The Healing Power of Sugar: The Ghost Bird Series: #9 (The Academy Ghost Bird Series) (2 page)

I gingerly took the Sharpie from Luke’s hand, knee-walking to hover over North’s sleeping face.

Luke remained behind me, staring, waiting.

My hand shook. I tried to be as delicate as I could. I started with a simple swirl. The moment the marker met his skin, my heart nearly exploded as I was sure he would wake up.

He didn’t. He remained as still as ever.

I did another flower on his face, followed by a star and then I drew a seashell.

Luke chuckled softly behind me, his fingertips remained on my shoulder, as if encouraging me to continue.

As if to ask for forgiveness for my small part in painting his face, I drew a tiny heart on the crest of North’s cheek. I took my time with it, trying to make it pretty.

A big, terrifying hand snapped around my wrist, pulling my hand away from his face.

North’s intense brown eyes popped open, his brows furrowed in sudden anger despite how deeply asleep he’d been. The markings on his face made his frown look ten times scarier than usual. When his eyes focused and settled on my face, confusion set in, as if he had expected someone else.

I froze, terrified.

His eyes moved from my face to the marker in my captured hand, and then back to my face. “Sang,” North emitted a warning tone.

Holy crap, I’m a dead girl. In fear, I yanked my wrist away, dropping the marker. I scrambled, trying to back away to get up off the floor and make a run for it.

Luke was gone. The traitor! Whether he had dashed down the hallway or ducked into the kitchen, I wasn’t sure. And I didn’t know best which direction to run and where I could hide.

I didn’t have a chance. North pounced on me, knocking me to the carpet in a heap. He twisted me onto my back and settled down hard onto my hips, pinning me to the floor as he sat on me.

I struggled, shifting my body underneath his weight, nearly pulling myself apart as I clawed at the carpet as if that would help me get some traction and I could escape.

I squealed and giggled like the craziest person on the planet. I was about to die. At least I’d made a pretty heart on his cheek. That thought made me giggle more.

North smirked and then brushed a palm over his face. “What the hell did you do to me?” he growled.

“Nothing,” I squeaked out, too high pitched, the word cutting off at the end.

He sniffed loudly. “You did not just put permanent marker on my face.”

“Nope.” My voice cracked. Worst liar ever.

“She drew a heart,” Luke the coward shouted. My best guess was he was hiding in the kitchen. “And a swirly thing. And a smilie face. She did it. It’s all her fault. I tried to stop her.”

What?! “Traitor!” I called out.

Luke’s arm appeared from the doorway of the kitchen, displaying the stuff I’d drawn on his arm. “See? She did it to me, too.”

North grunted. He twisted on top of me, reaching for the marker I’d dropped. His dark eyebrows furrowed, making his now unibrow even more dangerously...hilarious.

Giggles erupted from my mouth like a bomb. I knew it was the worst reaction to have and I couldn’t help it. I’d basically admitted my guilt, even if Luke was pinning me for everything, including the stuff I hadn’t done.

North smirked. He bent over, hovering above me. He held the marker tip inches from my face. “Let’s see what Sang Sorenson looks like with a mustache.”

My mouth popped open. When he got close with the marker, I turned my head, batting at his arm with my hands.

He grunted, snagged my wrists up in a quick motion, holding them over my head with one hand as he pinned me to the floor with his body. “Stop moving or it’s going to turn into a penis or something worse.”

I sucked in a breath, eyes wide with fear. I couldn’t imagine what would have been worse, and I didn’t want to find out.

The marker touched my skin. North took his time. I felt the swirl of a curly moustache, but after that point, he started drawing on my cheeks and forehead. I couldn’t picture what he was drawing.

I half whimpered, half giggled.

Luke appeared and peeked over North’s shoulder, checking out his work. “Not bad, but that curse word under her left eye...make the leg of the k a little longer, it looks weird.”

“No,” I squealed out, my voice cracking. I was giggling too hard.

North smirked over me. He nudged my head a little with his arm, turning it to the side. He drew something on my ear. “You are going to have to learn to say no to Luke’s stupid ideas.”

Luke’s eyes widened above him. “Hey, she did it.”

“You think I believe for one minute that little Sang here came up with the idea to draw on my face while I was sleeping? She wouldn’t dare.”

“But she...”

