The Academy by Emmaline Andrews Read Free Book Online

My cheek was still aching but at least the world wasn’t spinning anymore.
     
    “Thank you,” I said, after finishing the drink.
     
    “Welcome.” He was sitting on the edge of my bed, staring down at me critically, the way someone might study a half-crushed bug. “I think you’re okay. You’ve got blood on your face but you don’t seem to be bleeding.”
     
    I wiped at my mouth. “It’s Broward’s. I bit him.”
     
    “Bit him, huh?” He gave me a look of grudging respect. “You’re a scrappy little guy—I’ll give you that.”
     
    “Thanks a lot,” I said sourly. “That means a lot coming from a big lug like you.” My small stature was really turning out to be a handicap.
     
    “You’re welcome,” he said again, taking the empty drink container and putting it down on the bedside table.
     
    “Why?” I asked, looking up at him.
     
    “Why what?”
     
    “Why did you help me?” I tried to sit up but he pushed me back down.
     
    “Better wait a minute before you get up. I came to see what all the commotion was about. You scream like a girl, you know that, shrimp?”
     
    “I was frightened,” I said stiffly. “And don’t call me that. My name is—”
     
    “I know, Kristopher Jameson.” He sighed. “Hinks told me when I went to ask about the rooming situation.”
     
    “What did he say about that?” I asked.
     
    North ran a hand through his dark blond hair, looking frustrated. “He said I would just have to deal with it. Look—” He pointed at me. “I was serious when I said I had to study. I don’t want any loud music or partying in here, I mean it.”
     
    “I don’t want that either,” I told him, frowning. “I’m just here to learn so I can get my piloting license. I’m not interested in any of the social activities I saw in the halls on my way up here.”
     
    “ Social activities?” He raised an eyebrow at me and burst out laughing. “You have a really strange way of talking, Jameson. What moon are you from, anyway?”
     
    “Dianna,” I said stiffly. “From the province of Victoria.”
     
    North frowned. “I’m from Apollo. I’ve heard about Victoria but I’ve never been there. Isn’t that the province where everyone is so stiff and formal you can’t even sneeze without apologizing about a thousand times?”
     
    “It’s civilized ,” I corrected him. “Which is more than I can say for the way people act around here.”
     
    He shook his head. “You must not have been away to school before. The Academy is pretty standard.”
     
    “If being threatened and beaten twice in the same day is standard I don’t know how anyone graduates,” I snapped. “I haven’t even been here two hours and I’ve already been assaulted.”
     
    “Assaulted? Come on.” He slapped my shoulder. “You took one punch, don’t be such a girl about it.”
     
    I opened my mouth to give an angry reply and then closed it again. Apparently being a man involved stoicism in the face of pain and right now I was doing a fairly poor job of it. “It hurt,” I pointed out at last.
     
    “Getting punched in the face usually does. Let’s see how it looks.” Leaning forward, he lifted the cold wet cloth he’d placed on my wounded cheek and frowned thoughtfully. “Well, you’re going to have a hell of a bruise but I don’t think anything is broken. We can go down to the Infirmary for an X-ray if you want, though.”
     
    “No, thank you,” I said, trying to sit up again. This time he helped me.
     
    “Better?”
     
    “Yes.” I was finally able to look around without feeling like I was on a tilt-a-whirl at the fair, which was a vast improvement.
     
    “So what did you do to earn that, anyway?” North motioned to my hurt cheek. “Or was Broward just being his usual charming self?”
     
    “I saw something…in the Administration building.” I frowned down at my hands. “I’m not sure I should tell you.”
     
    “If it’s something to do with Hinks, everybody