Éclair Academy

Indeed no one did look for us. I was slightly suspicious and kept sneaking glances over my shoulder while we crept into the shrubbery dividing the two schools from one another. It was a tangled mess of scratchy branches and I was surprised that when we emerged on the other side that Jenna hadn’t complained once. Sensible Jenna. Amazing. But then I thought of her strange answer last night about her double sided reason for coming to the Academy.

She probably had a boyfriend or someone she fancied in this place, I thought looking ahead of me to the imposing square buildings in front of us.

Jenna removed her phone from her pocket and before I knew what was happening she was saying, into the phone, “Okay, meet us near the back.”

“Hey! What…?” I said as she pulled me running towards one of the buildings. A few massive trees shadowed the place and Jenna made us hide in something that could only be a garden shed.

“What’s going on?” I hissed and peeked out of the shed’s only window.

“We can’t let anyone see. This school’s prefects are more notorious than ours; if we’re caught we get expelled for trespassing on another school’s grounds during class hours.”
I paled. “It’s that bad? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I have a plan okay, a friend of mine’s going to meet…” She broke off as the shed door swung open to reveal four tall boys wearing their academy’s black uniform. It was almost November yet they still dressed as if it was chilly autumn weather outside. School pride anyone?

“Well, look what we have here. Two runaway Éclair girlies?” The biggest of the four said, grinning widely. His cronies laughed. He had a square head and square body that look like it struggled not to burst out from his clothes. He knew his type, rough block head.

Unconsciously I moved to stand in front of Jenna and blockhead chuckled evilly. “Look who think she can take on four black belts men.” The whole group burst out laughing when I blushed angrily.

“Only four blackbelts?” I muttered and blew a strand of hair out of my face. “I can take them…”

But Jenna’s restraining hand was on my shoulder. “Do you have a death wish? Just wait a bit longer; my friend’s on his way.”

“By the time he gets here all that’ll be left of us will be bloodstains!” I hissed at her.

“Hey! You two finished chatting?” blockhead roared. “Care to tell us what why such pretty ladies are on our grounds?”

“Dude, that one is super hot,” one of his cronies said to a friend next to him. They whistled at Jenna and I clenched my jaw trying not to rip them to shreds.

Suddenly another person joined the odd clustered group at the doorway and pushed to the
front.

“Ivan?” blockhead ,mumbled incredulously and then more hastily as a tall dark haired boy pushed to the front, “We were just making sure they stayed in one place.” Did I detect fear in his voice?

“Thanks guys, but I can handle it from here,” Ivan said giving them a dazzling smile with a hint of a warning.

“Let’s get out of here,” one of the group muttered and they left quickly, half running half jogging.

“Sorry about that,” Ivan said and before I knew what was happening Jenna had flown into his arms, her shoulders shaking. Was she crying?! But then she lifted her head and I saw that she was laughing. Both of them laughed, a sickingly perfect looking couple. How could I compete with a guy that looked like he had just walked off the set for Street Fighter and who could so easily intimidate four dangerous looking meat heads?

“Oh, Ivan, this is Quin, my roomie,” Jenna said disentangling herself from Ivan’s arms and I held back a gagging session. “Quin, this is Ivan, my close friend and cousin.”

Cousin? I tried not to show my joy at the news. Now that I looked at him properly he did look like her slightly. No, I’m deluding myself. They’re as different as the moon and the sun. Are they trying to fool me into thinking they’re family? Or are they really?

“Hello,” I said slightly dazed as we shook hands. When he released from the hand shake he winced slightly.

“That’s quite a hand shake you’ve got,” he said looking down puzzled at his hand.

“Is it?” I looked down innocently at my own hand inwardly berating myself.

“Ivan’s going to hide us for the day while the initiations cool down a bit,” Jenna told me as we crept out of the shed towards the smallest building on the grounds. It was further away from the rest and was nestled beneath massive oaks.

“But what if we return and they’ve been looking for us this entire time?” I whispered for I felt the situation called for it. No one called after us or ran after us so I guess we hadn’t been spotted yet.

“I can have Ivan here write up a letter saying that I was in the hospital the entire day and that you were the one who helped me get there and you felt obliged to stay as we had become best friends.”