In one swift movement, North released my wrists and swung an arm around, punching Luke low in the gut.

Luke choked, clutched at the spot where he’d been struck, and fell sideways to the ground, gasping.

“That’s for lying to me,” North said.

Luke chuckled through his pained expression. “Still worth it. Did you see the look on her face when you woke up?”

“She probably would have gotten away with it if you hadn’t pulled on my foot and nudged me awake.”

My mouth dropped open, my eyes wild on Luke. “You! You woke him?”

“See?” North said. “You can’t trust him at things like this. There’s always a secret motive.”

I struggled underneath North. “Give me the marker. I want to get Luke.”

North grinned and released me, dropping the pen on my stomach. He lurched over, landing on top of Luke in the same position he’d held me.

Luke bucked underneath his brother, but North was bigger and easily pinned him to the ground. He held his wrists with both of his hands and waited. I scrambled up, picking up the marker and bent over Luke’s face.

Luke smirked at me, seeming undisturbed by my being there. “Sang! Sweetie!” he pleaded. “You don’t want to draw on my face, do you? Not your favorite Academy guy, right?”

“Yeah, I do,” I said, as blankly as if he’d asked me if I wanted a piece of candy.

“Draw some glasses on him,” North said. “And a penis.”

I choked on a giggle at that. I couldn’t do it, but I nodded, like that was a good idea. My cheeks heated.

Luke shook his head, his eyes wide. “No, no, you can’t do that. I’ve got to go back to the diner in a minute. I can’t serve tables with one on my face.”

“You’re right,” North said. “Make two, Sang.”

I bent over Luke’s head, drawing a heart on his cheek, and then a bunch of flowers.

“Sang,” Luke said, pleading but laughing. “Sugar cakes. Uncle’s gonna flip.”

“What the holy shit fuck is going on in here?” Gabriel’s voice boomed at us, catching me way off guard as it sounded exactly like when North yelled at us. I glanced up and saw he was standing behind the couch, his hands on his hips and his orange and blue jacket hanging off his shoulders, in mid-removal. He stared at us, frozen.

Kota and Nathan stood behind him, their eyes wide, like they were looking in at animals in a zoo. Kota nudged his glasses, as if he didn’t believe what he was seeing. Nathan smirked, his blue eyes lighting up.

North grunted, releasing Luke’s arms and edging himself off his brother. “He started it.”

Gabriel snagged at his hair as if he was going to pull out all of it, blond and brown alike. “Oh my fucking god, her face. What the hell did you do to her face?”

“Yeah,” Luke said. He sat up quickly, catching the marker from my hands. “Bad Sang. Marking up your face like that.”

North smacked Luke on the back of his head. “Stop lying or I’m going to punch you again.”

“I’m just kidding!”

I stood, unsure what to say. It was all kind of crazy. “I was studying…” I couldn’t think of any reason why. Temporary insanity still worked, didn’t it?

Gabriel held his arms out wide as he circled the couch. He caught me around my shoulders, hugging me and half picking me up from the floor until my toes grazed the carpet. “Trouble, your face looks like the locker room wall. How the hell am I supposed to get all that off of you?”

“She’ll be fine,” Kota said. “She can wash it off.”

Gabriel turned with me still in his arms. “Do you see this? This is Sharpie. This doesn’t come off of skin. Unless I douse her in turpentine.”

Nathan chuckled, shaking his head and running a palm over his red brown hair. “Sorry. I think we’re fresh out of turpentine.”

“Go ahead and laugh but what happens when she shows up to school like this?”

“She’s not going to school with Sharpie on her face,” Kota said.

“She’s got tests tomorrow,” Nathan said.

“Do something, Kota,” Gabriel pleaded. “Ground them. Ground North and Luke.”

Kota smirked, shrugging and raising his hands up in defeat. “Oh no. If you want someone grounded, you have to do it. Personally, it looks like they’ve punished themselves pretty evenly.”

Gabriel released me until I was standing. He collected my face in his hands and looked at me. “Oh my god, your face. Your poor face.”

“Can you get it off her in like five minutes?” Luke asked. “I was going to take her back with me to work.”

“What?” Gabriel gasped? “You? What? No. Are you crazy?”

“Hurry up. We’re going to be late.” 

