Angel academy

Pizza

"Xander?" My eyes widen as I take in his battered state, bruises and cuts cover him from head to toe. I run to my brother and hug him as tightly as possible. Xander grunts "take it easy Ari, it hurts" I gasp and quickly release my vice like grip
"Xander what happened to you" I ask as I gingerly touch the side of his face. Xander shoots and evil glare towards Caleb and I can put two and two together. I turn to face the ogre that did this to my brother. Caleb has guilty written all over him as he backs away with his arms up in surrender.

"Now, now princess, calm down. You haven't got the full story yet! Xander, help me out" I launch myself at Caleb with every intention of ripping out his eyes for hurting Xander like this. Caleb manages to side step my advance and grab me in a head lock. Frustrated, I kick and hit but it's useless.

"Aria, that's enough, look, we don't have long and I need you to listen. Caleb has to take you back soon" I open my mouth to protest but Xander quickly shuts me down, "he will bring you back tonight after curfew. But for now you need to act normal and follow all the rules."
I was confused, act normal?
"Xander? You're confusing me, what the hell is going on? If you called me over to say act normal, why not just bring me here after curfew?"
"Come on Ari, would you have followed Caleb after curfew to some random location?" He had a point, I would have told the ogre exactly where he could shove his 'random location'. I sigh, "why didn't Caleb just tell me to 'act normal'? why risk bringing me here during day time?"
"I will explain it properly later tonight, but Caleb has been made mute when it comes to any subject that might expose Angel academy, at least he can't speak to you girls about anything, we found a loophole though, he can tell me and I can fill you in! Look, we are pushing it real close, I don't have time to tell you what I wanted with an explanation, but DO NOT drink anything they give you. Meet me here tonight and I'll explain it all, Caleb will pick you up and we will talk properly"
I nod my head, still filled with questions. Caleb opens the door and I go to follow, "Ari," I turn to face my brother "pizza" I smile at his words,
"Pizza" and then we leave.

"Pizza?" Caleb breaks the silence as we walk,
"You know for a mute who apparently can't speak to any Angel academy girls, you do an awful lot of speaking" I glance his way and he shrugs
"Honestly, it baffles me too, but there are still some things I just can't speak out loud to you, I've never been able to speak to any of the girls before though" I think over his words,
"why can't you?" Silence. I suppose that's something he can't tell me.
We are once again engulfed in silence.
"Pizza is our code word for 'I love you'. We only use it when it chokes us up to say the real words" I shrug, "it makes serious things...less serious I suppose"
I don't know why I'm telling Caleb this, it's something Xander started after our dad disappeared, though we were young, we still felt incredibly depressed about losing our father, for weeks mum couldn't even get out of bed so we were left with pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner, it became our comfort in the midst of sadness. So whenever something serious or sad happened to either one of us, pizza became our love language. It might sound stupid, but it works for us.

Caleb just nods. "what about you?" I ask, "do you have any brothers or sisters?" Caleb visibly stiffened at the question and stopped walking. Though it only lasted a split second, before he resumed his walk, I noticed. He was silent for a long time and I gave up on waiting for a reply when he answered; "I had a sister" was all he said, I didn't miss the 'had'.
"I'm sor-"
"Don't be"

We finally reach my room just as the bell indicating that lunch is over sounds. "Thanks" I mutter to Caleb as he walks away.

Picking up my schedule I notice I only have one class left, 'history', and then 'independent studies'.
Groaning, I make my way towards class. I always hated history.

"Well howdy neighbor!" I turn and see Indigo skipping her way towards me. Smiling I slow down so she can catch up, "ready for history? I am! I love history, the gun fights," Indigo gets down on one knee and pretends she is firing a gun, I laugh, "the affairs," she turns around and wraps her arms around herself so it looks like some one else is groping her, "the pirates," she begins hopping on one leg and covering one eye while singing a jig I can only assume is a pirate song. We both walk into class in fits of laughter. Maybe history won't be so bad.

---------------
Hey guys! Sorry about all the short updates, I promise to write longer ones when my laptop is fixed! For now I've been writing it on my phone and it isn't as fun as one may think!