The Academy

Chapter Two

2

Zane

“Where in the world are we going?”

I shift in the driver’s seat of my mom’s old pickup truck and tighten my grip on the wheel. “No secrets, right?”

The girl next to me, the one with the caramel skin and dark eyes, nods, but it’s a slow nod, the kind that tells me she isn’t totally comfortable with this trip into the woods but will trust me anyway. I’ve dated Lexi for a year now, and well, last night I finally used the “L” word. Surprised the heck out of both of us.

First she just said, “That’s great.” The kind of response that introduces your face to your palm, but then she added, “I do feel the same way Zane, it’s just that the last time I said it I ended up getting hurt. I’ll say it back but you have to promise not to keep secrets.”

My doing so makes this trip necessary.

The bumpy dirt road ends at a small clearing. I stop just short of the grass and turn off the truck. My heart does sprints. Am I really about to do this? My mom’ll kill me if she finds out—this secret isn’t to be shared with anyone. A lecture I’ve heard my entire friggin’ life.

“Zane?” Lexi speaks softly. Her voice pulls me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah?”

She drops her head and bites her bottom lip. “Did you bring me out here to…. I mean, I want to… someday. I just don’t think I’m ready yet—”

I can’t help a smile. “You think I brought you out here so we could hook up?”

Her eyes lift to meet mine. “There’s nothing here. Why else?”

“I don’t want to have sex with you, Lexi—” Her face drops. “I-I mean I do, just not soon.” I cover my face. “I’m such an idiot around you. I think I like you too much.”

Lexi grins. “I know what you’re trying to say.”

“Thank goodness.”

“So…” she says, glancing around. “Why are we here, then?”

“Follow me?”

Lexi arches an eyebrow but says, “Okay.”

Once we’re both outside, I take Lexi’s hand and lead her out to the center of the field; the grass is so tall it swallows up our legs. We stand facing one another, her big brown eyes reflecting the moonlight. She’s easily the prettiest girl I’ve ever gone out with. I slide my arms around her slender waist and pull her so close that her head lays flat on my chest. I wonder if she can feel how fast my heart is beating. “Close your eyes,” I say.

“Alright.”

“Are they closed?”

“Yep.”

“No matter what you feel, don’t open them until I say, okay?”

She chuckles at this request—it sounded a lot better in my head—but agrees. I take another slow breath and push myself off the ground so that we hover in the air just above it.

“Zane? What’s happening?” No doubt she felt her feet leave the ground.

“Don’t open your eyes yet.” I carry her over the tops of trees, high enough to see miles in any direction. City lights shimmer in the distance—the kind of thing that never gets old.  I just hope Lexi finds it pretty enough to distract her from the obvious, that we’re hundreds of feet above the ground. Lexi shivers in my arms; she’s scared, but hasn’t opened her eyes. She must really trust me. Okay, here goes nothing. “Open them.”