Academy

Chapter Two : Ribs

‘I want 'em back (I want 'em back)

The minds we had (the minds we had)

It's not enough to feel the lack

I want 'em back, I want 'em back, I want 'em

You're the only friend I need

Sharing beds like little kids

Laughing 'til our ribs get tough

But that will never be enough’

Lorde, Ribs

Gabriella Jaro lounged on the sofa in her squad common room. With her feet propped on the coffee table and her head resting on the shoulder of her teammate. They looked ever the perfectly matched pair, Gabby and Connor. His skin rich and brown, hers bronzed and golden. His hair cropped and black, hers honey gold. His eyes were a warm caramel brown, hers were startlingly green. Lounging together on the small plain sofa they made an elegant mess of long, muscled limbs. While Gabby thumbed through a history textbook, Connor idly stroked her long, tangled hair and stared down at the round face laying on his chest.

"I just don't understand," Connor muttered, "Nothing about this Squad makes sense."

"You'd rather we were stuck with Landon Emerton for another year?" Gabby grunted and rolling her eyes, flipping the page. She stared through the words, hardly bothering to glance, more interested in keeping her hands and eyes busy. "I'd much prefer Raven Elex."

"Yeah sure," Connor shrugged. "Elex is better than Emerton any day of the week. But the rest of this squad? I just don't get it."

Gabby flipped one page and another and another. Then she paused and stared, hard, at an image from the fall of the last King of Arcaan.

To be honest, she didn't understand the Placement either. She was pleased that she and Connor were on the same team for the second year in a row, but she wasn't so sure why they were with Raven Elex.

Elex was widely known as the Headmaster's favourite, it was rumoured that she was being tutored by the Headmaster personally. Gabby wasn't jealous, she didn't really care if Raven Elex got all kinds of special treatment to become the best of the best. It made sense if she thought about it, considering the Headmaster and Raven's grandfather go way back to the fall of the Arcaan King, the formation of modern Arcadia.

There were so many rumours surrounding mysterious Raven Elex. Rumours about her whole family, how they all wound up dead. But they were just that - rumours. No one knew a damned thing about the Elex girl. She wasn't known for being social, hell Gabby wasn't sure anyone at Ashbourne had ever actually seen the girl's face.

But, Raven Elex was hardly the most surprising Placement in Jupiter. It made sense for Gabby and Connor to be with Raven, her entire winning team graduated, Connor and Gabby had come in second so they were next up.

Max Marcomb was somewhat more surprising, his Squad had come in twelfth last year. So he was good, that was a damn good outcome - just, not quite good enough for Ashbourne's top girl, Elex.

Rowan Camden was a surprise. A quiet kid, smart, agile, talented - but nothing about him particularly stood out. In fact, Gabby got the sense - having asked around about the guy - that he rather liked being a wallflower. Still, even Rowan Camden, a fourth year, wasn't unlikely to make a top squad.

A first year, however, being placed with the previous year's victorious Captain…. Unheard of. Before today the whole school would have thought it impossible. So what on earth made Pandora Read so special?

"All that matters to me," Gabby began slowly, sitting upright to look Connor in the eye. "Is that everyone on our team is nice this year."

Connor softened, his face melting into a sympathetic smile. "Yeah Gab," He murmured, tucking her hair behind her ear. "This year will be better. I promise."

Though she tried to smile all she felt was a sinking in her gut. Another year of torment in her favourite place on earth - she wouldn't survive it again.

Gabby's bedroom was big enough for her standard, single sized bed, she had a window room and a dresser and mirror. There was a trunk at the foot of her bed, it was the width of her bed, as tall as it too. It was mahogany, dark and glossy, with an intricately carved flame pattern reaching upward, toward the lid with its brass lock.

This was her chest. Her father had it made for her when she was born. Flames, for her Spirit manifestation - the fire that burned in her blood. That fire was her father's greatest pride. Not the daughter who burned with it, merely the fact that such a powerful Spirit was born into his family. She was destined for Ashbourne the day she was born, her father's greatest desire was glory - glory he sought to attain by sending his only child to the first Guardian Academy of the new world, the most prestigious school on the continent, to train under the administration of the infamous Oberon Abrahim.

This stupid chest, Gabby gave it a lazy kick, it followed her everywhere. Her father sent it after her always, to remind her of who she was meant to become. Who she needed to become.

Gabby hefted the lid open and reached inside. Her fingers grazed over the cool, smooth metal of her sword, retracted to a travelling size. It was perched on a set of hooks, opposite her whip which was similarly held aloft.

The bottom of the chest was a mess of leather belts and strapping, of old cuffs and daggers and quirky weapons she'd acquired over the years. They were all dirty and dented - all except the sword and the whip.

