The Academy - Friends vs. Family (22 page)

“Good afternoon, gentlemen,” a tall waiter with slicked back, dark
hair and a nametag that read “Cody” stood near our table and handed us menus.
His eyes caught mine and he grinned. “And lady. Can I interest you in our
specials or in the wine menu?” The last part sounded more like a joke. He had
to know we were underage to drink.

“No, thank you,” Victor said.

“May I get you something to drink?”

“Coke,” said Gabriel.

“I want one of those strawberry smoothies,” Nathan said.

“Sprite,” Victor said.

Cody looked at me, an eyebrow raising. “And for you, sweetie?”

Victor flinched but he said nothing.

“Water, please,” I said.

“You can get more than water,” Victor said to me.

I blushed. I wasn’t sure what else to get. “Um, a strawberry
smoothie, too, please?” I checked with Victor who nodded.

Cody’s shot glances between Victor and I. He gave us a small smile
that was oddly curious. When he left, we opened our menus. The prices were more
than I expected for spaghetti and other pasta dishes. I tried to calm my heart.
After all, Victor just spent several thousand dollars on clothes. Thinking of
it made my stomach twist and I started to rattle again.

“What are you getting?” Gabriel asked. His foot nudged mine under
the table and it pulled me from my thoughts.

“I was thinking of the chicken salad,” I said.

“Get what you really want, Sang,” Victor said coolly without
looking up from the menu.

“How do you know that’s not what she wants?” Nathan asked, closing
his menu and dropping it on the table.

“She’s conveniently picked the lowest priced item on the menu that
isn’t an appetizer.” He lifted his head. The fire in his eyes seemed amused as
he faced me. “Sang?”

I blushed and scanned the menu. “Tortelloni?”

“Better,” he said. He folded his menu, placing it on the table.

The waiter came back with our drinks. The smoothies were served in
big green glasses with strawberry wedges around the brim. Nathan’s had two.
Mine had six. Nathan’s eyes narrowed on my glass but he said nothing.

“Have things been decided?” Cody asked. He looked intently at my
face. I was confused and felt a finger fluttering up to my lip.

“We’ll start with the zucchini fritte,” Victor said. “I’ll have
the veal marsala. She’ll have the tortellini.” He paused, gazing at the others
across the table.

Nathan and Gabriel put in their orders but Cody kept glancing at
me. “Anything else?” he asked, seemingly to the table in general but his gaze
never left mine.

“That’s it,” Victor said.

Cody’s smile teased his lips, an almost smirk. “Call on me if you
need anything. I’ll get these right out.”

The air pressure around the table seemed to lift when he left.

“I don’t like our waiter,” Gabriel said.

The others mumbled their confirmation.

“Did he do something wrong?” I asked, not completely understanding
their displeasure.

None of them seemed to want to answer so I focused on the
strawberry smoothie. I picked up one of the strawberries from the brim and took
a bite.

Gabriel stretched in his seat. “Mmm... long morning,” he said. “We
got a lot done, though. And Sang’s got a new wardrobe.” He wriggled his
eyebrows at me. “Enough room in your closet?”

“I don’t know how I’m going to get it all up to my room.” I
absentmindedly rubbed at the hem of Kota’s shirt at my neck. “And I’m worried.
I mean, what if Danielle comes back? And my parents might wonder...”

“We’re taking care of that,” Nathan said. He snagged one of the
strawberries off of my glass and popped it into his mouth. He’d already eaten
his.

“How?”

He glanced at Victor. Victor only shrugged. Nathan turned back to
me with a smile. “Don’t worry so much.”

“Besides,” Gabriel said, “Danielle won’t be able to get her ass in
your clothes now that you’ve got shit that fits. I saw her in your skirt. I’m
surprised she didn’t rip it.”

“I don’t understand why she wanted my things, anyway,” I said.
“They weren’t exactly expensive or new.”

“She was trying to get attention by wearing what you wear,” Victor
said. His fingers slipped against the condensation on his drink. “A lot of the
girls are doing that.”

“Doing what?” I blushed.

“They’re all wearing nicer things. I’ve seen the girls starting to
wear skirts.” Victor’s eyes lifted to settle on my face. “Apparently you’re a
trendsetter.”

“Yeah well,” Gabriel said, sitting back and hanging an elbow over
the back edge of the booth. His foot slid next to mine again, this time staying
next to my foot. “They’re about to get their minds blown. She’s got a whole new
look now.”

“I don’t know, guys. I don’t want to stand out.”

They all laughed.

“You’re wearing skirts to school in the first place,” Gabriel
said. “You started it.”

I shrugged. “It was what everyone wore at my old school.”

From under the table, Victor found my hand. His fingers
interlocked mine, his thumb smoothed over my skin. I tried to feel calm about
it but it set my heart speeding along. “What were they like? The kids at your
old school? What did they wear?”

“The clothes were a little nicer than what kids wear here, I
suppose,” I said quietly. “They were a lot calmer. Quieter. There wasn’t as
much fighting. The girls wore skirts and blouses most of the time. During the
winter they might trade for nicer jeans.”

His eyebrow rose and his thumb stopped. “Were you that different
from them?”

“Who?”

“The other kids.”

“Their clothes were nicer. Newer.”

“You didn’t look like a monster in yours, so I don’t understand.
And they still didn’t talk to you?”

I shrugged, feeling cornered. “They weren’t mean to me. They just
never said anything to me. After a while, I settled into a routine. I was
usually reading at my own table. It wasn’t as crowded at my old school so I
could find space for myself.”

Gabriel smirked. “I think Kota was right. They were probably blown
away by you and didn’t know how to approach you.”

Heat radiated my face again.