DESTINATIONS UNKNOWN

G
abriel eventually complained enough that everyone except Nathan gathered upstairs in Kota’s bedroom to figure out how to get permanent marker off of skin. Nathan ran ahead to the diner to take Luke’s shift.

Kota took off his jacket, hanging it over his computer chair at his desk. He readjusted the sleeves of his thin green sweater until they were mid-forearm, showing a hint of the lean and firm muscles. He sat down at his desk and started to take off his Converse shoes. I was oddly fascinated by his calmness and at the same time feeling awkward for having behaved so much like a little kid only moments ago.

Gabriel hovered over him, shifting from foot to foot. He’d thrown his jacket down on the floor by the stairs and was now in dark jeans and a bright orange tank shirt peeking out from the neck of a dark purple sweater. “Come on, Kota,” he said. “I don’t want this ink on her face to become a tattoo. I think if we leave it long enough, it’ll sink in.”

“She’ll live,” Kota said with a small smile on his face. He looked at me, admiring the marks. “It’s kind of cute.”

My cheeks heated and I pressed my lips together in a tight smile. I couldn’t imagine what sort of things were on my face that he’d think was cute. I fiddled with a fold in my jeans, trying to pretend I wasn’t listening. I wanted to see what was on my face, but was nervous to do so now when they were looking at me like that.

“It’s not that cute,” Gabriel said, and my head jerked up in reaction. He looked at me, too, and then quieted as his eyes focused on my cheeks and forehead.

I sat on Kota’s bed, and waited for them to look away, and when neither did, I broke eye contact. I stared blankly at the wall, trying to appear casual and ended up looking at Luke.

He was sprawled out on the floor on his back, stretching. Some of his blond hair threaded through the carpet, getting a bit messy. “She might like it,” he said. “Ever consider she might want to keep it?”

North crossed the room to the bed, and sat at my feet, his knees bent, and he rested an arm over his knee. “She can like it all she wants, but she can’t go to school with marker on her face.”

“I really don’t need that sort of attention,” I said. I could imagine the kids at school commenting on the marks, especially on my cheeks and nose. I looked at Luke’s skin. While there were some swirls and flowers and a smilie face, there was also that large block of ink from where he colored in the phone number and additional marks around his face that were just lines and patches of black. “If we weren’t going to school, maybe. Were you going to keep yours?”

“Hmm,” he said, reaching back to take the clip out of his hair. The blond locks spilled over the floor in a slight wave. With his tan skin and model-like face, the marker made his features appear thin. “I might.”

“You can’t go to school like that,” North said.

“I might keep some.”

“Not the ones on your face and arms.”

Luke pressed his lips together and closed his eyes. I could only see the back of North’s head, but the tension in the room was a little different then, like Luke was the one in trouble. I wasn’t sure what to say, if I should defend Luke, or even how to.

Kota stood up, walking in his socks to the bathroom and opening the door. “Well, you might be going to school with it all if we don’t find the right solution.” He flicked on the light of the bathroom and opened the cabinet below the sink, leaning in beyond where I could see. There was a shuffling as he moved things around. “Hm, I might need to do some research. I don’t remember what takes off permanent ink. Lotion? Rubbing alcohol?”

Gabriel followed him, standing at his elbow. “It’s not like they make permanent marker removal creams,” he said.

“They might somewhere,” Kota said. “I just don’t have some. It hasn’t really been an issue.”

“We’re not little kids drawing on ourselves,” Gabriel said. “Most of us know better.”

I was staring at Luke’s jeans, spacing out while listening to Kota and Gabriel. There was a flash of light. I looked up, and another flash caught me right in the eyes. North had snapped a picture with his phone, positioning it like taking a selfie only he had the camera pointed at me.

He smirked as he looked at the screen of his phone. From over his shoulder, I could see the surprised look on my face, along with the marks. “Not my favorite look for you.”

I flashed a goofy smile at him, and nudged him in the shoulder. The nap must have done him some good. He wasn’t as grumpy at least.

“Hey,” Luke said. He sat up and whipped out his cell phone. “Good idea.” He snapped a picture of me, and then another one. He studied the screen on his phone and frowned, and then curled his fingers in a come hither motion. “You’re too far. North’s ugly mug keeps getting in the way. Come on over. I want a picture of both of us.”

“Oh yeah,” Gabriel leaned out of the bathroom door, waving a hand in his direction. “Just make it another trophy.”