I rolled my eyes. “No offence to you,” I said glancing at Ivan. “But why would they take your word so easily?”

“Ivan’s the head boy,” Jenna said simply.

“What?! Seriously? Okay then…” I calmed down trying to wrap my head around the new information. “What will you be in the hospital for? And wouldn’t you need a medical certificate?”

“I have very low blood pressure so fainting’s a regular thing for me, especially during the summer and my father works at the hospital. He’ll gladly forge me one if I tell him what initiation’s like.”

“Extremely convenient…” I mumbled.

Jenna sighed. “I wouldn’t have agreed to your hair brained plan in the first place if I didn’t have one of my own already.”

“Hair brained?!”

“We’re here,” Ivan said and my anger deflated as we stepped into the cool interior of the building. “This is the dojo but we have our own initiation this morning so everyone’s busy watching it. Even the teachers; it a major event at this Academy.”

“Do they also get humiliated and are told to do weird things in their underwear?” I grumbled, thinking it would only be a major event for the seniors.

Ivan threw me a strange glance. “Of course not! We set endurance tasks and tests for them to complete. Only the weak are punished by having to sit out in the celebrations afterwards.”
Wow, I wouldn’t mind coming here, I thought suddenly looking around me with more interest.

“Is it true? Are your initiations really like that? Making girls do such dishonourable things?” Ivan asked Jenna, frowning as we entered an even cooler room which was obviously a training studio. But it was relatively small had polished wooden floors and the sliding doors opened up onto a swimming pool surrounded by lush grass. It’s surprisingly peaceful and beautiful here.

Jenna nodded and sat down when Ivan motioned us to sit on one of the mats he went to fetch us. “It’s awful. I heard that ever since this group of girls became seniors last year they’ve held the first years in fear for their lives ever since. It’s worse this year if I think back to what a friend of mine told me last year when she was just about to graduate.”

Ivan sighed and leaned backwards until he was lying on his back on the floor. “The wrong type of girls are entering that place…”

“What do you mean?” I asked turning my attention from the pool to the conversation.

“Remember what I told you about the reasons girls are entering this school? Most of them are here for ‘ninja’ boys as you so eloquently put it.”
Ivan chuckled.

“Lazy girls who would be more at home in bitchy finishing schools are entering this strict cooking academy when most of them don’t have a clue how to even put the oven on. And they want to control this academy just as if it was in their normal environments back home,” Jenna went on, scowling.

“I shouldn’t be telling you this but you’ll find out soon enough,” Ivan began. “We have a prince enrolled at our academy and his real purpose in the country in not only to train to be a good fighter since his father was here as well, but to look for a bride, clichéd as that sounds. And most of those girls,” he tilted his head in the direction of Éclair, “Are here in the hopes of spotting a glimpse of him or better yet, being noticed by him.”

I smacked my forehead. “So most of those rich floozies are here for a prince they might never see?”

Ivan smiled at the ceiling and shrugged. “Eligible royalty are hard to find these days. Most of them were probably pushed into it by their families.” Ivan stood up. “Well, I better leave before someone becomes wonders where I am. This studio is only used for after school practice but if someone does come in say you’re visitors and were told to wait for your brothers in this room; that has happened before believe it or not.”

Jenna stood up and they embraced. I sulked thinking: they don’t act like family to me.
“Well, good bye Jenna, and…Quin,” he said, giving us a small wave and leaving the room before closing the door behind him.

“Can’t we just go into town? I don’t want to be caught and expelled before I’ve even started cooking…” I whined after a few quiet minutes.

“Hmm…We can, but I’m just scared someone will see us in town; some of the richer girls spend their lunch break at restaurants or café’s.” Jenna started digging in my bag and my eyes wandered to a sliding door that was open. I climbed to my feet and pushed it open to reveal a closet. Inside, were judo suits hanging from pegs with the Academy’s tree embossed logo stitched to the back.

“Please tell me you aren’t thinking what I’m thinking you’re thinking,” Jenna said from behind me having glimpsed the black practice uniforms.

I smirked and began looking for my size.