The Academie by Amy Joy Read Free Book Online Page B

I—uh…”
    “ Oh, you.” She glared down at me. “I
should have known. Are you a student here now?” She rolled her
eyes. “This area,” she pointed “is off limits. Now I realize that
doesn’t seem to matter to you, but as one of our students, if I—or
anyone else for that matter—finds you in a restricted area again,
then you will be reprimanded. And Let Me Tell You”— she spit as she
annunciated each consonant and I backed away—“The Consequences Will
Be Severe !”
    “ How am I supposed to know
what areas are restricted?”
    “ Anywhere you are not
assigned to be, is a restricted area.” She said it like I must be
some kind of an idiot. But seriously, if they wanted an area to be
off limits, then why didn’t they post signs and keep the door
locked? What the hell do they have to hide anyway? Grades? People
really are too touchy.
    Her heels made a loud taps as she
walked away.
    Somehow I found my way to my exam
room, but it quickly became clear that there was no way I was going
to make it through without sleep. I randomly filled in the radial
dials next each multiple choice question and then hit the submit
button before laying my head down on the desk.
    I didn’t even look to see what class
it placed me in. At that point I was so exhausted, I didn’t
care.

 
     
     
     
    10. fitness testing
     
     
    “ Time to go,
Miss.”
    I woke up to find an empty classroom,
a pool of drool on my desk, and a sergeant hovering over me. He was
a large, middle-aged man, with a short Academie haircut and blubber
that extended from his chin to his chest, completely concealing
where there might ever have been a neck.
    I lifted my head, wiped the drool with
my sleeve as nonchalantly as I could, and grabbed my
things.
    “ Don’t forget to log off
the computer.”
    “ Oh yeah.” It was then
that I noticed my placement: Earth Science. I huffed at the
ridiculousness of it. At this rate, I was going to be on an entire
Basic track.
    “ The next exams are about
to begin,” the sergeant said. “You better hurry up.”
    I pushed in the desk chair, pulled out
my schedule, and headed out the door.
    The room ended up being at the other
end of the building, but luckily, it was easy to find. I opened the
door and took the last seat just as a tall, skinny sergeant who
appeared much younger than any I’d seen so far, stood to address
the class.
    “ I’m sure you are used to
the routine by now.” I was still a bit groggy and his voice jarred
me. “You may begin.”
    Instead, I reached into my pocket and
pulled out my schedule for the day to see how much more of this had
left.
    “ No notes may be used
Miss!” the young sergeant accused.
    Where would I have gotten
notes? I held up my schedule.
    He pointed for me to put it
away.
    My nap and the walk across the
building gave me just enough alertness to get through the exam, but
since history had always been my worst subject, I found myself
struggling nonetheless.
    Who was involved in the battle of
1812?
    I don’t know. Is it really
necessary that I know this?
    Two and a quarter hours
later, I had my placement: American History. Great, I’ll be taking classes with a bunch of tenth
graders.
    I met Ruby at dinner. “So how’d it
go?” She looked genuinely concerned.
    “ Not good.”
    She was kind and didn’t push. I was
happy when she didn’t try to make conversation. It was one of the
things I liked about her: we didn’t have to talk.
    When I’d finished my meal and cleared
my tray, I pulled back out my schedule. “Oh god, I’d forgotten
about fitness testing.” I laid my head on the table. “Do you think
there’s any chance I could claim illness and get out of
it?”
    “ You could try, but I
doubt it. I did fitness testing earlier. It wasn’t bad.”
    “ Are you
athletic?”
    “ Do I look it?”
    “ Yeah.”
    She laughed. “You’re too
kind.”
    This, my final test of the
day, met in the locker room. I stood, surrounded by potential
future classmates