North Academy

Prologue

Michael bounced the stack of papers against his desk making a soft rhythmic "thud". Adam and Lylie sat in front of the desk reading and gathering information for files. "I guess we should start bringing in the counselors." Michael adjusted his watch, silently cursing himself for letting so much time slip by. "We've wasted enough of their time already."

"Got it." Adam jumped to his feet and walked out of the door.

Lylie followed in suit with Adam except she stopped by Michael's desk instead. She lifted the stack of files that had made home on the desk. Letting out a slow whistle, Lylie began to speak. "You know, Miky, you don't have to run this school by yourself. You have all four of us here to help after all."

"I know," Michael pinched the bridge of his nose. "But you all have your own responsibilities at the school. I wouldn't want to take you guys away from them."

Lylie slipped her hands into Michael's, pulling his attention away from his work and to his sister. She smiled hoping he would to, sure enough, Michael allowed a small smile to creep onto his lips. "Maybe it would be a little harder on all of us," Michael sighed, turning his attention back to his desk. Lylie quickly gripped his chin and pulled his attention right back to her. "But we are family and family sticks toget-"

"Another heartfelt speech, Lylie?" Christian huffed, flopping himself onto one of the leather chairs next to Lylie. "Allow me to make this short for you, Michael. Someone's under pressure, probably you, but hey," Christian let out a pathetic chuckle. "Everything gonna be okay because, guess what, hold on folks, this might just blow you out of this world, we're family!" Christian made explosives noises with his mouth as he pulled his hands away from his head as if his mind had been blown.

"Do you need something, Christian?" Michael inquired, not amused at Christian's behavior.

"Actually, I do," Christian reached up and began to play with Lylie's brown curls. "I wanted to talk to you about our," Christian stopped playing with Lylie's hair to make air quotations. " "responsibility" here."

"Can't this wait?"

"Nope." Christian pointed finger guns towards Michael. Lylie huffed and walked around the desk next to Michael. "Still playing favorites, Kylie?"

Lylie wrinkled her nose in disgust at Christian's jokes. "Still acting like a child, Chrisy?"

Christian glared at Lylie which she returned. Michael groaned. "Both of you are acting childish. Now please, Christian, I will call you back up when I have time but for now you must leave!" Michael demanded.

"Awe, brother, you wound me." Christian placed a hand on his heart as if he had been stabbed. But after seeing Michael stern expression, dropped the act. "Can't we talk? Brother to brother. Like the good old days?"

Michael opened his mouth, ready to let Christian have it except the door swung open. Adam waltzed in, mumbling something behind him. "Eve, Henry," Michael called out, drawing their attention. Adam smacked Christian across the arm to tell him to move. Reluctantly, he obeyed. "Please have a seat." Michael pointed to the seats in front of him. "You can not imagine how pleased I was to hear that you two wanted to take on a dorm of your own. Which," Michael slid a file across the desk for the young students. "Is why I'm giving you two dorm 148. Sound familiar?" A smile tugged at Michael's lips at he reaction of the students.

"Mr and Mrs Huxzen's dorm, the one we met in-" Eve started.

"But more importantly," Henry interrupted, placing a hand on Eve's shoulder, pushing her back. "The best prankers on this campus."

Michael let out a soft chuckle. "Yes, even though this school doesn't condone pranking. It was certainly a delight to wake up to find yet another student mark with their masterminding." Michael's smile faded when he locked eyes with Christian who was tapping his watch. "In this file you'll find the names of the students you will be housing this year."