October Academy

Chapter 24

Xander, Perry and Acacia encircle me with a group-bear hug when I get back to school. I tell them I won, they don't seem surprised. They tell me they're proud of me for winning the competition.

"Thanks guys," I smile.

"Figure skating it going to be the new school sport," Xander sighs.

"I can't believe Goscicki quit," I say. "He really made the team."

"The whole school has been talking about it," Perry says.

"Not as much as the whole school's been talking about the Class Killers death!" Acacia says enthusiastically.

Perry and Xander 'Ooh' and 'Ah'.

"He died?" I ask.

"Yep, but get this, his body went missing."

"So maybe he staged his death," Xander says, "I've heard your theory a thousand times, Acacia."

"His real identity is Orion Blackwell," Acacia ogles, "how fitting, sounds so scary!"

Xander and Acacia bicker about the Class Killer like siblings – like a carbon copy of how Perry and Xander argue – as we walk to our dorms.

.

.

.

Ben's band is performing again tonight, so Xander, Acacia and I make plans to go to the Nine Lives and watch them play. Perry decides to skip on this one, not a big fan of the noise and lights, claiming she needs to practice her lines for her drama performance.

I take everyone in my beautiful car to the Nine Lives. This is Acacia's first time, since I only just gave her a fake ID a few weeks ago.

We get there late, so there's already a line outside to get in. The security guard checks our ID's then lets us all in after what seemed like two hours of waiting.

Xander leaves to give Acacia a tour, claiming he wants to thrash her in darts. They walk off, hand in hand. How cute. I run into Marina on the crowded dance floor. She grabs my hand and pulls me to the bar.

"How you been gorgeous?" she asks me.

"Pretty good," I smile, "I came first at districts."

"I know, Ben is so proud of you." Her curly brown hair bounces at her shoulders, sexy and free. Everything about her seems effortless and confident.

"So how did you and Ben meet?" I ask, realising now is my first alone chat with her.

She tells me how they met in the university library. Adorable. She's a journalism student, interested in travelling the world and becoming an investigative journalist. She wants to make crime podcasts and follow the most disturbed stories. She sounds inspired, and inspiring. I wish I had a life goal like that. My only goal seems to be to get through life.

"There's my handsome man," Marina says, a wide smile spreading across her face, flashing her pearly whites.

Ben walks over, wrapping an arm around her and tossing me a cheeky smile. "Guess who we're covering tonight?"

"Arctic Monkeys? Cage the Elephant? The Kooks?"

"Even better."

"Just tell me," I groan playfully.

"That's one secret I'll never tell," he laughs as Callum approaches us.

"Hey," Callum smiles, hanging his arm over my shoulder the way Ben's doing to Marina.