Play it Straight

I GET TO SHARE A BATHROOM WITH THREE OTHER GUYS

PHOENIX’S POV

I held my breath and waited for him to expose me.

“Phoenix Jameson?” the voice called again. I realized then that the person in front of me wasn’t the one who had called me. His mouth hadn’t moved the whole time he was ogling me.

Looking over his shoulder, I saw a middle-aged man with slightly graying hair smiling at me, his right hand being waved back and forth as he tried to get my attention. I looked at the guy in front of me and I saw that he had relaxed a bit, as if he finally understood something that was very confusing before.

“You’re Jackson’s brother.” It was more of a statement than a question even though I could tell he still wasn’t so sure about me being Jackson’s ‘brother.’ His voice was even better than it was over the phone and I wondered if I spoke to him, he’d recognize me immediately.

“I am so happy to see you here,” the older man said. He grabbed my hand and shook it firmly and I did my very best to not wince at how firm the handshake was.

“I’m Prof. Maxwell, the headmaster of this prestigious academy. I am so pleased to be inviting another member of the Jameson family here. Thank you for sending in your application. Your brother has told me a lot about his ‘indomitable twin’ and I cannot wait to see you in action.”

At the mention of my brother, I remembered that he wasn’t here with me and the reason why. I felt my tears coming up again. I couldn’t even relish in the fact that he referred to me as ‘indomitable’ to other people.

“Excuse me, Prof. Maxwell, would it be possible for me to go home today and come back, say, next week? You see, Jackson isn’t feeling well right now and I have to go home to take care of him.” I figured since he already liked me, he would be kind and lenient and let me skip a few days of school.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry to hear that, but you cannot leave the school right now, Phoenix.”

I felt my hopes crashing and burning instantly.

“W-why not?” I whined. I most definitely did not sound like a guy in that moment and I could tell others noticed it too because Francis nudged me a little.

“Because, Phoenix, once you step into the school, there’s no going out until the end of the semester, we have a game outside school, a competition that needs the attendance of the students, or, in a worse-case scenario, one of you is deathly sick. I’m sorry, but that’s the rule.” He started going off about my living quarters and academic stuff but I had gone deaf to his words. All I could hear was that I was stuck here while my brother laid on the hospital bed barely fighting for his life. I started to cry again, this time loudly and girl-like and Francis started to freak out again.

“Phoenix, pull it together, would ya?” he said through gritted teeth. I was a crier. Whenever something bad happened to me, I cried. Whenever something bad happened to Jackosn, I cried even though he just laughed it off and pretended it was no big deal. I could almost imagine him awake in the hospital, his handsome face cut and bruised until we looked nothing alike, while I cried my eyeballs out and he laughed at me and said “Phee, you look like a cross between a panda and a tomato. Stop crying or I’d take a picture and post it online.”

“Phoenix Jameson, I understand that your schedule is bit more challenging than it was at your former school, but I assure you that we will try out very best to make sure you adjust well to it so it wouldn’t be overwhelming for you. It’s really nothing to cry about.”

I ignored Prof. Maxwell and kept crying, until I felt someone tug on my hand and my face was up against a hard wall. It turned out, as I felt the wall move slowly like it was breathing, that it wasn’t a wall but someone’s chest.

“I’m sure Jackson’s gonna be okay.”

I stopped crying then, mostly because I was surprised at how firm someone could be, but also at the fact that he guessed why I was crying even though I hadn’t said anything.

“Justice, why don’t you show Phoenix to his dorm, okay? Help him settle down and tell him about the school. We’ll send your class schedule to your email.”

Prof. Maxwell started to walk away, and I remembered that I hadn’t gotten my access card yet.

“Don’t worry about that,” he said when I had asked him for it. “Justice here will show you how to get it.”

I quickly stepped away from his chest when I realized how close we were. My heart was beating rapidly and I was glad we weren’t close enough for him to hear it…or feel my chest that was now wrapped in bandages.

“C’mon.”

He got in the elevator beside me while Francis looked apprehensively from me to him. The doors closed to the sound of the other guys in the chill bubble mumbling and whispering among themselves. I was certain they all thought I was a wuss and a crybaby now.

We were back on the ground floor, headed towards the empty concierge-style reception desk.

“Phoenix, say hi to ARCHIE.”

I stared blankly at the empty space behind the counter and thought he must be joking. I figured it was some kind of prank he was playing on the new kid.

“There’s no one here,” I responded. He was staring hard at me, his brows creased as he looked thoughtful and inquisitive, almost as if he could see the real me, and I felt a little self-conscious. I wanted to shrink back in my collar, but I couldn’t do that so I settled for deepening my voice the next time I spoke.

“Stand over here, and say hi to ARCHIE.”

He moved me so easily towards the edge of the desk where a black button was inserted between the fine marble top. I looked around nervously, feeling foolish for what I was about to do and also hardening my resolve to not be offended when he started laughing before saying, “Hi ARCHIE.”

“Hello, nice to meet you.” I jumped a little at the automated voice that emanated from invisible speakers but I was glad I didn’t overreact and make a complete fool of myself. “I am ARCHIE, your guide and I’ll be helping you with your class schedules, dorm assignment and access to everywhere else you might want to go to within the school premises. What is your name?”

“Fancy!” Francis mused. “Things really have changed in the last eight years since I’ve been here.”

