Academy One Shots

The Hideout Part II

 A follow up on James, continued from the previous part.

"My name is Dr. Roberts," the person said, "And I have an offer for you."

James didn't know who in the world this guy was or what he was doing, but he was done with him. He hung up and placed his phone back in his pocket. Like he would accept an offer from some random guy on the phone- he wasn't stupid. Although maybe he should have listened to the offer at least.

James couldn't shake the nagging feeling that he just made a huge mistake. He walked over to a chair on shaking legs and sat down. That could have been the best offer of his life, and he didn't even give it a chance. He heard the door to the bar open, but in his worried haze he didn't see who came out. Calling 'Dr. Roberts' back was more important.

"Hello James," someone said from right in front of him. James looked up and panicked- it was the girl from the bar! AKA the creepy, sticking stuff in his drink girl who now apparently knew his name. Now that he could see her clearly he could tell that she was about the same age as him, with short, unruly brown hair and sharp blue eyes. She was actually quite pretty; she was just a stalker. How unfortunate.

"I have to go," James said as he stood up. The girl stood aside to let him pass.

"By all means, go ahead," she said, "I have a message for you, though. Dr. Roberts sends his regrets that you two couldn't work something out."

James froze at her words. She knew Dr. Roberts- that must be how she knew his name. This was his chance to find out the missed opportunity. But did he really want to know if it involved this girl?

"What did you put in my drink?" he asked. The girl seemed startled at his question.

"You didn't see it?" she asked. James frowned at her deflection.

"Don't answer my question with a question. What did you put in my drink?" he repeated, this time a bit more forcefully.

The girl shrugged. "I put the Academy phone number inside of your straw on a rolled up piece of paper. That way, you would have seen it from two different sources and would be more likely to call the number. Apparently you were curious enough to call it without my contribution, though," she said.

"Anything was better than this shit bar," James justified. The girl perked up at his statement.

"Speaking of this shit bar, do you want to go meet Dr. Roberts?" she asked. Does she really expect him to go with some strange girl to meet some strange guy he talked with briefly over the phone? No thank you.

"I'm good- I should probably be getting home," he said politely.

The girl pulled out her wallet and withdrew a laminated card from it. She held it out to James, who looked at it curiously. It had a blue crest with a yellow A with angel wings on it. Below the crest, 'The Academy' was printed in white script. And below that...

"Your name is also James?" he asked, unbelieving. The girl flinched.

"Damn, I didn't mean to give you that one," she said. She took the card back and pulled out a different one from her wallet. It was exactly the same as the first one, but instead of James it said Sophie.

"My name is Sophie Moore. As you can see, I am an official member of the Academy. You can trust me, James," she said seriously. James could tell how sincere she was. For the first time since he met her, he relaxed. Not a lot- just a bit- but it was something.

He still didn't want to get in a car with her, though. "Can we bike wherever we're going?" he asked. He had ridden to the bar on his bike. Sophie contemplated his question for a moment before answering.