The Academy of the Elite

I woke up Sunday with a smile on my face; I had spent dinner with the gang again last night. I was happy to be sitting at the table with them like nothing ever happened. Zac smiled at me when he saw me sitting with them, happy to see a smile on my face again. I woke up with that thought on my mind making me feel great; things were indeed looking up for me. Vic and I were friends again, and I can lay those ugly nightmares of him walking away to rest. I slept like a baby last night, which left me feeling energized for work today. I grabbed my tan khaki quarter pants and a white collared shirt, going for the relaxed look today. I left my hair wild and brushed my teeth before running out of the door.

I met up with Ally at the cafeteria, which is cleverly called Menus, something I had just caught on to. I nudge her in the shoulder when I see a tight smile on her face. I knew that something was bothering her. I had been waiting for her to spill the beans since yesterday; I knew she was waiting for me to snap out of it to tell me everything. I am sure it’s been killing her since Wednesday to let me know all that happened between her and Max at the party. We sat down at the table and she stared at me nervously then sighed.

“I have to tell you about what happened at the party on Tuesday.” She fidgeted with her hands. “Don’t get mad okay?”

“No promises.”

She took a deep breath, “I got drunk, like really drunk.”

"You did what?" I was pissed at Aaliyah right now, she did what I don’t even do and I have the legal right to.

"Yeah, I know." She looks away so that she wouldn’t look me in the eyes. “It was really stupid.”

"You think! Okay, tell me everything from the beginning, how did this happen Aaliyah?" I made my anger and disappointment clear by using her full name; I snapped my fingers in her face to force her to look at me.

She started to tell me everything that happened that night. She was doing her best to replay those foggy moments for me: taking the drink from Mike, getting close to Jack, and then kissing Max. I still couldn't believe it. She could be so foolish; I stop watching her for one second and she gets wasted. She didn’t even know how she ended up back in her room, what if something happened to her? I try my best to hide my disgust with my sister and hear her out.

"I was...” She trails off.

"You were what, Aaliyah, desperate for attention?" I hissed at her from between my teeth. At first, it was intended as somewhat of a joking suggestion, but when I saw her cringe, I knew that I had hit a nerve. "You got drunk." I leaned in closer to her and whispered angrily, "are you really that stupid? If JT were to find out you could get your first strike, before even starting classes. Is that what you want, to ruin your chances before really getting to prove yourself? You want mom and dad to find out about your wild behavior? What were you thinking, Aaliyah? I never thought that you would behave so irresponsibly with yourself. Anything could have happened to you, even if you were with people we know. I just...I am so disappointed."

I leaned back on my chair and crossed my arms over my chest. I could not believe that she would put everything in jeopardy so quickly just to impress some guys. I glared at her for a second then shook my head. I am going to give Mike and Jack a piece of my mind later. I made a mental note to yell at them when I went to band practice with Kellin. I remembered the party last night and it dawned on me that she could have done the same thing last night too.

"Please tell me that you didn’t drink last night too." I say while rubbing my temples, she was stressing me out and killing my mood.

“I didn’t.”

“Good, never do it again. Got it?”

"All right, I won't," she practically whispered, not even loud enough for me to hear, but I knew that she would agree with me. I wouldn’t give her a choice.

“Good, I have to go to work.” I gave her a half hearted hug and left her at the table with her head down.

I got to work still upset with the whole ordeal when I saw a brunette coworker whose name is Sonia, I believe, flirting with Vic. Sonia was a beautiful Latin girl, whose curves were killer and accent matched. Her grey eyes looked flawless against her olive tone skin. When she smiled her dimples were revealed, which made Vic smile in a flirty manner back at her. My stomach dropped, then I reminded myself that I had no right to be jealous. I had chosen Zac in a sense yesterday; when I told Vic that I won’t let him go. So I need to stop being so crazy and just chill. I walked up to him and Sonia’s smile went from a relaxed smile to a forced one.

“Good Morning, Sonia. Vic.”

“Good Morning Liz,” Vic turned towards me while grabbing my arms. “Guess what?”

“What?” I said, secretly thrilled that Sonia seemed to not matter with me there.

He pulled me in extra close, “I missed you.”

I laugh, “That’s silly, Vic. You were sleeping, how can you miss someone when you are sleeping?”

I was full on flirting, practically bearing my claws because Sonia showed interest. This was not a regular behavior for me, I felt like the world was a bit foggy. I knew I wasn’t being fair but I felt compelled to do so. I felt compelled to let her know that I was the only one who could flirt with Vic. I wanted her to know that Vic was spoken for, even though the logical side of me knew he wasn’t. Vic was a free agent; he could flirt with whoever he wants too. I just wanted him to flirt only with me.