“Fancy? I am sorry but I have no student or faculty with that name on my system. Could you state your name again please?”

I sneered at Francis and told him to hush before I said my name. I heard a chime in my pocket a few seconds later and when I checked my phone, I saw that it was an email from ARCHIE.

“I have sent you your class schedules and dorm room. Your voice has been recorded in my system and it can be used to access the classrooms and other academic buildings of interest to you. You are permitted to go anywhere in the school and access these buildings except the staff room and the staff quarters. Any student found there will be punished according to section 2, paragraph 7 of the Harrison Park Academy: Student Conduct and Residential Guidelines.” I nodded and Justice tugged at my sleeve to signal me to follow him, indicating the end of my communication with ARCHIE. I felt a little bad for not saying a proper goodbye to it, but then shook that thought out of my head as I concluded that it was only girls that felt guilty for not treating inanimate objects like human beings.

“So,” he started when we had walked a distance in awkward silence. “You’re Jackson’s brother.” He was still doubtful with the way he said it and my heart started beating erratically again. I remembered Jackson telling me that Justice was perspective and could always smell bullshit from a mile away. I wondered if he already figured out that I was his ‘sister’ and not his ‘brother’ like I claimed I was.

“Yup,” I responded dryly, my voice deeper than necessary. I cringed and berated myself internally for trying too hard and making it obvious that I was trying too hard.

“Funny, cause Jackson never mentioned he had a twin brother. I only ever heard about his sister and I figured she was his twin.”

Busted, my mind screamed at me but I shut it off.

I glanced subtly at Francis who was trying his best to not show any interest in me. At some point I was beginning to think he actually was more interested in the walls and the pretty glass than he was in me.

“Well, that’s because Jackson is…” C’mon, Phoenix, use your brain. You’re best at lying so do it now. “a triplet!”

“What?” Francis and Justice exclaimed. I nodded at them both, feeling the lie and its origin story fill my head.

“That’s right. We are triplets, actually. But Jackson adores our sister more than he adores me so he probably spoke about her more.”

“He never once mentioned you or gave away any hint that you existed.” I wanted to smack him for how stubborn he was being, but then a thought came to me. If Jackson never told him about ‘me’ and he already knew my name was Phoenix and still didn’t recognize me as his sister, what the hell did Jackson refer to ‘his sister’ as then?

“Did he ever mention that he had a baby sister named Georgia?” I asked, suddenly remembering my step sister, Maddison’s new baby that she gave birth to at the start of the summer holiday.

“No, he never told me about her.”

“See!” I exclaimed triumphantly. “Jackson only likes…” I drawled, waiting for him to causally drop the name he knew that belonged to me so that I wouldn’t make a mistake. His expression as priceless when he looked at me all confused with his brows furrowed and his brown eyes darker than before.

“Phee?” he offered uncertainly. I clapped my hands together and pointed at him.

“That’s right, Phee. As in, Fiona, cause that’s our sister’s name, not Phoenix, cause I’m Phoenix, and I’m a boy.” It was unnecessary for me to emphasize that but I did anyways. “Yeah, he only likes Fiona and talks about her a lot so it’s no wonder you didn’t know about me.”

The space we were in now felt different from the atrium and I knew, even without going outside, that we had left the main building. Students were skating, running, texting furiously and yelling in this new environment that was covered in a glass. It looked like we were in some kind of hallway that was inside a dome.

“I never once came to The Arena while I was a student here. They were so strict with the people who got to enter their territory.”

“You used to go here?” Justice asked my cousin. “What dorm?”

“Yeah, graduated eight years ago. Academic.”

It was hard believing he was in anything academic even though I didn’t exactly know what that meant. It took all I had to not scoff and roll my eyes at his statement of having ‘graduated’ eight years ago.

Justice snickered and shook his head, a little smile forming at the corner of his mouth.

“Yeah, we don’t let those brats come near our territory.”

We arrived at a very large gated mini-estate with several buildings in it. Student Residential Area was written bolding against the iron gates.

“Is this The Arena?” I asked, walking in after Justice.

“No,” Francis answered, a frown falling on his face. “The Arena is for athletes only. This place is for every other student.”

“I don’t understand. Jackson told me he had a room all to himself. Why don’t I just stay there? He was an athlete.”

“Because, Phoenix, his room is in The Arena, and like he said, it’s for athletes only.”

I started to feel dread wash over me. There was something iffy about the whole sleeping arrangement and dorm assignment. I had a feeling it was something I was most definitely not going to like.

“So, what does that mean? I don’t get a room to myself?”

“You can, depending on which building you’re assigned to. You see, there are five buildings in each Student Residence, and each building has five wings for different groups of people. Well, of course The Arena will be filled with only athletes, but these buildings here are filled with other students in academia, performing arts, visual arts, etcetera, etcetera. And each of these wings that I mentioned have someone that’s the best or the captain and they’re the ones that usually stay in the single, private rooms.”

“What does that mean?” I asked a little snippily. I didn’t mean to shout or to sound rude, but I was getting anxious and the words he was speaking was only adding to my agitation without making proper sense.

“Well, Phoenix, it just means that, if you don’t beat any of the guys in the wing you’ve been assigned to, you’ll have to share a room with another guy. And you should know that two rooms get to share just one bathroom, so there’ll be four of you using that bathroom.”