The Ivy Academy [COMPLETED]

Chapter 13

I woke up that morning an hour before breakfast.

I missed waking up to Fleetwood Mac songs, Stevie Nick's smooth, mysterious voice starting the day. It was no longer raining, but my window, opened just a bit, brought in the cool waft of rainy air. My favorite smell. For the next hour, I continued reading Harry Potter.

I had just reached my favorite part, when Hermione and Harry started their time travel journey, when the breakfast bell rang. Part of me wanted to stay in bed, reading. The other part of me remembered the lips I kissed last night, and how the boy who had those lips was probably down in the cafeteria, waiting for me.

This was the first time I had picked a boy over anything, let alone J.K. Rowling, and I wasn't sure how to feel about it. The girls in my school at home all had their first kisses in first grade, their first boyfriends in second. I had tons of crushes on boys, of course, and every once in a while, the occasional girl, but I'd never had a kiss with someone until last night.

I wondered if Dane could tell that I was unexperienced, inadequate. If he could taste it on my lips, which were most definitely not as soft and cushiony as his. Maybe the way I tugged on his bottom lip with mine wasn't normal. Maybe he wouldn't want to kiss me again.

I cursed myself for getting so heated and headed down the stairs, anxious for the day.

Scarlett and Dane were waiting at our breakfast table when I came down. I sat down, without even getting a tray.

"Good morning," I beamed at them.

"Aren't you going to get a tray?" Scarlett asked. I shook my head. I was hungry, but didn't want to spend a second away from the table. Dane held out an apple.

"Here," he said. "You can have this." I blushed, awestruck that an apple could make me feel so lovestruck. My brain told me that I hated being giddy, but my heart blocked that thought out; It was too busy being giddy to care.

Scarlett rolled her eyes. "I take it you two have made up." We both turned to her.

"We didn't make out," Dane said.

"It was just a kiss," I told her matter-of-factly. I couldn't let another rumor get in the way of being happy again.

She laughed. "I said made up, not out." She took a bite of her own apple. "Jeez, you two need to get your heads out of the clouds." I ate my fruit, hearing what she said, but not quite listening. Who was she to spoil our fun?

She continued. "Anyway, I'm glad it's not awkward anymore. Having both of you at the same table was starting to feel like I was in Antartica."

After a light meal of an apple and nothing else, the breakfast bell rang, signaling our departure from each other. Madison had lost whatever battle she was waging.

"Come on, Rhi, let's go to class." Scarlett and I left the cafeteria and headed to the gym on the second floor. Today was our first day of wrestling. The academy preferred that more hardcore classes, like wrestling and boxing, happened during the second week for new students; this way, the students were already used to the academy and in the right mindset.

I wasn't sure I was ready to wrestle. On one hand, I needed to be in my best condition if I was going to escape the academy. If I was bruised and/or had a sprained joint, that would only delay my escape for weeks or maybe even a month. On the other hand, wrestling and completing similarly difficult tasks could make me readier for my escape. If I had to jump off of something, or climb, or swim anywhere, being more fit and prepared was the best option.

I hoped to myself that when I escaped, I didn't need to use physical force, like wrestling or aiming. However, I knew that if the time came where it was between killing someone and saving my sisters, I would kill that person in a second. My sisters came first.