Free The Academy - First Days by C. L. Stone Page B

and twisted in a similar way that I did mine.
    I smirked at him. “Nice hair,” I said.
    He looked surprised and reached back, his fingers catching the
curve of the clip. “Like it? It’s a new thing I picked up.”
    “He threatened me in the hallway, Sang,” Gabriel whined. “I didn’t
want to give it to him. I was going to give it back. Eventually.”
    I sighed. Luke was right. I’d need to bring reserve clips around
Gabriel. Perhaps even additional spares for Luke.
    We were headed out of the courtyard when I noticed Silas was
following us. I paused so I could fall back and walk next to him.
    “Do you have some required reading, too?”
    “No,” he said. “But we’ve got our class coming up. I thought I
should stick with you so we could walk together.”
    It was so thoughtful and while I wanted to say so, I couldn’t find
the words. Instead, I smiled as warmly as I could. He dipped his hands into his
pockets as we followed Kota up the main stairwell and through a set of
hallways.
    The second floor was empty.
    “How come no one hangs out up here?” I asked.
    “They probably aren’t supposed to,” Kota said. “There are lockers
up here. I imagine they don’t want to encourage theft or property damage.”
    Still, there was no one around to tell us to not be there. I
wondered how well those upper hallways were monitored.
    We found the library at the end of one long hallway, as if tucked
away in the most distant corner of the school. Kota held the door open for us
and we all stepped in.
    The library appeared to be the same size as my garage at home.
Shelves were lined up around the walls of the room. There were a handful of
older computers in one corner with Windows 2000 screensavers. There was a small
circulation desk, painted in orange and brown and two women with peach-tinted
hair and glasses stood guard behind it.
    We were the only students in the library. The librarians’ eyes
followed us as we moved toward the walls of shelves. It was hard to tell if we
were unexpected or if they felt they needed to monitor us so we didn’t damage
or steal anything.
    “Hm,” Kota said, looking through the rows of books. “It appears to
be only encyclopedias and all the required reading books. Not a lot of other
options.”
    I picked up a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, the cover was
torn in half and the binding was a little loose. “Good thing we came today.
There are only a handful of copies of each.”
    Everyone except Silas debated on which book to start with but it
was Kota that decided to start with Dracula. “It’s one of the only ones with
four copies available. We’ll go somewhere else for the next book. I feel guilty
as it is just taking their last copies of this.”
    “I’ve read a few of these already,” I said, checking out the
reading list again.
    “I know. Me, too,” he said. “Save the ones you’ve already read
just in case things get busy later. If not, we’ll use things we’ve already read
for the last couple of tests and have an easy time before finals.”
    That was pretty clever thinking. I was happy that Kota was there
or I would have been tempted to reread something I already knew.
    We were at the circulation desk before I realized the others had
pulled out cards.
    “Do I need a library card?” I asked. “It hadn’t occurred to me
that there might be one. In my last school, the librarian just typed in your
name.”
    “It’s a school ID,” Luke said. “You were supposed to go get one
during study hall... oh wait, that’s right. You didn’t get a study hall.”
    I rubbed a fingertip over my eyebrow. “I didn’t realize we needed
one.”
    Kota took the book from me. “I’ll get this. Silas, you go with her
to get her ID.”
    “Are you sure?” I asked Kota.
    He smiled at me and nodded. “Don’t worry. If you forget to turn it
in, I know where you live. I’ll come by and get it.”
    My eyes widened and he laughed. He knew how to keep me in line.
     
    I walked