Nathan cleared his throat. “Anyway,” he said, his blue eyes on me.
“Do we want to go help the guys when we get back or are we doing something
else?”

“Else,” Gabriel said. “We’re going to get roped into working at
the diner soon enough. Might as well take the time off while we can get away
with it.”

“Want to swim, Sang?” Nathan asked.

I brightened, nodding. I was grateful he was interrupting the
others and redirecting the attention. “Sure.”

“We’ll tell the guys when we get back that Sang wanted to swim so
we have to stay behind.”

When we had eaten the appetizer and the meals were delivered, Cody
took special care to place the boys’ plates first.

When he got to mine, he stopped halfway as if he was feeling
awkward about reaching over everyone else. His eyes fell on me. I caught
something in what he wanted and without thinking, I reached out to help, taking
the plate from him. His rough hands traced over mine as he let go.

“Thank you,” I said to be polite, even though I was confused. Why
was he touching me?

He flashed an amused grin. “Need anything else?” he asked, though
his eyes were on me alone.

“No,” Victor said shortly.

Cody shot him a glare. He bowed his head at us and left the table.

As we ate, the conversation turned to school. They started talking
about the teachers, the homework we had and expectations about upcoming tests.
It wasn’t long before I was feeling full and finally had to push my plate away.

“Left room for dessert?” Victor asked me.

I shook my head, covering my stomach with my hand and rubbing.
“It’s too much.”

“They’ve got a nice tiramisu here.”

I slid over in the booth until I was leaning my shoulder against
his. “What’s tiramisu?”

He smiled, amused. “You’ll see.”

“I like the strawberry cheesecake,” Nathan said, pushing his empty
plate away.

“I want chocolate,” Gabriel said. He speared some pasta from my
plate and ate it. “There’s a chocolate cake thing here, right?”

Cody came back and took our plates. This time Nathan ordered the
strawberry cheesecake, chocolate cake and the tiramisu for the table.

“And bring four spoons,” he said.

Cody’s eyes once again landed on me. “Would you like anything
else, sweetheart?”

I flinched, not understanding why he kept asking me. “I’m fine.”

He flashed another smile my way and turned from us, carrying the
dishes back to the kitchen.

“What the hell is he doing?” Gabriel said. “It’s like he’s waiting
for us to punch him or something.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“He hasn’t stopped flirting with you since we got here,” he said.

My mouth popped open and my hand fluttered to the base of my
throat. “I thought he was just being nice.”

“He’s being an ass,” Victor said.

I sighed, swallowed, and sat back again with my arms around my
stomach. I didn’t understand flirting at all.

Cody returned, and he placed the desserts in the middle of the
table, spoons placed inside each one.

He had a small bowl of vanilla ice cream, too, and positioned it in
front of me. He held the spoon out for me to take from him. “Thought you might
like some,” he said. “It’ll clean your palette.”

I glanced quickly at the guys, who were glaring at Cody. Cody
ignored them, intent on me. I slowly reached for the spoon. He turned his
fingers to lightly brush at my hand, lingering longer than necessary for me to
collect the spoon.

“Thank you,” I said quietly, unsure of how to respond otherwise.

He brightened, flashing a satisfied grin and walked away.

“His tip is standing in the negative,” Victor said. “One more
thing and I’m talking to the manager.”

“What are you going to tell him?” Gabriel asked. “That he’s being
too polite to a girl we’re with? It makes us look like jealous freaks.”

Victor grabbed the spoon on the tiramisu plate.

Nathan scooped at his cheesecake. “Don’t make it look like we’re
bothered by it,” he said. He held his spoon filled with red swirled cheesecake
out toward me. “Have a taste,” Nathan said.

I steadied his hand with mine, bringing the spoon to my mouth. The
cheesecake was heady with strawberries and something tangy I couldn’t place. I
let go of him to put my fingers over my mouth as I swallowed, licking my lips.
“It’s good.”

Victor nudged the plate of tiramisu toward me. “Try this.”

I picked up my spoon, taking a bite of the fluffy, creamy dessert.
It tasted like cinnamon or chocolate and there was a soft after-bite. “What’s
in this?”

“Rum, I think,” Victor said, taking a bite of it himself and
grinning. “It’s not bad.”

“Okay now this one,” Gabriel said. He positioned his plate until
it was between both of us.

I took a spoonful of his cake and ate it. “Okay,” I said. “I can’t
pick. They’re all really good.”

Gabriel’s eyes lit up. He dabbed his spoon into the ice cream cup,
scooped up a little and then dug out a corner of cake to eat both together. “I
have to admit, the ice cream is perfect for this.”

I took a bite of ice cream, too. Within minutes, the plates were
empty. I felt like I was ready to roll out the door.

Cody returned, dropping off the check and taking our plates. As
Victor pulled his wallet out again, I pressed my cheek to his shoulder.

He turned his head slightly to me and parted his lips to say
something but I beat him to it.

“Thank you, Victor,” I said softly.

“You’re welcome, Sang.”

When he signed the receipt, he scooted out of the booth. The
others followed. I trailed behind them through the crowded restaurant.

Cody materialized ahead of us and made his way along the same
path, thanking us for coming.

When he got to me, he held his hand out in a strange way like he wanted
to shake my hand. Out of instinct to be polite more than anything else, my hand
drifted up and he grasped it. I felt a piece of paper being pressed to my hand.

He leaned in to me to whisper. “When you get tired of being bossed
around by those losers, call me.”

My eyes widened, my cheeks radiated. I shoved the paper back to
him, without checking to see what it was. “My friends,” I said loud enough to
draw the attention of the boys to turn and look, “are way nicer than you are.”

Cody’s face reddened. He let the paper drop to the floor between
us and turned away quickly, sulking.