Gabby lifted the sword from the chest, curling her long fingers around the handle and pressing down on the small button by the pommel. The sound of metal grating on metal, slow and steady, filled the silence in her room as her sword extended.

The balance of it as she held it aloft, horizontal, before letting it swing to point at her toes.

Gabby hand picked this sword. It was the first thing she owned that ever felt like it truly belonged to her, like it was a part of her. The weapon her father let her buy from a market when she was nine. At the time it was far too big, but the moment she saw it Gabby felt as if she recognised it. More importantly she felt as if the sword recognised her.

It was a dull silver, with brass woven into the handle, a grip made of thick, black leather. The pommel was brass, shaped like a strange sort of bird, almost like - Gabby liked to imagine - the Phoenix that was her school's emblem.

She loved that bird so much that she'd had it carved into the dark wooden handle of her whip. Her two favoured weapons. The two weapons she took into sparring and into exams, the two weapons that she'd taken to the Tournament last year. The two weapons that best suited her in the world.

Gabby pressed the button on her sword again and carefully set it back in the chest before slamming the lid shut. She strode the full two steps to the wall where her dresser stood and flung open her wardrobe. It was a tiny space, no wider than her arm was long. She'd already unpacked all her things, of which there weren't many, which made it easier to pick out something for the festival.

She stripped quickly before pulling on a flowery sundress and an old denim jacket.

At her parent's home in the mountains Gabby had row after row of clothing. Massive closest packed to the brim with expensive dresses, coats, blouses, skirts - everything a girl could dream of. But Gabby didn't care much for clothing - nor did she find expensive items useful at place like Ashbourne. She brought the essentials, plus a few extras for events like the Placement Festival. She shoved her feet into scuffed combat boots, left loosely laced and twirled in front of the mirror above her dresser.

Cute, casual, girly even. Not so practical for sparring or training, but it would do nicely for the Festival.

Would Connor like it? Would he think she looked too plain in such a shapelessly loose dress?

"Gab?" His deep, smooth voice called from just outside her door. "You ready?"

Was she ready?

Quickly overlooking her self she made a mental checklist: hair; wavy, a little scruffy, but no longer a mess. Check. Face; a little flushed (she was excited to be back, who wouldn't be flushed), dull, tired looking. Did she have time for makeup? Did she have any makeup to fix this? No. Besides, she'd hardly worn makeup last year either and Connor hadn't cared then. Outfit; casual enough that no one would guess that she cared what she looked like. Check. Breath; minty, thank god for gum right.

"Yeah I'm ready," Gabby announced, flinging the door open to grin broadly at him.

She gave him a moment, just one short moment, to look her over. Then she brushed past without waiting to gouge his reaction. She didn't even care what he thought, stupid Connor in his faded jeans and navy polo. She bounced across the squad common room to the door that led to their dorm hallway.

"Have the others already left?" She asked, tossing her hair over her shoulder. Undisturbed by his presence. She didn't care. Not really.

None the less, when she opened the door she peeked over her shoulder to be sure he was still looking at her. He was. Check.

Ashbourne was exactly as she remembered it. A half dozen massive buildings dispersed amongst acres of fields and forest. Open and alive.

From her very first day at the Academy, five years ago, Ashbourne was Gabby's favourite place on the planet. Her home was magnificent, a mansion beyond compare in the beautiful Virtu Mountain Range. But it was a cold and lifeless place where Gabby had never felt like she belonged.

The Academy was a whole other world. Everything was green, there were people everywhere living in such close quarters. Every building, every room had a purpose and was well loved and well used. There was nothing about Ashbourne Academy that was pristine in that way Gabby's family home was. It was a land of energy and intensity and Gabby revelled in every moment.

As gruelling as the previous year had been, returning to Ashbourne was like a weight off her chest. It felt almost like freedom.

"Hiya!" Someone called, drawing Gabby from her own mind.

Beside her Connor waved at an approaching figure. A boy, maybe an inch or two shorter than Gabby, with a pale olive skin tone and narrow slanted eyes. His round face was drawn in a brilliant grin that Gabby recognised from his photo. Maximus Marcomb.

"Hey Max," Connor grinned.

Gabby almost groaned when he stepped further away from her fist bump their teammate. Instead she forced herself to smile brightly at the newcomer. "Hey, how're you? Are you heading to the Festival now?"

Max nodded, "Yeah for sure." despite being shorter than the both of them Max breezily kept up with their long strides. "I haven't met anyone on our team yet but Connor here - and now you I guess." He ran a hand through his long, pin straight, black hair.

