The Ivy Academy [COMPLETED]

Chapter 11

It rained that night, heavy and hard.

I loved rain. Back when my life was normal, whenever I woke up, I would hope that the sky outside had been painted gray overnight and that rain was falling from the sky in droplets. I would cherish the fact that it was raining until I passed by a homeless person, who probably didn't share my excitement at the general wet and coldness, to which I felt guilty.

Tonight would have been a perfect night to stay up and read a book, or perhaps watch an old movie, but too much was on my mind.

While I had mostly reconciled with Madison, there were other problems and points of stress that I still had. One, was the fact that Beck liked me.

OK, maybe it wasn't a fact. But his (ex) girlfriend told me, to my face, that he had a crush on me. If anyone at this school would know what he was thinking, besides himself obviously, it would be her. Even though she could be very clearly self-absorbed, her skills at manipulating me and Dane had let me know that she was aware and intelligent enough to know how people thought. If she was right, that meant Beck looked at me as more than a friend, or whatever we were right now.

I shifted uncomfortably, not knowing what to think of this recently gained information. While he was definitely handsome, and strong, and brave, and – well, that didn't matter, I couldn't view him as a romantic interest. He had killed my mom. Yes, he was sent to take me for some sort of exam, but he didn't have to kill her. The three-strike list confirmed that. In fact, according to the list, he wasn't supposed to kill my mother. He was the reason that even if I did escape, even if I did rescue my sisters, my life would not return to normal. I sighed and pushed that thought out of my mind.

Another problem I had was that by tomorrow night, I would have a roommate. Dane told me at the very beginning of the week, that I would have to move in with a roommate to save space. This was very unwelcome news. I hadn't gotten my phone back from Allegra's office, and sneaking out to do so would be ten times harder with a roommate that could wake up and report me gone. That would equal three strikes, and from what I learned about this school from my week here, three strikes were probably the last thing anyone wanted.

After much consideration, I decided that I would need to sneak out of my room tonight. Tonight would be my last chance to leave my room with relative ease, and I needed to take that opportunity as soon as possible.

I picked up the third Harry Potter book to relieve my stress, which of course, worked like a charm. Soon enough, it was time to go.

I made sure to wait until 12:35; last time I snuck out, the guards that were making out with each other on the job met up at exactly that time. I remembered from when I hid inside the grandfather clock. If I was lucky, they did this secret rendezvous every night, and hopefully they wouldn't be guarding the hallway.

I wanted so badly to just plug in headphones and listen to Fleetwood Mac. I wanted to finish reading, snug in bed. But that wasn't an option.

I opened my door and stepped out into the cool hallway.

I crouched down through the hallway, at a steady pace, just in case more attentive guards were on watch tonight. When I got to the stair area without being caught, I figured that those guards I met must be together somewhere. Just like I thought, the door to the balcony was slightly ajar. They were outside. I was inside. I was safe.

Just as I was going down the stairs, I saw a guard walking up. Shit. I wasn't safe, and I had gotten too comfortable breaking the rules in the middle of the night. It's not like I could hide in the grandfather clock again; I had almost suffocated last time, and either way I would have to push myself out eventually, to which the guard would see me. I couldn't go back into my room; it was all the way down the hall and the guard was already halfway up the stairs.