“Yet I missed you, it seems you help me accomplish the impossible.”

I don’t know what surprised me more, his sudden boldness or mine.

“I wonder what else I could help you accomplish.” I was stunned those words came from my mouth.

He broke out into the biggest smile I have ever seen and winked at me before going back to work. He told me to stay on the floor and he would watch me from where he stood behind the register. I kept my mouth shut, swallowing the flirtatious comeback that was on the tip of my tongue trying desperately to get a grip on Elizabeth. The girl who I was when I came to this school, the girl who has seem to have taken the backseat while Lizzy decided to be the driver. Throughout the whole day I kept shooting flirty smiles at Vic while trying to regain some composure. I didn’t want to let myself slip after all these months I spent getting a grip, not after I begged my parents to take me off those stupid pills. I bite down on my lip hard, and focused on helping customers, most whom were people I already know. When Tony came in he headed straight towards me.

“Are you nervous about the first day of classes tomorrow? Better yet; nervous about the performance you have in the morning?”

“Yes,” I had almost forgotten about that, “very nervous.”

“Don’t be, everything will be perfect. You’ll see.”

He browsed around for a shirt in the Star Wars section, when I came up behind him with the perfect one. He broke out into a huge grin and hugged me. I picked out that shirt for him because I personally loved it and have one myself. I told him we should wear it on the same day so we could be twins and he laughed. He agreed before leaving and said he would see me at band practice today. I still wasn’t sure why Vic and Kellin decided to have a joint practice but I was happy to be invited.

“I need assistance from the beautiful girl over there.” Kellin shouted, pointing at me which caused me to get angrier glares than usual. “You miss, I need your help.” He makes his way toward me. “Can you help me?”

“Yes sir, how may I help you?” I stifle my giggle.

“I would like a Sleeping With Sirens shirt.”

“We don’t carry those yet sir, come back in a year or two.”

I could no longer hold in my laughter when I saw Roxy walk in with a trail of boys following her.

“What is going on here, Roxy?” I point at the guys.

“They heard I was single.” She rolled her eyes at me, but smiled sweetly at them. “Shop boys, my girl works here and I need her boss to see that she brings in business.”

While they shop, she grabbed random shirts and followed me around the store.

“How is working with Vic going dolcezza?”

“Fine, I am glad he is the store manager. I usually have a hard time trusting male bosses.”

She gave me a pained look, “Have you told him?”

I laughed, “No, I don’t plan to either, you and Kells are enough and what I told you was the tip of the ice berg. “

“Well I won’t push anything out of you but I know you will trust me with it all. I have a week, a day and twelve hours to make us the best of friends. Excited for classes to start?”

“Of course.” I smile at her as she grabs three bottles of nail polish.

Kellin had a pile of shirts in his hand, “I shall buy all of this to put money in your pocket Lizzy.”

He dramatically made his way to the counter and started joking around with Vic. Roxy hugged me and followed after Kellin. I knew I would see them later, but I couldn’t help but be sad knowing that soon my time to hang out with them would be limited. I yelled after Roxy, telling her to break a leg tomorrow and she flashed me a winning grin. I didn’t want to forget to tell her later, I was so happy that she came to visit me. They both spent like $160 each, which did make me look good. Vic gave me a big smile while he rang up a girl’s tee-shirt. I passed him on the way to the break room and he called Sonia to go on register.

“Hey Liz.” His arms wrap around my waist.

“What has gotten into you today?” I turn around to face him.

I notice his attire was different, a little more ‘thug’ then rocker and all his hair was inside his hat. He even spoke with a heavy accent today. I started to wonder if we have more in common than I originally thought.

“You can call me Pablo.” Then he kisses me, I kiss him back, putting my hand on the nape of his neck.

It was me who pulled back; dazed over, wondering how we ended up like this. Vic looked just as shocked as I was. He gave me a lopsided grin which made my heart melt. I felt breathless, as if I have been waiting for this moment to happen since I have seen him at the gate. I felt the part of me that clung to Zac let go. I knew that it was inevitable; I was lost in the moment with Vic and like when I am with Zac, Vic was all I could think about. I spent the rest of the day on cloud nine, like no one could touch me. Zac sent me a text telling me he thinks I should give Vic a chance since I looked so happy when I started to talk to him again. A small part of me broke, but I replied to him that I hope we can be friends, he text me back, 'of course, Liza.'

“Hey baby,” Vic kissed me after my shift was over.

“Hey,” I wrapped my arms around his neck.

“Come on, we have practice.” We walked hand in hand to the band’s reserved room in the studio.

Roxy face lit up when she saw my hand in Vic’s, I thought she was going to flip out. Instead she gave me a sly smile and winked.

