Free The Academy by Emmaline Andrews Page A

later—in private.”
     
    North gave me a disgusted look and shook his head. “Fine, as long as you don’t try to take a shower with your clothes on because ‘that’s the way they do things in Victoria'.”
     
    I wished fervently that I could do exactly that but I doubted everyone would be willing to accept my strict upbringing as an excuse. Clutching my towel and clothing tight to my chest, I followed North out to the fresher, hoping against hope to get a shower.
     

Chapter Eight
     
     
    The shower eluded me, but not for lack of trying.
     
    I walked down the hall with a large group of naked and half-naked males, trying to keep my eyes straight ahead and not notice things I would rather not see. They laughed and wrestled, slapping each other with towels and making a ridiculous amount of noise. North was right beside me, taller than the rest, his broad, bare shoulders golden tan under the glow of the overhead lights. I appreciated his protective presence, though I didn’t understand it. Hadn’t he told me he refused to be my bodyguard? Then again, he wasn’t guarding me so much as just keeping an eye on me. I was glad he was, especially when I saw Broward, Dawson, and Nodes ahead of us in line for the shower room.
     
    They didn’t see me, however, and I was able to duck silently into one of the stalls, still clutching my towel and pajamas. I waited as patiently as I could, listening to the deep, masculine voices raised in shouts and laughter along with the tantalizing splash of water against tile.
     
    I thought about getting undressed and putting on my towel but I couldn’t get the courage to do it. Just the idea of being naked in a room full of men—even if they thought I was one of them—made my heart stutter in my chest. One thing I could do, however, was unwrap the constrictive bandage around my breasts. Reaching under my shirt, I did that and breathed a sigh of relief at my freedom. My breasts ached from being constricted all day but I told myself I would have to get used to it. I folded the wide bandage into a small, compact package and hid it in my pile of clothes as I waited.
     
    Finally the shouts and yells of the other cadets died away to nothing and the last slapping footsteps of bare feet against tile faded in the distance. Feeling encouraged, I decided it was safe to get undressed. Swiftly, I stripped off the clothing I’d been wearing all day and grabbed my dark blue towel. I was just unlocking the stall door to step out into the steamy, silent air when it was jerked out of my hands and pulled open.
     
    I gasped and pulled my towel high, covering myself just in time.
     
    “Who’re you? And why aren’t you back in your room? It’s past RLO.” The man peering down at me was older than a cadet and had a frown on his face. I saw he was wearing soft-soled shoes—no wonder I hadn’t heard him coming.
     
    “I…I’m K-Kris Jameson,” I stuttered. “I’m new here. Who are you?”
     
    “Lackson. Dorm monitor.” His frown deepened. “You know what the penalty for missing RLO is?”
     
    “I…I’m sorry,” I said, trying to think fast. “I…my stomach…something I ate tonight in the mess hall disagreed with me, I think.”
     
    His forbidding expression softened a little. “All right, that’s understandable. But you need to get moving back to your room. Had your shower, have you?”
     
    Miserably, I nodded. I had never been more unhappy to tell a lie in my life but I was afraid if I told the truth and admitted I hadn’t had a shower, he would insist on watching me while I took one. And I couldn’t risk that.
     
    “Good then. Back to your room.” He nodded in the direction of the hallway.
     
    “I…but I…can’t I please get dressed first?” I asked pleadingly. But whatever small store of pity Lackson had appeared to have been used up.
     
    “Get dressed in your room,” he said sternly. “Hurry up—march. I’m only letting you off licks because you’re new but