name. She had that fierce look in her eyes that Gabriel had seen earlier that day in the lounge. "Look, whatever your name is-." "It's Gabriel. Gabriel Hall." She rolled her eyes. "Well listen very closely, Gabriel Hall, I'm not in the mood for games. I don't care how charming you think you are. I don't care that, by the way you act, that you're a senior. I don't even care about how you found out my name. To me you are just another arse that I have to beat to get to the top of my class." Gabriel looked a little shocked, but she had clearly aggravated him. He tightened his jaw and did a, almost frightening, smirk. "Well sweetheart. This arse just so happens to be a senior while you, on the other hand, are still stuck at the bottom of the food chain. And don't think that just because you are girl that they'll take it easy on you." Gabriel said with a cocky air to him. She almost told him then, the thing that would shut him up instantly. But she waited. She wouldn't give her secret away just because some idiot was pissing her off. "That's okay. If I wanted training to be easy, I would've asked to train with you." And then she was gone from the stair well before Gabriel could utter another word.

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Camille returned to her dorm with her groceries. She was still fuming from her conversation with Gabriel. Who did he think he was? She began putting her groceries away, still silently cursing him. She didn't understand why he had made her so mad so quickly. Sure, he was being a complete arse to her, but she was used to guys being like that. Camille turned on her stereo hoping to forget the whole event. She went to the sink in her bathroom and began brushing her hair, slowly relaxing as she began to hum along with the music. She braided her hair and made up her mind on why she had become so aggravated. Her nerves had been crazy all morning so she was bound to become angry under all this stress. As she lay down, she decided that she wouldn't ever think about Gabriel Hall ever again. Camille closed her eyes determined to clear Gabriel from her mind. But sleep didn't come as easily as she hoped because of the dazzling dark blue eyes every time she closed her own.

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Gabriel tried focusing on his workout, but his mind kept going back to his conversation with Camille in the stairwell. The way she had talked toward him hadn't made him angry. No, he'd had enough girlfriends to handle a girl's attitude. It was how she acted like she knew him. Like she had him all figured out. And the way she looked at him, like he was a complete idiot. Given, he was being pretty stupid. But he had hoped to make her laugh, not piss her off. Gabriel shook his head trying to clear his thoughts as he finished his routine. He came to the conclusion, on his way to the showers, that he should stop worrying about Camille Blackthorn. The odds of seeing her ever again were rare anyways. Besides, she was a freshman. She was hardly worth his time. Gabriel was pleased with his decision and got through his nightly routines without a single thought about Camille. When he returned to his dorm, he lay in his bed and immediately closed his eyes. But sleep seemed impossible because of the bright green eyes he saw every time he closed his.