The Academy

Chapter Three

My alarm woke me up at six o'clock in the morning.

Breakfast began at seven, and classes began at eight.

Groggy from less than eight hours of sleep, I stumbled to the bathroom and took a shower, attempting to wash away the party. I knew that I didn't do anything bad, but I felt pretty gross by just going and being surrounded by that atmosphere.

After my shower, I combed my hair and parted it perfectly, right above the middle of my left eyebrow. Fortunately, I didn't need to use a flat iron, because my hair would dry almost perfectly straight on its own.

I threw on makeup and was about to leave when I heard Marisol whine my name. I turned around and she was rubbing her eyes, trying to wake herself up.

"Kayleigh," she said again, this time louder. I walked up to her and sat beside her on her bed. "I feel like shit."

"Are you hungover?" I asked.

"Terribly." She let out a yawn and covered her mouth. "I'm going to try to get ready. Can you grab me some breakfast?"

"Yeah," I answered, trying to be a good roommate. If I felt terrible, I would want her to help me, so I had to do the same. "What do you want?"

"A water bottle, couple pieces of bread, and a banana," she told me, covering her face with her pillow. "Please."

"Hey," I greeted Lindsay as I sat down beside her in the cafeteria. I went through the lunch line and got myself a couple of pancakes, some milk, and syrup. Before I went back up to the dorm room, I would pick up Marisol's food.

"Hi, Kayleigh!" she exclaimed, scooting over a bit on the bench to make room for me. Carlisle and Ivy sat on the other side of the table. Like at orientation, I could feel Carlisle staring at me intently. "Is Marisol coming to breakfast?"

I shook my head. "Nope. She's feeling terrible."

"Same with Aspen," Ivy replied.

Carlisle slurped her coffee loudly, and I could still feel her eyes on me.

"She sent me to pick her up some food," I said, soaking my pancakes with syrup.

"Let me guess," Lindsay said. She tapped her temple as if she was thinking really hard. "Bread, banana, and water." I watched her as she smiled, knowing she got this right, and I wondered how the heck she could possibly know this. "It's her hangover breakfast," Lindsay explained, reading my mind. "Second semester of junior year, she literally kept a mini-fridge full of bananas, bread, and water in her dorm room."

"Guys!" Ivy exclaimed, hitting her hands against the table. She hadn't taken her makeup off from last night, causing her to have serious raccoon eyes. "Did you see the almost-fight between Tatum and Warren? I thought it was going to be round two!"

"Tatum would not do that," Lindsay said dismissively.

Ivy raised her eyebrows. "Really? Because I saw it, Lindsay. Tatum approached Warren, not the other way around."

"There's no way. Tatum isn't that stupid."

"The real gossip was Foster and Aspen last night," Carlisle offered. "You guys had to see that."

Ivy wriggled as if her body was covered in bugs. "How would you not see it? They were all over each other. Oh my gosh, I almost puked."

"I feel so bad for the kid. I mean, it's obvious he's in love with her, but she plays him. Just like she plays everyone," Carlisle muttered.