Gabby returned her gaze to the cobblestone path and tried to ignore the cold seeping into her side where Connor was now a foot away from her. Damn her poor luck. "Well," She announced, trying not to let her bitterness seep through. "If Raven Elex is anything like Landon we'll be stuck with our team all night," she said, only half joking.

Max grimaced. "Was he really that bad?"

Gabby knew, as Connor twisted to face Max while they walked, that he was giving Max the same bemused stare they always did when someone asked that question.

"He's a dictator man," Connor whistled. "A tyrant, a bully, a real ass-"

"He was goal oriented," Gabby interrupted, laughing and elbowing him. "And that made for some serious tension is all."

Connor nodded dumbly along. "A real ass-"

"Connor - Gabby - Hey!" A booming, bouncy voice caught there attention.

Almost in unison the three of them stopped and turned to see two people striding towards them. The first of whom, the one who'd called out to them, was Jax Hirsche. Jax had been on their Squad last year, under Landon's rule and, Gabby had noted during Placement, was stuck with him again this year.

The girl beside him Gabby didn't recognise. She was about average height, lean and toned, with sunkissed skin and rich, chocolate-brown hair. She was pretty for sure but timid. Even from a distance Gabby could see the way her muscles were wound with tension, her mouth was set in a thin line. Slight frown lines were set between her brows and every step was almost too controlled.

"Jax," Gabby grinned, skipping toward him to engulf him in a hug.

He lifted her feet from the ground and swung her in a circle while she laughed. "Long time Gabs," He grinned, setting her back on her feet. "How were your holidays?"

"Fantastic," She drawled rolling her eyes.

She stepped aside to let Connor in to bro-hug in that way that boys do.

"Where's your warden mate?" Connor joked, nudging him and glancing around.

Jax laughed but much of his usual warmth was missing. "Waiting for us at the Festival," he gestured to the girl beside him as he spoke. "We took too long to unpack."

Gabby pulled a face in sympathy before turning to the girl. "Hi," She said brightly, extending her hand. "I'm Gabby."

Up close the girl's eyes were a striking sapphire blue that almost distracted entirely from her timid nature. Then again, being stuck under Landon's thumb would make anyone timid.

"Bella," She replied, shaking Gabby's hand. "Bella Read.

"Read?" Max piped up beside them. "Are you related to Pandora Read? She's on our Squad."

A shadow passed over Bella's face, her mouth quirked in what Gabby could only assume was distaste. "Yes," She practically grunted. "Pan's my little sister."

"I didn't even realise!" Jax laughed beside them. "Is she a natural? A protégée?"

Gabby felt bad for Bella, it was obvious she was uncomfortable talking about her sister. When she shook her head it was a jerky movement. "No," She said slowly. "Not really - I mean she's good, for a first year, in my opinion. But, well…"

"Huh," Connor mused. "Well it'll be fun I guess, to have a first year on our team." he turned to grin at Gabby. "They always have so much more enthusiasm than everyone else."

Bella laughed, relaxing a little. "She's definitely enthusiastic."

As a group they started wandering the path again in the direction of the festival.

Despite chatting away with Jax and Max about the roundabout Placement system, Gabby couldn't help but feel a tad spiteful that Connor was talking to Bella. They were talking about the Squad Bella was in last year, about Bella's family and their farm and whatever. And Connor was listening avidly.

The closer the came to the bustling energy, the noise of the Festival, the further Jax and Bella pulled from them.

"Sorry," He explained. "But if Landon saw us-"

"We get it," Connor shrugged with a sympathetic grimace. "Don't worry about it."

And secretly Gabby was glad to be rid of Bella Read, if only so Connor's attention wouldn't be glued to her anymore.

"What's up with you?" He asked, nudging her with his elbow as the reach the food tents and the crowd of students.

"What do you mean?" She replied innocently, planting a smile on her face. "Nothing's up with me."

"You are getting kind of grouchy," Max quipped. "Are you tired? The Placement ceremony always puts me to sleep." He was joking of course, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he inspected each and every tent of food.

But Connor wasn't kidding and he was looking at her, a little too intently for comfort. Blushing hotly Gabby turned her face away.

“It’s nothing, i’m just tired,” she waved dismissively. “Don’t worry bout it.”

Max shrugged and, like that, his attention was elsewhere. “Dominique!” He called to a passing fourth year. “Bye guys,” he grinned over his shoulder as he hurried after the curvy brunette.

“He’s an incorrigible flirt,” Gabby grunted, staring back down the path, toward the lights and music.

“Serious but Gab, are you good?” Connor followed her along, so close to her side she could feel his warmth.

She smiled, genuinely this time. “I’m great,” she murmured.