“Finally!” Kellin shouted, “I thought you two would never give in.”

“You only waited like a week Kells,” I roll my eyes at him.

“Well it felt like forever!” He punched Vic in the arm.

I sat next to Roxy and listened to the two bands rock out. I tried to focus on the music and not the way Vic looked while he was singing. Roxy and I jumped up and down like a hype crowd, she sang along to all the songs and I cheered. I knew it made the guys feel good because they were grinning like crazy. When practice was over, we all headed over to dinner. I let go of Vic’s hands before walking in, I didn’t want to make Zac feel bad. He gave me a knowing look with a sad smile, and walked ahead to our table. I walked quickly to the table with my head down; I could feel Ally’s eyes on me when Vic put his arm around my shoulder. Even with the small amount of guilt in my chest I was glowing under his touch.

“Are you nervous about tomorrow babe?” Vic pulled my head into chest.

“Now more than ever,” I smile while burying my face into his shirt.

“I put in on the board for us to be announced tomorrow, is that okay?”

I lift my head and hit him, “you didn’t ask me to be your girlfriend.”

“Will you be my girlfriend?” He takes my chin in his hands and smiles at me.

“I will think about it.” I laugh, and he kisses me on the lip briefly. “Okay, I think I can handle dating someone like you.” I stick out my tongue at him.

He laughs at me and kisses me on the cheek, “good, so is Monday good?”

“The sooner the better, Sonia needs to know you are mine.” I pull him in for another kiss.

“Okay, enough lovebirds.” Roxy laughs and throws a French fry at us.

In response I throw a piece of bread at her, I knew that this was bad when food started flying around the room. The guys wanted to be a part of the fun and hit the people sitting around them. All you could hear was people shrieking and laughing as they dodged flying food. soon enough, the headmaster walks in and everyone freezes. You could hear a pin drop and we all waited for him to yell at us. The food was lying all over the floor and people were covered in sauce, noodles, and ketchup.

“Well I guess you guys deserve some fun since classes will begin tomorrow. Just make sure this gets cleaned up.” Then he chuckled and left.

How cool is he? Everyone resumed throwing food and I started eating the fries Kellin threw into my mouth. Max had his arms around Ally’s waist and she looks as unhappy as Jack did about that fact. That’s when I remembered that I had to yell at him and Mike. So I pounced on Mike’s back and call Jack over, forcing Mike to take us to quiet place.

“Hey, you are dating my brother now, try not to fall for me too.” Mike winked at me while I rolled my eyes and leaned against a wall.

“So which one of you thought it was a great idea to get Ally drunk?” They both shifted from one foot to the next not making eye contact.

“It’s my fault,” Jack said, “I should have never mixed her that second drink or left her alone.”

“Yeah, that would have been great, staying with the girl who has never tasted liquor before that day. Perhaps you should have thought of that then, Jack, maybe she wouldn’t be dating Max now if you stuck around. Anyway, who took her to her room?”

“I did,” Mike spoke up. “I wanted to make sure she got there safely and she looked pretty trashed. She mumbled some stuff about Max and Jack on the way. I just put her in her bed and left, nothing else happened, scouts honor.”

“I trust you but let’s make sure this never happens again, okay? You are lucky I am happy if not I wouldn’t be letting you off so easily.”

“Thank God for Vic.” Jack mumbled while we headed back to the gang. Everyone had calmed down and was eating what was left on their plates.

“What happened?” Roxy pulled me into the seat next to her.

“I was just straightening some things out, that’s all.” I picked at her bread when Jonny came to the table.

He and Mike did a weird handshake and then he stared at Roxy. His eyes were glued to her and she ignored the fact that he was standing there, clearly still upset.

“Roxanne, look at me.”

“Go away Jonny, I don’t want to deal with you right now.” She rolled her eyes, and looked at me with a bored look.

“Baby, I am sorry. You know Jonny loves Roxy.” He pouted slightly at the back of her head.

I could see her defenses weaken, “Yeah? So?”

She turned towards him, very little anger left in her voice.

“Take me back.”

“Fine! But no more nonsense, Jonny. I mean it.”

He kissed her briefly and then his usual angry look returned. Tally curled herself into Kellin, Ally reluctantly smiled at Max, and Zac smiled at me from his table sadly. I tried to ignore the pain that look caused me but I couldn’t, so I waved bye to the gang and headed back to my room. I could use a good night’s rest for the showcase anyway. Vic walked me to my room, and kissed me good night before running back to hang out with Kellin. He was so cute; I wonder if he knows what he got himself into. I called to him as he made it to the front doors.

“Yes Lizzy?”

“Good Night, boyfriend.” I blew him a kiss, and I went into my room smiling.