The Academie Read Online Free PDF Page B

met my
gaze.
    “ Thanks,” I said, moving
forward.
    “ I’m Stevie.” She smelled
of shampoo and her curls were still a little damp from the
shower.
    “ I’m Allie. Thanks for
sharing. I didn’t realize we’d all make a run for the bathroom at
the same time.”
    She combed through her curls as I
pulled out my toothbrush and set to work. “So, are you excited to
begin classes?” she asked, smiling.
    Her question surprised me. I wasn’t
excited about anything here. “Well, I’m not excited about all the
testing tomorrow,” I said, trying not to spray her with
toothpaste.
    “ Oh yeah, me either,” she
scrunched her face up a bit as she said it, and I couldn’t help but
think that she was nothing less than adorable. If I didn’t have
Bryan, I’d feel a lot of pressure to compete with her for
guys. Of course, I don’t have
Bryan… The thought slipped in and I
quickly pushed it away.
    I rinsed my mouth and began washing my
face. I hadn’t planned out the shower thing. “You were smart
showering tonight. I wish I’d thought of that.”
    “ I didn’t want to have to
worry about it in the morning. The showers were actually empty
too.”
    “ I’ll have to remember
that in the future.” Since I was not a morning person, I’d usually
showered at night anyway. The new surroundings seemed to be
throwing me off.
    “ Well, I’m finished. Good
night.”
    “‘ Night,” I
echoed.
    I finished quickly and
found an empty toilet stall. That’s when I realized how difficult
it was going to be to change clothes without dragging them all over
the dirty floor. How did all the other
girls do it? I did my best and resolved to
find a better solution for the future.
    I was on my way back to my
bunk when the lights went out. The shock to my eyes set me
momentarily blind, and I feared I’d never find my bunk. Slowly my
vision adjusted, and I could make out some forms. But in the dark,
I still couldn’t tell which bed was mine. Damn! I wish I knew my bunkmate’s name! But I hadn’t a clue.
    I tried to make my way carefully
through the dark. Meanwhile, I could hear someone else moving
around on the other side of the room, and I wondered if they were
in the same position.
    What do I do? There was just a tiny bit of light coming from
the bathroom. They must leave this light on in case someone had to
get up and use the toilet in the middle of the night. But it was
very dim—probably so it wouldn’t keep us awake.
    I had no choice. “I can’t find my bed,” I
whispered desperately.
    “ You’re over here,” a voice called back. Thankfully, I recognized it
as the slow, drawn out sound of my bunkmate.
    I took a few steps toward
where I thought her voice had come from. Then, still uncertain, I
asked again, “Here?” It was soo dark…
    “ Yes.”
    Thank goodness. I had visions of
climbing the ladder and finding someone already in the bed. I laid
my things by the end of the bunk and climbed the ladder, checking
for a body before I pulled myself onto the mattress. Then I slid
onto my stomach and I hung my head over the side.
    “ Thanks.”
    “ No problem.”
    “ I’m Allie, by the
way.”
    “ Tina.”
    “ Quiet girls!” the voice
came from the side of the room and we obeyed. I felt like my
interaction with Tina was cut short, but what could I
do?
    I slid under my sheets. At home my mom
had spoiled me one year by buying a feather comforter with a super
soft, satiny cover. It felt like heaven when I pulled it over me at
night, and along with the heated blanket she’d gotten me years
before, I stayed toasty warm year round. Now void of all the
covering I was used to, I trembled from the cold.
    I lay awake for hours, shivering;
thinking. I thought about Bryan and how two hours away, he lay in
his own bunk like this, as he had for the past year. How he’d
counted down the days till he’d regain his freedom, and how
horrible it must have felt to learn that he now had four more years
to go.
    And I thought about our